SMH: Ring Doorbell Admits Police Partnership & Release Partner List

Source: Kimberly P. Mitchell/Detroit Free Press/TNS via Getty Images / Kimberly P. Mitchell/ Detriot Free Press

Amazon & Ring Doorbell Own Up To Police Partnership

At the beginning of 2019, privacy groups like Fight For The Future turned the volume up on the rumors that Ring was secretly working with police in some kind of partnership.

The details weren’t really concrete at the time, but rumors were swirling that police had access to customers’ Ring doorbell cameras and footage. While that exact theory wasn’t proven to be true, some type of police communication with Ring was recently pushed into the spotlight.

Cnet has been following the story, and just last week published a piece titled, “Amazon’s Ring wants police to keep these surveillance details from you“. A week later, Jeff Bezos’ Amazon and Ring have officially released a map that details their police partnerships by location.

The map shows a total of 405 police agency partnerships, while independent privacy groups research had previously only found out about approximately 205. According to reports from Cnet, Amazon & Ring began working with police agencies back in 2018. The partnership included giving law enforcement access to its ‘Law Enforcement Portal’ to send alerts and request footage from its online app.

All of these newly emerged details were previously requested to be kept a secret by Amazon, for some odd reason *raises eyebrows*

Though it seems pretty shady, the partnership is a smart move, on Amazon’s part. Who better to suggest you some new products to buy than the police? Though some elements of this partnership sound good, it also prompts the age-old question: Who is policing the police and their usage of the tools Amazon is providing to them?

Check if your local law enforcement is partnered with Ring and Amazon here.