It’s being called America’s “New Neighborhood Watch,” but it’s not people-watching; it’s technology.
More than 400 police departments are partnering with the doorbell company Ring in an effort to catch more criminals.
“This allows us to take that one incident and possibly connect it to a number of other incidents and catch likely the one suspect who has victimized a series of people on that street or in that neighborhood,” said Loveland Police Chief Dennis Rahe.
Loveland, Wyoming and Colerain Township are the three departments in the Greater Cincinnati area collaborating with Ring.
“So many of those thefts and crimes would go unreported. Now, we have the ability to link those and possibly catch someone we might not always catch,” said Rahe.
The partnership lets police automatically request the video recorded by homeowners’ cameras within a specific time and area.
The request is made via email from Ring to the homeowner. The homeowner can decline the access. Police departments don’t have access to live video from homes.
In Loveland, it’s working. The very first day using Ring, police made an arrest in a stolen bike case. After viewing the video and identifying the suspect, the police called him.
“That person said, ‘I already know why you’re calling. I did it. I already know I’m on video.’ So it was a great success story,” said Rahe.
Ring also has an app allowing other users a chance to share video with each other of suspicious activity.
“It provides an extra level of safety; that’s really what’s important about the whole application…Tying in the police and any other type of emergency responders is really key,” said Pete Flint, a Loveland resident.
Flint says he and his wife installed the camera about a year ago. Flint says he’s all for giving police as much information they need to catch the bad guys.
