New Jersey ACLU offers stealth app for recording police

The ACLU has branches in different states all around the country. This organization is one that keeps an eye on the police and makes sure they follow the rules and don't abuse the rights of citizens. Typically, the ACLU tries to keep the police in line through lawsuits when they believe officers have stepped over the line and violated the rights of the populace. The ACLU in New Jersey has offered a new smartphone app that goes well beyond defending people in the courtroom.

The new application is designed to allow New Jersey residents to secretly record police stops and to protect those recordings from being deleted by officers and others. The app also offers a medium for reporting the incident to the civil rights group. The new application is called Police Tape and in addition to offering the recording capabilities that also gives citizens tips on their rights and how to handle interaction with police on the streets.

The way the app works is when it's put into video recording mode, the screen goes black and looks like it's off. While recording audio the app automatically minimizes so it can't be seen. Recordings are protected from being erased by making the deletion of recordings a multiple step process. The iPhone version of the app will only have audio recording as an option while the Android version, available now, does video and audio. The iPhone version will launch later.

[via NJ.com]