NYPD joining Ring camera's Neighbors app to tap into doorbell cameras
NEW YORK -- The NYPD says it has a new way to fight crime -- through your doorbell camera -- but critics say it raises serious questions about surveillance by police.
You've seen them all across the country -- Ring cameras -- sometimes catching alleged criminals in the act, and now the NYPD says it's going to use the technology.
The department says it will participate in Neighbors, a free app developed as part of the Ring system. They say it simply makes interaction easier between police and the public.
In a statement, NYPD commissioner Keechant Sewell said, "The ability to interact online with New Yorkers - often in real time - adds to the comprehensive crime-fighting strategies already employed by the NYPD."
The department says it will not monitor around the clock but will have the capacity to view, post and respond to crime and safety information posted publicly by app users. It will also seek the public's help through the app's "Request for Assistance" feature.
Not everyone is welcoming the move, however, including Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
"There has been no inquiry, there's been no vetting, there's been no public scrutiny of a massive NYPD surveillance program, the consequences of which of we have only vague ideas about," she told CBS2's Dick Brennan.
In a statement, the NYPD said it "will only be able to access content on this platform that has been publicly posted by individual users of Ring/Neighbors."
"So they're saying, 'we're only looking at stuff that's already in the public eye,'" Brennan said.
"Right, but what it doesn't tell us is what is the NYPD able to do with this information? How long can it retain it? How does it safeguard it?" Lieberman said.
The NYPD says the collaboration with Ring will begin next week.
