This is why the Dallas-Fort Worth Police team with Ring, a company specialized in door-to-door cameras, despite confidentiality issues

Shortly after the Carrollton police signed a partnership agreement with the camera company at the door, Ring, owned by Amazon, Deputy Chief Kevin McCoy decided to make sure the company remained true to his word.

The ministry was investigating a homicide in late May 2018, and the detectives were hoping to have access to video footage from a ring camera at the victim's home.

McCoy said he knew the detectives would need the owner's consent or warrant to get the videos, but he still called a Ring representative to ask if the company would provide the video.

He got the answer he was expecting and hoped he would get: no.

"They did exactly what they said they were going to do. There's no back door … to get information from them, "McCoy said." They stuck specifically to the legal contract as it was. "

Ring has attracted the attention of privacy advocates on its partnerships with law enforcement. Last week, the company released a list of over 400 agencies with which it has teamed up, deepening some people's concerns about surveillance.

Ring's partner police services have access to its social media application, Neighbors. Through the application, they can request video footage from residents who own a Ring device.

The Dallas and Fort Worth fonts are among the more than two dozen North Texas agencies that have formed a partnership with Ring.

How does the partnership work

If the police investigate a crime, she can contact the close neighbors to request a video from a given period.

Residents decide to share their video, review the film before sending it or ignore the request.

Authorities and neighbors can also communicate directly with each other on the Neighbors app.

This feature has been beneficial to University Park, said police captain Jim Savage. This helped the department calm down neighborhood rumors.

"This gives our detectives the opportunity to say," Listen, that's not what happened. Here's what we do, & # 39; and just try to calm things down a bit, & quot; Savage said.

On any average user, the app can send ring group news team alerts about reported crimes within a five mile radius.

Residents who use the app can post videos and photos as they would on other social media platforms, although their names and exact locations remain confidential.

People used the platform to share videos of people stealing parcels under their porch or bursting into a car. They also report hearing gunshots or seeing wild animals such as leopards and coyotes.

How the police benefit

In the Carrollton Homicide case, the owner agreed to share the video of the Ring with the police. The film shows the victim, Randy Duggar, and the suspect Danny Aragon-Marquez arriving at the house where they lived in a roommate, according to an affidavit relating to a warrant for arrest.

Later, Ring footage captured Aragon-Marquez leaving the house about 40 minutes before the fire department arrived and found Duggar's body, the police said in the affidavit.

Aragon-Marquez has been charged with murder and his trial will be held in November.

Police officer Buddy Calzada, police spokesperson for Fort Worth, said Ring's footage helped the department catch suspects in many types of cases.

Last week, the ministry released an excerpt from Ring of Someone who was slipping a package. This is a type of case in which the footage has been particularly useful. The mere presence of doorbell cameras can prevent theft, Calzada said.

"We have seen in cases here where they actually looked … [the camera] and covered their face after the fact, "he said." They do not take the package because they do not want to get caught. "

The North Texas Police Service has stated that the Neighbors portal makes part of the routine of police investigations more effective.

Ring has offered some departments its devices to distribute to residents. Carrollton, for example, received a dozen, said department spokeswoman Jolene DeVito.

Last week, the department gave a camera to a woman victim of a theft of identity, said DeVito. Parcels that she had not ordered arrived at her home and were quickly removed from her porch. The police therefore offered him a camera for peace of mind, explained DeVito.

Dallas Safer Better Dallas, an anti-crime organization, received Ring cameras that were raffled by the Dallas Police Department at community events, said Police Major Elaine Page.

A spokesman for the Frisco police said the department did not want to participate in the distribution of free cameras.

"We do not want to appear as sellers for Ring," said officer Grant Cottingham. "We are trying to stay neutral, so we think it's a great way to fight crime, but we'll let Ring do the sales and we'll do our part."

How Ring benefits

Ring officials said the company's mission was based on public safety.

"The mission has always made the neighborhood safer," said Eric Kuhn, General Manager of Ring Neighbors. The Washington Post. "We have had a lot of success in terms of deterring crime and solving crimes that would otherwise not be resolved so quickly."

Copies of the contracts between Ring and Plano and Frisco Police Services show that the partnership is free for the police. Neither Ring nor the Police Partner shall receive compensation as part of the agreement, in accordance with the contract.

In several cases, departments said Ring approached them about the partnership with the Neighbors app. In Fort Worth, the company contacted the department, a spokesman said.

When Carrollton's department decided to join Ring's list of law enforcement partners, the question "What's the need for Ring?"

It was directed to the company's debut – when founder, Jamie Siminoff, went on Shark Tank to launch what he called DoorBot era.

"If you go back to the early stages of creating this project, he wanted to create a type of neighborhood watch program," McCoy said.

Savage, at University Park, said he thought it was likely that Ring is using the partnership as a way to publicize "his name".

"They could do business," he said.

Privacy issues

Police services point out that police do not have unhindered access to resident videos and can not watch live video from residents' doors.

But the speed with which police can request a video "fundamentally changes" the process of obtaining evidence, said Evan Greer, deputy director of the digital rights organization Fight for the Future.

Fight for the Future led a campaign urging local governments to ban partnerships between Ring and the police.

Greer said that the privacy concerns of the Ring's police partnerships did not only concern residents' access to videos.

"What is worrying is that once the police have collected these images, there is no limitation, no oversight or accountability as to how they can use them," she said.

She suggested that footage obtained for a specific survey be forwarded to other law enforcement agencies, including ICE.

"Nothing prevents the police from going back and watching this video and angering teenagers who smoke grass or … an offense or any number of minor crimes," Greer said. "It's a real concern."

She sees partnerships as a way for Ring to connect with the forces of order and government.

"It's quite outrageous that a private company finds a way to make profits by entering into these partnerships and essentially turning the police into a marketing unit," said Greer.

But McCoy, in Carrollton, said it was important for the ministry that the Neighbors app be available to everyone – so residents do not have to pay to use it. and that the application can be used in conjunction with other brands of home video surveillance equipment. .

"We wanted to make sure that there was no diverted way of using law enforcement to endorse their products in order to make more money," he said. -he declares. "That's why we enjoyed the fact that you can download any video there."

Cottingham, a spokesman for the Frisco police, believes that protecting the privacy of residents is part of the department's work.

"There are confidentiality issues, so it can be considered negative," he said. "But the bright side is that it allows us to increase our investigative capabilities."

Borrowing a line from another departmental officer, Cottingham said the partnership allowed the police to create "neighborhood surveillance for the 21st century."

"Our job is to make sure that … [residents] are safe, and if crimes are committed in the city, we have all the tools at our disposal to investigate these crimes, "said Cottingham.

Which North Texas Departments Participate

More than two dozen North Texas departments have joined the partnership, according to a mapping directory released last week.

• Allen

• Azle

• Balch Springs

• Burleson

• Carrollton

• Celina

• Colleyville

• Coppell

• Corinth

• Dallas

• Denton County Sheriff's Office

• DeSoto

• Farmers Branch

• Flower Mound

• High value

• Frisco

• Grand Prairie

• Irving

• Mesquite

• North Richland Hills

• Plano

• Richardson

• Richland Hills

• River Oaks

• Sachse

• Sherman

• The colony

• University Park

• Weatherford