HANCOCK COUNTY — With four security cameras watching over the outside of his home, Bruce Shell has a good chance of recording video of any shenanigans that might take place when no one is watching.
And increasingly, home security systems like Shell’s are becoming key tools for law enforcement. With untold numbers of such systems now online, they have the potential to become a vast network of helpfully gathered evidence for law enforcement. That happened last month, when home video recordings in Hancock County helped lead police to a suspect in a series of car break-ins. As long as community members are willing to play a role and share the recordings, the value of such collaboration is virtually limitless.
Until now, a gateway between police agencies and the unblinking witnesses in every neighborhood hasn’t really existed. But a national company whose business has exploded since its founding six years ago is working with law enforcement agencies across the United States, including some in Hancock County, to create a communication system between local authorities and communities via video and information sharing.
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The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department was the first to begin working with Ring, which began as a crowd-funded start-up in 2013 to make a doorbell camera system. In 2018, it was acquired Amazon for more than $1 billion. Ring has an app, called Neighbors, that includes a portal that allows residents with camera recordings to share video and information with authorities.
More than 400 police agencies nationwide have joined the new Ring network, which the company calls a nationwide “neighborhood watch,” according to a story in The Washington Post in August. And while concerns have been raised about privacy and the reach of surveillance in an age of ever-improving technology, police agencies and Ring insist the collaboration is helping solve crimes.
“I’d share my video in a heartbeat,” said Shell, whose home surveillance system is not a Ring product. “Why wouldn’t I? I don’t see it as any kind of invasion of privacy.”
Sheriff Brad Burkhart spoke with the heads of the county’s law enforcement agencies several months ago about the concept, and officials agreed it would be helpful to use video-sharing to help fight crime.
Noting police can’t be everywhere at all times, Burkhart said, a video monitoring portal could be a great deterrent.
“Almost everyone nowadays has some kind of camera system of some sort, so why not take advantage of that,” Burkhart said.
The Neighbors app, which is free, allows residents to stay up to date on local crime and safety situations. More importantly for police agencies, it allows users to share anonymous tips directly from their smartphone.
What it doesn’t do, the company says, is allow police agencies to harvest information without users’ permission.
“Ring has designed these programs in a way that upholds our user standards and keeps residents in control,” said Morgan Culbertson, a spokeswoman for Ring.
Not everyone is convinced. Fight for the Future, a national nonprofit made up of criminal justice reform groups and other civil rights advocates, says the expanding network is a threat to privacy and civil rights.
“With no oversight and accountability, Amazon’s technology creates a seamless and easily automated experience for police to request and access footage without a warrant, and then store it indefinitely,” the group said in an open letter to police agencies earlier this month. “…Stored footage can be used by law enforcement to conduct facial recognition searches, target protesters exercising their First Amendment rights, teenagers for minor drug possession, or shared with other agencies like ICE or the FBI.”
But advocates say the collaboration is helping bring neighbors and the police closer together. That has been a key goal of local law enforcement for years.
“We really love it so far,” said Chief Jeff Rasche of the Greenfield Police Department. “It’s a nice bridge between the community and law enforcement.”
The recent outbreak of car break-ins in Greenfield is a prime example of how the project will work. People sent the police video from their home cameras of cars getting broken into, which helped lead to an arrest once the videos were widely shared.
“We then shared what we learned throughout central Indiana, and we uncovered a huge ring of thieves that were out doing this in central Indiana,” Rasche said.
Officials from the New Palestine Police Department have also joined the Ring portal. They sent out a notification to community members via social media recently to let them know they’re on board the new video sharing system with the hope people will share recordings.
As an official member of the program, they can post incident updates, safety tips and requests for investigative information to residents using the Neighbors app.
Chief Bob Ehle of the New Palestine Police Department likes the fact anyone with a camera can post an incident on the portal, allowing law enforcement to investigate.
“If you’ve got the Ring doorbell or a camera system and you catch something suspicious, it can be posted to the neighborhood portal, and that gives us access to it,” Ehle said.
While the app isn’t monitored by law enforcement 24/7, police can view, post and respond to crime and safety-related information. Law enforcement can also submit video requests to help with active investigations in areas.
“We’re taking community policing to the next level,” Ehle said. “We’ve got people helping us out more by having these kinds of systems.”
Officials in McCordsville were set to take part in a webinar about the app last week with hopes of getting on board soon said Aaron Watts, detective for the McCordsville Police Department.
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