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RACIAL PROFILING by NYPD - Android App Keeps Tabs...
Last edited Fri Jun 15, 2012, 09:00 PM - Edit history (1)
Although New York City is viewed by many as one of the greatest cities in the world, there are some, namely the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), who feel that its law enforcement tactics need improvement.
The organization has taken particular interest in the New York Police Department's (NYPD) Stop and Frisk program, which it claims unfairly targets black and Latino citizens. In an effort to empower those citizens, the organization has launched a smartphone app called Stop and Frisk Watch.
The app allows the user to instantly begin recording an encounter with a police officer with their smartphone. After the recording stops, the app prompts the user to fill out a survey detailing the location, ethnicity of the person stopped, and the officer's name, all of which is sent directly to the NYCLU. There's also a Listen function that allows others to receive alerts when other users have activated the app during a police stop. The organization has even posted a video (below) offering instructions on how to use the app.
"Stop and Frisk Watch is about empowering individuals and community groups to confront abusive, discriminatory policing," NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement. "The NYPD’s own data shows that the overwhelming majority of people subjected to stop-and-frisk are black or Latino, and innocent of any wrongdoing. At a time when the [Mayor] Bloomberg administration vigorously defends the status quo, our app will allow people to go beyond the data to document how each unjustified stop further corrodes trust between communities and law enforcement."
Although some might view the app's very existence as an affront to the NYPD's law enforcement efforts, recent data indicates otherwise. According to the NYCLU, the NYPD stopped and interrogated individuals 685,724 times, and approximately 87 percent of those individuals were black or Latino. Further, the organization's analysis points out that males between the ages of 14 and 24 accounted for 41.6 percent of the Stop and Frisk stops in 2011, despite the fact that this group only accounts for 4.7 percent of New York City's overall population. Locally, the Stop and Frisk issue has become so contentious that last month a judge granted class action status to a 2008 lawsuit against the practice.
Stop and Frisk Watch was created by Brooklyn-based software developer Jason Van Anden, the person behind the "I'm Getting Arrested" app that rose to prominence during last year's Occupy Wall Street events. For its launch, the Stop and Frisk Watch app even got a bit of celebrity support from hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, who said, "I am encouraged by the technology that the NYCLU has created to protect the young people who are being targeted by the NYPD. I hope that all of the recent events will create enough awareness that the general public will force the city to end the abuse of stop-and-frisk in its entirety."
The app is currently available as a free download for Android phones, with an iPhone version scheduled for release in August.
For more, see the NYPD's Stop, Question and Frisk Report Database.- http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/analysis_and_planning/stop_question_and_frisk_report.shtml
#t=0s
The organization has taken particular interest in the New York Police Department's (NYPD) Stop and Frisk program, which it claims unfairly targets black and Latino citizens. In an effort to empower those citizens, the organization has launched a smartphone app called Stop and Frisk Watch.
The app allows the user to instantly begin recording an encounter with a police officer with their smartphone. After the recording stops, the app prompts the user to fill out a survey detailing the location, ethnicity of the person stopped, and the officer's name, all of which is sent directly to the NYCLU. There's also a Listen function that allows others to receive alerts when other users have activated the app during a police stop. The organization has even posted a video (below) offering instructions on how to use the app.
"Stop and Frisk Watch is about empowering individuals and community groups to confront abusive, discriminatory policing," NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement. "The NYPD’s own data shows that the overwhelming majority of people subjected to stop-and-frisk are black or Latino, and innocent of any wrongdoing. At a time when the [Mayor] Bloomberg administration vigorously defends the status quo, our app will allow people to go beyond the data to document how each unjustified stop further corrodes trust between communities and law enforcement."
Although some might view the app's very existence as an affront to the NYPD's law enforcement efforts, recent data indicates otherwise. According to the NYCLU, the NYPD stopped and interrogated individuals 685,724 times, and approximately 87 percent of those individuals were black or Latino. Further, the organization's analysis points out that males between the ages of 14 and 24 accounted for 41.6 percent of the Stop and Frisk stops in 2011, despite the fact that this group only accounts for 4.7 percent of New York City's overall population. Locally, the Stop and Frisk issue has become so contentious that last month a judge granted class action status to a 2008 lawsuit against the practice.
Stop and Frisk Watch was created by Brooklyn-based software developer Jason Van Anden, the person behind the "I'm Getting Arrested" app that rose to prominence during last year's Occupy Wall Street events. For its launch, the Stop and Frisk Watch app even got a bit of celebrity support from hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, who said, "I am encouraged by the technology that the NYCLU has created to protect the young people who are being targeted by the NYPD. I hope that all of the recent events will create enough awareness that the general public will force the city to end the abuse of stop-and-frisk in its entirety."
The app is currently available as a free download for Android phones, with an iPhone version scheduled for release in August.
For more, see the NYPD's Stop, Question and Frisk Report Database.- http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/analysis_and_planning/stop_question_and_frisk_report.shtml
#t=0s
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