The National Justice Project have developed a free community training package to help inform all communities, and particularly those who experience police violence and discrimination, about their rights and responsibilities when filming and interacting with police.
The CopWatch Community Training Program is designed to be adapted and delivered by community for community, alongside the CopWatch police accountability app and website. It includes:
- The CopWatch Trainer Guide: provides practical ideas, tips and resources for delivering community training.
- The CopWatch Community Training Presentation: is designed to be adapted to suit your individual training needs, location and community.
- The CopWatch Know Your Rights & Responsibilities Fact Sheets: provides key information around filming and dealing with police in each state/territory, as well as a list of key support and legal contacts.
ABOUT COPWATCH
CopWatch provides tools and information to help individuals and communities stay safe when coming into contact with police.
CopWatch has 3 components:
The CopWatch App:
- allows you to send a text message alert to up to 3 pre-selected contacts together with a map showing your location if you are in trouble
- allows you to film incidents with police, and provides instructions to keep your videos safe
- contains information on individual rights and responsibilities when filming and dealing with police and links to more information on the CopWatch website
- does not collect, share or have access to any of your data or personal information
- is free to download on Apple Store(iOS) and Google Play (Android).
- contains educational information, including how the app works
- contains information about individual rights and responsibilities when interacting with and recording police, including how to safely and legally record interactions with police
- provides a list of organisations that offer support and legal advice.
The CopWatch Community Training Program:
- includes presentation slides and a trainer guide with ideas and tips for delivering community training, as well as state/territory specific resources
- is designed to live within community and allows CopWatch tools and knowledge to be used freely, as each community determines appropriate.
CopWatch was created to navigate around systemic power imbalances by informing individuals and their communities about how to safely and legally record interactions with the police, how to protect themselves and each other, and critically how to de-escalate situations to avoid police violence and criminalisation – with the aim of reducing negative community-police interactions and ensuring police are held accountable for their actions.