Mobile Justice: ACLU Of Michigan Launches App Allowing Citizens To Easily Record Police

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is bringing to the state a smartphone app for people to capture, safeguard and upload videos of law enforcement officers for ACLU review.

The Mobile Justice MI app, which was launched Wednesday, will upload a video immediately and automatically after a user finishes recording.

ACLU of Michigan spokesman Darrell Dawsey says a team will review the video and pursue action if a complaint has merit.

"The primary purpose of the app is to empower people," Dawsey told the Detroit Free Press. "We think that it's important because in this day and age, in a time when we're seeing so many lives, especially black and brown lives, being taken … we think that it's important to be able to document what's going on."

The app also features a "witness" mode, which allows users to know if people around them are getting stopped by law enforcement. When a user reports a police incident on their app, all other users nearby will get a message reporting where the encounter is happening. The ACLU said this feature is "especially useful for community groups that monitor law enforcement activity."

The app is now available for Apple and Android devices.

"At a time when headlines and broadcasts abound with news about racial profiling, harassment and police brutality, the ACLU of Michigan believes it is critical that citizens be equipped with the best tools available for ensuring law-enforcement accountability," the organization said in a release.

Although the first in Michigan, the app is not new to communities. The first such app was launched by the New York chapter of the civil liberties group in 2013 and since then other state chapters have followed suit.

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