- Amazon’s Ring video-doorbell company has partnerships with hundreds of local police departments, giving them access to the locations of Ring doorbells in nearby neighborhoods.
- Ring recently provided the Washington Post with an interactive map showing the more than 400 agencies that are partnering with the company.
- The close relationship between Ring and police to create surveillance networks around the US raises many concerns about privacy.
- Check out the map to see if your local police department is among the over 400 law enforcement agencies that have publicly acknowledged a partnership with Ring.
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There are more than 400 police departments across the US that have quietly been working with Amazon to more easily access footage from local residents’ Ring video doorbells.
You can now check to see if your local law enforcement agency is one of the partnered police departments, thanks to an interactive map including more than 400 agencies that was reported by the Washington Post on Wednesday. The map displays hundreds of blips indicating towns and cities where police have engaged in partnerships with Ring, the Amazon-owned home security firm that sells smart home doorbells with video surveillance cameras.
The Washington Post piece is the first official number from Ring about who is partnering with them for the surveillance network. Previous reporting put the number of participating agencies at just over 225, and a previous map of the police departments only had access to publicly available data.
Recent investigations into Ring have found that law enforcement agencies across the US have partnered with Amazon to gain access to an online portal showing a map of Ring video doorbells in their neighborhood. The portal allows police to figure out which cameras may have captured surveillance footage, for which authorities need to request permission from homeowners to access.
Some police departments have also offered local residents discounts on Ring cameras, and encouraged them to download the crime-reporting app Neighbors, in exchange for getting free Ring cameras from Amazon. For recipients of free Ring cameras, they are reportedly required to give police access to their doorbell security footage.
Ring has said that users have a choice when police request their footage, and that it doesn't support programs where recipients ae required to shared surveillance footage in exchange for a free device.
Roam your mouse over the interactive map below to see which police departments have partnerships with Ring: