Apps to Guard the Guardians

Recently, there has been some coverage of new and interesting apps for recording citizen-police encounters. We know that events at the Vancouver Airport recorded on a video-camera when Robert Dziekanski was confronted by members of the RCMP were pivotal to discerning what actually happened to this individual. Now there are more ways to protect the sanctity of such exchanges. Keeping on Top of Cops

The cost of constant, continuous surveillance may well be a diminishment of personal privacy. However, when there are more avenues and opportunities for maintaining an ongoing watch over the "guardians" of society, I believe that may be construed as a good thing. The G-20 Summit in Toronto was an event that witnessed many breaches on the part of the Toronto Police Service and these lapses in operational judgment were properly captured by citizens, bystanders and participants at this event. Their forensic value is immense and the evidence provided allowed the police to make appropriate arrests for those engaged in damage to property and other potentially criminal acts. This evidence also clearly demonstrated that the police were prone to exceeding their use of force policies, procedures and practices.