Can The Police Stop You Recording Them With Smartphone Video?

👮‍♀️👮🏽 The George Floyd incident was recorded on smartphone video. The documentary power of that video is self-evident. If told by police to stop videoing is it possible to keep recording without them realising?

The answer is yes. I’ll show you how to do it on your smartphone. 📱

The moral, ethical and legal implications of doing this are your responsibility. You do have a right to video the police and the police have a right to stop you. When and where is complex. Do your homework.

Knowing how to record video if you believe you have the right is a 2020 life skill that can protect you and your loved ones AND maybe one day protect a police member from wrongful accusation. The majority of police deserve my support.

You’ll need a smartphone and this app…

There is a smartphone safety app called Parachute.

It is known as a panic button for the smartphone age.

Should you feel in danger - with the app installed on your phone - you press the screen and you simultaneously send a phone call, text message and an email (that your have previously nominated) that has your live video, live audio and current location.

If you feel intimidated or threatened by others knowing that you are videoing you can ‘go dark’.

Here the screen is blacked out and the video is sent securely to cloud storage and erased from your device so there is no evidence of you filming.

Plus you have the Superlock function that allows you to ‘go dark’ and uninterrupted. Once in this mode your video cannot be stopped by someone else and your phone cannot be easily turned off.

The power of the smartphone for video is not just the inbuilt amazing quality, it’s that this comes packaged with powerful apps all purpose-designed, all at your fingertips.

Currently, this is an iOS app with Android in development.

If you want to check out your rights to video police within Australia, this ABC News post is a useful place to start.

Photo by Jack Finnigan on Unsplash