Subject To a "Stop and Frisk"? There's an App For That

lightbox32 writes "The New York Civil Liberties Union released a free smartphone application on Wednesday that allows people to record videos of and report police 'stop and frisk' activity, a practice widely denounced by civil rights groups as mostly targeting minorities and almost never resulting in arrests. The app was thoroughly criticized by the New York Police Department, which said that the tool might prove useful for criminals."

Comments

Re:Record Videos

[Gabrill]

Yup. Plenty of cases.

http://m.digitaltrends.com/photography/recording-police-is-a-constitutional-right-says-doj/

Re:Record Videos

[Hyperhaplo]

Yes, and it was deemed to be illegal
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-05-16/nypd-unlawful-stops-lawsuit/55027100/1

Re:Record Videos

[Hyperhaplo]

As it stands, in many places, it is legal to record video in public, including of police and their actions.

As it stands, in many places, it is illegal for the police to harass citizens who decide to record video in public.

Re:They're just targeting those who commit crimes.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Yes and so what? They are still supposed to follow the law and respect peoples liberties. If they are actuallty only targeting criminals, then why do these actions so infrequently lead to arrest?

New York is talking about decriminalizing possession of small amount of marijuana, in case you were unaware.

Currently, possession of small amounts of marijuana is punishable by a fine.

You can't fine someone for having marijuana unless you know they have it. One way to find out is to stop and frisk them.

So, they're not targeting criminals, they're targeting people they can issue tickets to.

Think of it as a speed trap for pedestrians....