In an effort to stop racism — the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization has come up with an innovative national program to make it easy for witnesses and/or victims to report police misconduct right from their mobile phones.
The “rapid response system” was officially launched Monday as part of the annual convention for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The system allows people who capture photos or video of incidents of alleged police misconduct on their cell phones to send it through a Web browser to the organization or upload it through a computer. A form will then be transmitted to the sender, who can use it to provide more information about an incident.
Monique Morris, the group's vice president of advocacy and research, said the ease of reporting an incident will help give a clearer picture of the prevalence of misconduct.
“What this database will provide is a more accurate account in real time of what's happening in our communities,” she said.
The Rapid Report System is currently available through the NAACP website and has both a mobile form and web form. The user-friendly online RRS forms will allow residents to send instant texts, emails, or video reports of police abuse to the association via cell phone.
“Nationwide, more than 26,000 citizen complaints of police officer use of force were filed with state and local law enforcement agencies in 2002. However, because many incidents are not reported, this number does not capture the full magnitude of the problem.”
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