BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Amazon will no longer allow police to request video from Ring doorbell cameras on its neighborhood watch app. The app's "Request for Assistance" tool is being removed.
"What Ring did is mandate the legal process, as opposed to volunteer processing," said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia. He calls it a "step back" in the advanced technology.
Gramaglia said for past investigations, such as stolen cars, police utilized other Ring doorbell cameras to try and track where a suspect may have fled. Police would request footage through the app, in addition to canvassing the area.
The change will now just take away the simple tool, which only helped authorities as they physically investigated an area.
"What's changed here with Ring is loss of efficiency," said Gramaglia. "We’re still going to be able to go door-to-door, which adds time to talk to people to see if we can take a look at their cameras."
If residents don't cooperate, police can still obtain video through a subpoena or reservation order, but that adds time to the investigative process.
Some who support the change have expressed concern about privacy.
"We’ve never had ability, even through this app, never had the ability to tap into your cameras," emphasized Gramaglia.
"As a society, we're still determining what the rules of the road are, because there's a trade-off of privacy, versus additional security," explained Dean Drako, CEO and founder of Eagle Eye Networks Inc. His company is a cloud-based video surveillance company that serves many large organizations.
"Our customer has control over who sees video," said Drako.
Drako said privacy is always a risk for devices that use the internet, including Ring doorbells.
"If you have video on cameras outside your house or business, and you're not paying attention to cybersecurity on that system you're open to hacking," said Drako.
Drako said his company is looking to provide a way that first responders can access Eagle Eye Networks surveillance cameras, with a customer's permission, so emergency crews can potentially see the fire or danger they might be responding to.
