New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has called the growing campaign to film the police an “epidemic.” The movement, known as Copwatch, seeks to hold police accountable by filming incidents of police brutality and police killings. Speaking after a conference of police chiefs on Wednesday, Commissioner Bratton said, “There is increasing efforts on the part of individuals, sometimes in a crowd and oftentimes mobs, to attempt to record, intimidate and create fear and physically free a prisoner. This has become very serious.” This comes as the NYPD is facing criticism after a Harlem plainclothes police officer was caught on video pointing his gun at a group of unarmed people inside an apartment building lobby and then punching one of the residents filming him.