Watch the video above: New app allows Torontonians to capture interactions with police. Peter Kim reports.
TORONTO – President of the Toronto Police Association Mike McCormack said Wednesday police do not feel threatened by a new app that allows Torontonians to capture and upload police-citizen interactions – suggesting that users save their pennies.
“My basic thoughts are save your 99 cents. Police officers in this city behave themselves accordingly,” said McCormack in an interview with Global Toronto.
“Really it means nothing to us.”
The app called “Cop Watch Toronto” allows users to record instances of police-citizen interactions that they feel are violent or inappropriate and instantly publish the evidence to YouTube and alert the Network for the Elimination of Police Violence.
App developer Darren Baptiste created the app after a number of high-profile cases of what he describes as “police violence,” alleging that it is a reoccurring problem in his community.
“We’ve been suffering from a lot of police violence over the years – anything that can help us reduce the effects of it would be a good thing.”
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The app comes after a number of high profile police cases in which the treatment of citizens was called into question – including Sammy Yatim, who died after police fired nine shots at the teenager on a streetcar.
Footage of the incident involving the teen was uploaded to YouTube almost immediately.
Similarly, in December a video of two Hamilton police officers arresting a young woman went viral after a bystander taped the incident and called out the officers for their handling of the situation.
McCormack said that police are already aware that citizens are armed with smartphones, ready to capture images and videos of police officers on the job.
“Police officers in general do not have a problem with being recorded. The only time that becomes an issue is when people start to interfere with police officers in the lawful execution of their duties to obtain video footage,” he said.
But McCormack was quick to point out that Toronto Police would rather see app developers investing in ways to catch criminals then reporting police-citizen interactions.
“We think that it might be more useful if someone would develop an app that would maybe do something like capture criminals and have it download to something like Crime Stoppers – which would have an impact on the overall safety of the community,” McCormack added.
Features of the app called into question
Some features of the Cop Watch Toronto app – available on iOS devices – have been called into question already.
The app does allow users to edit videos before uploading them to YouTube by selecting particular sections of the footage.
When asked if he felt if it was unfair to the police if certain portions of the video were edited out – possibly removing some of the context of the event – Baptiste said any piece of the puzzle helps when it comes to investigating instances of police violence.
“There are many sides to every story. This helps communicate one side of the story.”
Baptiste added that the Network for the Elimination of Police Violence eventually hopes to conduct workshops for Torontonians about proper protocols when it comes to documenting these events.
The app also offers users a “basic guide” on filming the police.
iOS users can download the Cop Watch Toronto app for $0.99 in the App Store.
– With files from Global Toronto’s Peter Kim
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