BTV Copwatch is an autonomous network of community members committed to filming police in and around Burlington, VT. Our goal is to provide support, education, and resources to empower our neighbors to monitor police activity. While we offer guidance to anyone looking to effectively film the police, we are not gatekeeping copwatching in our community. The vision is to create a culture in Burlington where filming the police is commonplace and expected.
!!!This site is not actively updated!!! For updates and opportunities to get involved, please follow and/or reach out on social media:
Why We Copwatch
De-escalation: prevent police violence (in the moment & long-term)
Documenting police action (when useful for court cases, media, etc)
Educate & Empower others to copwatch
Community Care & Defense: providing solidarity& support for people harassed by police
Protest & Disrupt & Abolish existing power structures
Trainings
We offer copwatch trainings to individuals and organizations with the goal of helping communities build capacity to effectively film the police. Although we cover basic legal rights for anyone filming police, we do not offer comprehensive “know your rights” trainings. We hope sharing our knowledge and experience will help people become more comfortable and prepared to respond to police presence when situations arise. Stay tuned to our social media channels for upcoming training opportunities!
Group Shifts
We periodically get together to film around Burlington at places and times we expect cops to be patrolling. This is a great way to get experience in filming, and get over any initial fear or discomfort you may feel while doing something cops don’t want you to be doing. We generally don’t communicate shifts publicly, the best way to get involved with group shifts is to attend a training and make real connections with other copwatchers.
Code of Conduct
Participants in BTV Copwatch Must…
- Not be members of local, state, or federal law enforcement agencies.
- Commit to anti-oppression in our dealings with each other and the community. Do not tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, or other forms of oppression.
- Respect the confidentiality of fellow copwatchers.
- Respect the privacy and dignity of community members we film.
- Seek consensus with other copwatchers before communicating any information obtained while copwatching. This includes video, audio, or any first-hand accounts of interactions with police or community members.
- Get consent before publishing any identifying personal information obtained while copwatching.
- Respect community members’ requests to stop filming them.
- Never use violent rhetoric, make violent threats, or commit violence.
- Make every necessary effort to not physically interfere with police.
- Commit to keeping community members safe by avoiding behaviors that could escalate situations.
- Never provide any information to police that could implicate someone in a crime.
- Never livestream any recording.
- Never copwatch while intoxicated.
- Refrain from carrying firearms while copwatching.
- Understand that copwatching involves the risk of arrest.