NYCLU Looks to Fight ‘Stop and Frisk’ With an App

English: NYPD Dodge Charger #2909 in midtown Manhattan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For years the New York Civil Liberties Union has been monitoring and speaking out against the stop and frisk practices of the NYPD. They say it has amounted to racial profiling and caused the arrest of numerous black and Latino men in the city, as well as those in poorer communities, for possession of small amounts of marijuana. The issue was even taken up by Occupy Wall Street last year.

According the organization’s 2011 report, “Black and Latino New Yorkers were more likely to be frisked than whites and, among those frisked, were less likely to be found with a weapon.”

To combat the claimed unfair practice, the NYCLU is releasing the Stop and Frisk Watch Android app. This will allow potential friskees to help monitor the controversial practice. According to an email forwarded to BetaBeat, the app will automatically upload a video if confiscated by the police, as well as other helpful tools to empower NYers to monitor police activity.

According to BetaBeat, the app will go live tomorrow morning.

BetaBeat