Gloucester Township Police Using Neighbors By Ring To Fight Crime

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Gloucester Township police are encouraging residents to sign up for Neighbors by Ring to help police solve crimes in the area.

Residents don’t need a Ring device to sign up. Once they are signed up, they will be able to communicate with their neighbors. They will also have the ability to post and view video of crimes and suspicious activity.

When using Neighbors, law enforcement see the same interface that all users see, police said. The content is the same, the exact locations of posts are obfuscated, and the user’s personal identity is not displayed. There are two key differences, though:

• law enforcement can view public posts from within their jurisdiction (instead of just their ‘neighborhood’); and
• law enforcement posts are identified so users can clearly see that they are the source of the content. This means that posts or comments made by law enforcement are clearly marked with their official title and name.

Police said law enforcement can only view the publicly available content in the Neighbors App, unless a user explicitly and voluntarily chooses to share their own recordings with law enforcement.

Exact locations of devices and user information are never provided to law enforcement without a user’s express permission or a valid and binding legal demand properly served on the department.

Law enforcement can request information from users within their jurisdiction. When doing so, police must reference a relevant case number in order to make a request within a specific, limited time range and area.

Ring will then ask a targeted group of users in that area if they are willing to share any relevant footage with law enforcement. It’s then up to the user to share their video file(s) or decline the request. Users can also opt out of all future requests by law enforcement.

Camera systems help deter package theft. If a theft occurs and residents have video footage, police encourage residents to report the incident immediately to the police department and use the neighbors app to let surrounding neighbors know what occurred.

To sign up for the free Neighbors app, click on the following link:
https://shop.ring.com/pages/neighbors.