Iphone App to record police with offsite storage

Hello,

I've always used a pocket digital recorder, or back in the day - tape recorder, or my (not a smart) phone video or audio recorder to record police contacts or activities that I happen to observe while out and about. I've been doing this, sporadically, since I was a college student.

However, I just acquired an Iphone 5 and I have read in the past, mentions of an iphone recording app, I assume for audio/video as well as audio only, that has a feature where the app can upload streaming video or audio as it is being recorded, to a secure site for later retrieval, perusal, etc.

I could google, but I am interested in recommendations (or not) of one or more of these program(s) by some OCers here, since I trust that I will get a no nonsense accurate assessment of which one(s) to download.

Thanks in advance!

PS I cant tell you how many burgs, etc. I have taken where a smartphone was stolen. If you have one, PLEASE download one of those apps that can help police locate a stolen phone upon activation, and in some cases even provide evidence from the phone's camera as to the person who was using it . Getting somebody their Iphone back is way better than just documenting a report, and it's also awesome to get some solid evidence against a scumbag thief!

We had a burg of a school building a ways back and the culprit(s) took a couple of computers. Fortunately, the school had installed software that could start uploading info on its whereabouts/connection upon being activated (a lojack for computers) and even snap incriminating photos of the person using it. The school would not activate the camera aspect though, because they were afraid of being sued for privacy invasion!!! I'm all for REASONABLE expectation of privacy, but I dont think that extends to freedom from being remotely observed through the computer's built in lens by those who are trying ot locate and identify you in the process of using the stolen property.

Imo, that's fair game for activation and viewing but the school thought otherwise.

I thought apple products did that automatically. For example, my friend has a Macbook and iphone. He lost the phone on the bus. We inferred it from the fact that the locator on the map on his laptop showed the phone going back and forth down the same streets. Pretty funny actually. Sure enough, it was under a seat.

I downloaded android anywhere or something like that on my laptop to ping my GS3 phone.

I'll stick with a dedicated recorder. I turn it on when I leave the house and off when I get home. That'd kill a phone. And if I am in it with a LEO, I don't want to be reaching for my phone to turn on the recording app.


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<o>

Some of the open carry guys in Texas have used Ustream. That is probably the type of app that I'd look at, as opposed to something designed as a recorder that uploads or syncs offsite/to the cloud as a second function. You want the video/audio data transmitted immediately as it's taken in case the recording device is seized. Ustream should have the video available for review after the streaming is finished.

I would usually prefer a dedicated recorder to keep my phone from becoming a target for seizure, but it will probably be exponentially easier and cheaper to find and use a smartphone app to stream the audio/video offsite than to find a dedicated device to do the same.

On the location - I think that both iPhones and Android phones (I'm sure there's a minimum software version) have location/lockdown functionality built in, though you may have to enable it manually. For Android phones there is also Lookout Mobile which has an option for taking a picture using the front facing camera once there has been a certain number of failed unlock attempts. There may be other good options as well, but I guess the point is that there are good options available and it's a good idea to use/enable them and get yourself familiar with how they work, just in case.

I don't know about iPhone, but I use Bambuser on my Android device. It keeps recording even after you lock the screen and blank the display, streams the video to offsite storage in real time, heck the video can even be watched by others in real time if you've made your account "public". If it's available for iPhone you should give it a look.

BrianB said:

I don't know about iPhone, but I use Bambuser on my Android device. It keeps recording even after you lock the screen and blank the display, streams the video to offsite storage in real time, heck the video can even be watched by others in real time if you've made your account "public". If it's available for iPhone you should give it a look.

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Will it last for 12-16 hours and still leave enough battery for tomorrow?


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eye95 said:

Will it last for 12-16 hours and still leave enough battery for tomorrow?


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<o>

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What type of recorded do you use? How much initial investment to get started? I'm asking because I'm actually potentially interested in purchasing one, but mostly all I've been able to find are the super-cheap looking ones from manufacturers that I've never heard of, and I'm not sure I'd trust the quality of construction or video/audio quality of one of those.

I'd also be interested to know the audio quality in windy situations. I'm not a sound guru, may not be possible to overcome heavy wind noise without higher end equipment, just curious if you've tested this. I've noticed it's a common problem.

The way you've been behaving? Why on earth would I want to do anything for you? Piss off.


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eye95 said:

Will it last for 12-16 hours and still leave enough battery for tomorrow?

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Nope, but the people you're worried about can't take your recording and destroy it either. If you're worried enough to record it you should probably do both - a dedicated voice recorder for max duration, and something like Bambuser to get video, audio, and offsite storage.

I use Bambuser. It works great. Cops hate it. When cops know you are using Bambuser they turn real nice and start obeying the law.

I suspect that any information this cop gets regarding how open carry people are protecting their videos will be used against some open carry person, somewhere, someway.

Ask the OP how they access phone info, bypass password locks on people's phones?

Trade tech info, don't just give it to them while they laugh it up on cochinoUno.com.

Fuller Malarkey said:

I suspect that any information this cop gets regarding how open carry people are protecting their videos will be used against some open carry person, somewhere, someway.

Ask the OP how they access phone info, bypass password locks on people's phones?

Trade tech info, don't just give it to them while they laugh it up on cochinoUno.com.

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That's another nice thing about Bambuser. Even if they get into your phone somehow, there is no way to delete it from the server using the Bambuser app on the phone. Once it's up on the server it's out of their reach and visible to the world if your profile is set to public.

Fuller Malarkey said:

I suspect that any information this cop gets regarding how open carry people are protecting their videos will be used against some open carry person, somewhere, someway.

Ask the OP how they access phone info, bypass password locks on people's phones?

Trade tech info, don't just give it to them while they laugh it up on cochinoUno.com.

Click to expand...

I deal with police everyday. I have about 10 different jurisdictions that have put a lot of effort into trying to arrest me and jail me and seize my videos.

Police aren't very smart.

Apps like Bambuser have police stumped. Especially when I film with 3 different devices and make sure to record on Bambuser that I am recording with 3 devices so police have to think long and hard how they are going to make 3 devices all go missing.

onus said:

I deal with police everyday. I have about 10 different jurisdictions that have put a lot of effort into trying to arrest me and jail me and seize my videos.

Police aren't very smart.

Apps like Bambuser have police stumped. Especially when I film with 3 different devices and make sure to record on Bambuser that I am recording with 3 devices so police have to think long and hard how they are going to make 3 devices all go missing.

Click to expand...

Question for you about recording police. I see they try to incapacitate your camera at night using high lumen flashlights shined at the camera. It's like watching a welder without protective lenses.

What prohibits you from "applying" the necessary high lumen light you need to video? You'd be hitting the porcine light holder with the light, not the brave, fearless officers that are groping an old woman with a stroller for not making it across the intersection before the light changed. I doubt the cop could maintain his aim if faced with a reflection of what he was aiming at you.....Duh. What about a mirror to simply hand them back what they are dishing out to you? How could that be construed to be "interfering with"?

That bambuser sounds pretty bitchen. I'll check to see if it's available for Iphone.

So, here is one cop that doesn't hate bambuser. I realize the broad brush "cops hate ...." is just the kind of silly broad brush statement you'd expect from the anti-cop bigorati.

As for the remote access/GPS stuff. As somebody who just got an iphone today, I'm just learning it's quirks. I know that I have had cases where the vic's had specialized software and that made is easy to locate the stolen phone. In cases where they did not have such softwareI know that I was told by the phone owners that we were TSOL.

We ping phones all the time, to get their location, but that's gotta be some sort of exigency or community caretaking justification to do so w/o warrant.

Fuller Malarkey said:

Question for you about recording police. I see they try to incapacitate your camera at night using high lumen flashlights shined at the camera. It's like watching a welder without protective lenses.

What prohibits you from "applying" the necessary high lumen light you need to video? You'd be hitting the porcine light holder with the light, not the brave, fearless officers that are groping an old woman with a stroller for not making it across the intersection before the light changed. I doubt the cop could maintain his aim if faced with a reflection of what he was aiming at you.....Duh. What about a mirror to simply hand them back what they are dishing out to you? How could that be construed to be "interfering with"?

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That's a very good question and I have been exploring it for awhile.

The short answer is I have a light on my camera and have been told numerous times by police that if I didn't shut it off they would arrest me.

Anyone who knows anything about filming and media you will know that "mainstream" media cameraman ALWAYS have lights on their cameras. When they interview police at night the cameraman is about 3 feet away from police with their lights on. If you watch the television show COPS or First 48 Hours you will see that they ALWAYS have their lights on.

However, if I am out filming and I stand 20 feet away with a light 1/4 power of other cameraman the police demand that I turn it off or they will arrest me.

So to answer your question, police make up laws and rules as they go along and depending who the person filming is.

onus said:

That's a very good question and I have been exploring it for awhile.

The short answer is I have a light on my camera and have been told numerous times by police that if I didn't shut it off they would arrest me.

Anyone who knows anything about filming and media you will know that "mainstream" media cameraman ALWAYS have lights on their cameras. When they interview police at night the cameraman is about 3 feet away from police with their lights on. If you watch the television show COPS or First 48 Hours you will see that they ALWAYS have their lights on.

However, if I am out filming and I stand 20 feet away with a light 1/4 power of other cameraman the police demand that I turn it off or they will arrest me.

So to answer your question, police make up laws and rules as they go along and depending who the person filming is.

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Or maybe you make up the "press" idea as you go? It seems other on this forum who are more familiar with you then I seem to think you tend to chase cops around unterfer somehow then say "stop I'm the press".

You mention the TV shows, yea they sign a contract and agree to be followed. You mentioned media... well yea when they show up with a huge van with a satellite they know they are media. When just some dude comes ruling up with a mini cam and says "I'm the press" I don't know if I'd believe it either.

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PALO said:

That bambuser sounds pretty bitchen. I'll check to see if it's available for Iphone.

So, here is one cop that doesn't hate bambuser. I realize the broad brush "cops hate ...." is just the kind of silly broad brush statement you'd expect from the anti-cop bigorati.

As for the remote access/GPS stuff. As somebody who just got an iphone today, I'm just learning it's quirks. I know that I have had cases where the vic's had specialized software and that made is easy to locate the stolen phone. In cases where they did not have such softwareI know that I was told by the phone owners that we were TSOL.

We ping phones all the time, to get their location, but that's gotta be some sort of exigency or community caretaking justification to do so w/o warrant.

Click to expand...

Oh, you mean you screwjacks make something up, eh? Good to see you admit it, but worthless blather from Wall-o-txt guy.

eye95 said:

The way you've been behaving? Why on earth would I want to do anything for you? Piss off.


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Because its Christmas eye95, where's your spirit? Don't be a scrooge eye95...

Merry Christmas!

CCJ

BrianB said:

Nope, but the people you're worried about can't take your recording and destroy it either. If you're worried enough to record it you should probably do both - a dedicated voice recorder for max duration, and something like Bambuser to get video, audio, and offsite storage.

Click to expand...

Again, though, I'd caution folks against reaching for their phone as an encounter starts. Folks have been shot for reaching for combs or wallets.

But, yes, if you can turn the thing on, you have the best of both worlds.