STUART, Fla. (CBS12) — Local law enforcement agencies are weighing in on a bold change in privacy settings made by a popular home security camera company.
“Whether we’re looking for a burglar, a murderer or anything that might have happened in their neighborhood, I mean, you can pretty much name any crime and we’ve had video cameras from Ring doorbell neighborhoods that have helped us solve those crimes,” Ruben Romero, Captain with the Criminal Investigations Division with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, said. “Our solvability rate for a lot of these crimes has gone up, I would say, 100% just from people having cameras attached to their residents and being able to share those with law enforcement.”
Starting this week, Amazon-owned Ring will be making it more difficult for officers to access home surveillance videos.
In a blog post, Ring said it will sunset the “Request for Assistance” tool, which allowed law enforcement agencies to mass request doorbell camera footage from users through Ring’s Neighbors app. The company did not provide a reason for the change.
Those with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said that doesn’t mean they still can’t go and ask residents directly.
“If they want to volunteer that video, they still can do that. It’s just one step, you know that it may had been eliminated but we’re clever just like criminals are clever and we’ll find a workaround to that, too,” Romero said.
Those with West Palm Beach Police (WPBPD) have a similar reaction to Ring’s decision.
“Having access to the system certainly has helped us and been beneficial, but by no means is this going to hinder our investigative techniques or practices,” West Palm Beach Police Spokesperson Mike Jachles said.
Officers can also still obtain a warrant or subpoena.
But time can still play a huge role. Officers are asking residents with security cameras to register them with WPBPD.
“This does not give us access but it lets us know who has video should a crime occur or something that we’re investigating we can reach out to those neighbors, and with their permission, that they can share that video with us,” Jachles said. “It certainly is a timesaver than us having to knock on doors, asking if people have video surveillance systems. Just because somebody may have a camera on the outside of a building doesn’t mean that one, it’s functioning, and number two, that it’s recording or archiving that video.”
WPBPD is also encouraging residents to download the Saferwatch app, where if you see something, instead of just saying it, you can share it.
“Our neighbors can share pictures and videos directly through the app. It’s free and it’s very easy to do and what it does is it gets that information to the right people immediately,” Jachles said.
“We all know that in our communities if it didn’t happen on video, it didn’t really happen,” Romero said. Officers can still obtain a warrant or subpoena.
Head of Neighbors Eric Kuhn said in the announcement that law enforcement will still be able to make public posts in the Neighbors app. They can also still use the app to “share helpful safety tips, updates, and community events,” Kuhn said.
