ORLANDO, Fla. – As Orlando police officers arrived in the Parramore neighborhood in March 2014 to break up a fight, Luciarae Fripp pulled out her cellphone and began recording video. Fripp's camera captured Officer William Escobar appearing to punch and kick her brother, Refus Holloway, who was handcuffed and lying face down on the ground.
[WEB EXTRAS: READ OPD directive governing citizens recording police | WATCH cellphone videos featured in story: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]
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Fripp's cellphone video eventually led to the firing and arrest of Escobar, who is now charged with misdemeanor battery and perjury. A little more than a year later, another cellphone video would lead to the arrest of South Carolina police Officer Michael Slager, who is accused of shooting and killing Walter Scott as the unarmed man ran away.
"Using your own camera to record police activity can be a very valuable form of oversight over the police," said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union. "I think people are coming to recognize that sometimes police officers do engage in abuse and do lie."
As more and more citizens record video of police activity on their smartphones, software developers have created apps that make it even easier to record law enforcement and share the video clips.
As soon as smartphone users open an app called Cop Watch, the phone's video camera immediately begins recording. When the record stop button is pressed, the video can automatically be uploaded to YouTube for safekeeping.
Another app, FiVo Film, uploads video to the user's Dropbox account.
"If police see you filming their misconduct, they may attempt to confiscate your phone to erase the video," according to the description of FiVo Film on Apple's App Store.
The advertisement suggests the upload feature will protect the video if police seize the phone or erase it.
Other apps, including Bambuser, allow users to stream their camera's video live while it is being recorded.
"The courts have found, almost unanimously, that citizens have the right to record police in public," said Stanley.
"Citizens are free to record any public activity. They just may not interfere with law enforcement," said Capt. Angelo Nieves, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office. "The presence of a camera in and of itself is not interference."
In May 2014, Orlando police Chief John Mina issued a written directive to officers reminding them that "members of the general public have a First Amendment right to video record, photograph, and/or audio record OPD members ... in any public space unless such recordings interfere with police activity."
Taking photos or video does not necessarily constitute suspicious conduct, according to the document.
The OPD directive instructs officers that they may ask questions of the person doing the recording. But Orlando police officers are not allowed to tell individuals to stop recording, demand their identification, or detain the person.
Jeff Gray claimed a group of OPD officers violated some of those rules while he was trying to record cellphone video outside of Orlando Police headquarters. Gray posts videos on the website, Photography Is Not a Crime, which advocates for the rights of citizens to record law enforcement. He has been arrested several times while photographing police, according to state records.
While attempting to capture video of police officers driving away from OPD headquarters without wearing seat belts on Jan. 31, Gray's camera recorded three officers who approached and began questioning him.
"You have nothing better to do with your day?" asked one of the unidentified officers.
"It's none of your business what I do with my day, now is it?" Gray replied.
The officer suggested there was something unusual about Gray taking video outside the police station.
"Well, it could be construed as maybe gathering intel on a governmental agency for the purposes of attack or something like that. I don't know," the officer said.
"You have to understand this is suspicious to us," another officer told Gray. "So we can resolve this; do you have any kind of ID or anything like that? We just want to make sure you're not out here trying to hurt us."
Gray told the officer he did not have identification and indicated he was unwilling to provide his name unless the officers arrested him.
"Am I being detained?" Gray asked them.
"Yes, you are," a third officer said. "Right now. Come here."
The officer then reportedly patted down Gray looking for weapons, according to comments recorded on Gray's video.
After explaining to the officers that his videography is constitutionally protected, Gray walked away without being arrested. However, shortly after Gray got into his car and drove off, the same officers are seen on video pulling him over.
Minutes later, Gray's video shows him being placed under arrest for driving without a valid license.
However, Gray actually did have a valid driver's license at the time, according the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Upon learning that, a judge dismissed Gray's criminal case.
In Gray's arrest affidavit, Officer Donald LaCentra wrote that he ran Gray's name through two different police computer systems but found no record that Gray had a valid license.
"Mr. Gray filed a complaint with our Internal Affairs Department," said OPD spokeswoman Sgt. Wanda Ford. "They are currently investigating that complaint."
Neither Gray nor the publisher of the website where he posts his police videos responded to emails and phone calls from Local 6 seeking comment.
"You have to respectfully and calmly assert your rights and remind the officer you have a constitutional right to record things in public places," said Stanley. "Never ever physically resist a police officer."