Record the police.
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Learn how to copwatch and what rights you have when stopped by the police.
Support copwatching groups like those in Berkeley, L.A., Athens County, Gainesville, San Diego, and New York City or start copwatching patrols in your own community.
Learn how the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense started by copwatching in Oakland, California.
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By Andrew Lee (he/him)
On the 11th of this month, the Pulitzer Board awarded a special citation alongside its prestigious awards for outstanding journalism. This citation went to Darnella Frazier, the 17-year old outside Minneapolis’s Cup Foods last year who recorded police officers murdering George Floyd. While police were attacking a stranger, she could have turned away. Instead, she took a video that sparked global resistance.
It is appalling that some demand graphic video proof before they acknowledge the existence of police brutality or that others watch and share videos like “digital souvenirs of violence” to consume without thought or responsibility (Anti-Racism Daily). Frazier was not aspiring to become a citizen-journalist the day she had a horrifyingly “traumatic, life-changing experience,” and special citations do not heal trauma or raise the dead (NPR). The goal isn’t to produce more videos of state-sanctioned murder. The goal must be to dismantle a system that enacts such atrocities.
But if you see police harming or even just detaining another person, staying to record a video could be the difference between life and death. Much police brutality happens because cops think they can get away with it: it is out of the public eye or they know that the victim and witnesses will not be believed. Though the tragic deaths on camera of people like George Floyd show that this is not a silver bullet, the knowledge that they are being filmed can dramatically change police officers’ behavior.
So long as you and the police officer are in public space, and you cannot be construed as obstructing them, filming the police is entirely legal. “Taking photographs and video of things that are plainly visible is a constitutional right,” according to the ACLU. “And that includes police and other government officials carrying out their duties” (ACLU).
There are groups devoted to filming the police to prevent police brutality – also known as copwatching – all across the nation. If one doesn’t exist in your neighborhood, you can form a copwatch group of your own. These organizations, which are often not nonprofits but instead grassroots collectives, provide training and go on patrols to interrupt police violence by recording.
You also might witness a police interaction while going about your daily life. It’s recommended that you keep your distance, that you have other people with you if possible, and that you keep your camera pointed at the police officers, not the person being detained. You should upload the video as soon as possible so the police can’t delete it off your phone. In the event that the police stop you, you should never answer any questions, as is your constitutional right, and refuse to unlock your phone with them unless they come back with a warrant (The Nation).
It’s best to copwatch with other people and familiarize yourself with your basic legal rights to ensure you’re as safe as possible, ideally as part of an organization. But sometimes we come across situations in less than optimal circumstances. It’s important to reflect that something as simple as stopping and taking your phone out could be the difference between an inconvenience and an atrocity in someone else’s life.
As Portland’s Rosehip Street Medics say in their trainings, “the number one weapon of the police is fear” (Seattle Weekly). In the face of this fear, it takes courage to do something as simple as recording the actions of people who claim to be our public servants. It takes courage to stay and bear witness when a cop tells you to get lost, it takes courage to exercise your Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions, and it is always much easier to walk away. But copwatching is a simple – and legal – act that might stop brutality before it happens. Once we break through this fear, we can keep each other safe.
Key Takeaways
Filming the police, also known as copwatching, can ensure they do not brutalize the people they’ve stopped.
Copwatching is constitutionally protected and therefore legal in all 50 states.
There are copwatching organizations across the country and resources available so people can record the police in as safe a way as possible.