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How a single mobile device helped uncover police abuse in NYC

In a video published by Video Nation, they show how Alvin, a 17 yr old teen living in Harlem New York was able to secretly record audio of an encounter with police during a ‘regular’ Stop and Frisk questioning using his iPod.

In the iPod audio recording, you can hear police harassing, shoving, threatening and abusing Alvin in a clear case of police brutality. The audio is very disheartening, and obviously shows how there are many problems with police in general all over the country, not just in NYC. It’s important to note that not all police are like this, but in the same token we must recognize this goes on and those that do this need to be held accountable, including the commanding officers and those in a position of power within the police and governing bodies in our cities.

In what I find to be a very telling quote from TechCrunch writer Josh Constine, he says regarding the video being recorded on an iPod, “Long ago, the United States granted its citizens the right to bear arms to defend themselves. In the modern age, though, it might be the right to bear phones that protects our liberty.”