It allows sharing of information to make communities safer
By Heather Ruenz
Editor
The Neighbors app by Ring is designed to help community members connect and stay informed about what’s going on around them. Now, people in the Elkhorn community can get on board as the local police department recently began using it.
Local police use the Neighbors app to share important crime and safety information with residents and work with their communities to make neighborhoods safer. Taking a step like this is essential in keeping residents safe within their homes as well as on their neighborhood streets. They may also want to look at how they can Prevent break-ins with security screens as well as what they can do to reinforce their doors to deter would-be intruders, etc.
Elkhorn Police Captain A.J. Brandl said members of the department are excited about using it as yet another way to connect with people in the community.
“We are pretty excited to be using this new app and plan to use it in conjunction with other social media services to connect and communicate with our community,” Brandl said.
Law enforcement can use the Neighbors app in a variety of ways including:
- To connect with the community – Through clearly identified posts denoting their role, local police officers can view and comment on public Neighbors app posts within their jurisdiction to connect with and help members of the community;
- To provide updates from official sources – local police can post official updates to help their community to stay informed about issues that may potentially affect residents;
- By working together – users have the option to provide helpful information if local police ask for assistance with an investigation. Users can choose whether to share videos, or opt out of future requests. This process has been designed to ensure that no user information is shared with local police unless the user chooses to do so, including whether or not they received a request.
Protecting user privacy is important and the app developers have taken several steps to meet that goal including: n
– No access to devices (police are never given access to users’ cameras or devices);
– No device locations (the portal does not provide police with the addresses at which any devices are located without a user’s express consent;
– No user account information (users are identified in the app’s posts and comments only as “Neighbor #” and both local police and regular users see that information and do not receive addition information about the post or the user posting or commenting;
– No direct access to users (local police can use the app to ask their community for assistance with an investigation. When they do so, users retain absolute control to determine whether they may have potentially relevant videos, whether or not they elect to share any videos, or opt out of future requests. Local police cannot see how many users received a request, who declined to share, or which users opted-out of future requests.
According to Ring, “millions of users are working together to make neighborhoods safer for their families, friends and neighbors and when communities work together, safer neighborhoods become a reality.”
Though it’s a Ring app, users do not need to have Ring – a home safety, camera system – to use it.
Brandl said Elkhorn police are pleased to have another way to interact with members of the local community.
“It will hopefully be a great tool for us and one more way for citizens to interact with our department and assist us with solving and preventing crime,” Brandl said.
To download the Neighbors by Ring app, visit the Apple App Store or Google Play. For more information about the app, visit ring.com.
