Copwatch Brooklyn, based on the organization of the same name started in Berkeley, California in 1990, protects the Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities from police brutality and harassment. It is a part of a network of activist organizations in the United States and Canada that observe and document police activity while looking for signs of police misconduct and brutality. These organizations are typically autonomous and focused in local areas. Copwatch believes that monitoring police activity on the streets is an effective way to prevent police brutality. The group monitors and videotapes police activity in order to hold the police accountable in events involving assaults or police misconduct. It engages in what is often dubbed “reverse surveillance,” turning the cameras on police as a deterrent to racial profiling and other questionable police-civilian interactions. Copwatch runs a searchable online database that serves as a repository of complaints against police officers to promote public safety and accountability.