CIRCLEVILLE – A new helpful tool has become available to law enforcement and that tool uses your home device to help solve crimes.
Ring and Nest have introduced smart doorbells and cameras that record people in real time, now you can use the new app to upload suspicious video and real crime alerts in your area using these new devices.
The Neighborhood App uses your address to create a radius around your home and if anyone on the App shares an alert within that radius you get noticed. You can use this information to comment, provide additional details, share photos or video, and help neighbors stay on the lookout for local crimes anonymously.
Circleville Police have now joined the Neighborhood app and this will be a helpful tool for them to help solve crimes. We reached out to local Officer Dan Maher to ask some question involving this.
Can police access my device from this app and view and record video anytime they want?
No this is false, we cannot directly access your device. What we can do is request video using geolocation, from a specific date and time from cameras in that area, the app then requests the device owner for use. You do not have to consent to the request, it is the choice of the homeowner to help the police or not. We do not ever know who in the neighborhood has cameras.
Let me give you an example, a home gets broken into in your neighborhood between 5pm and 6 pm. Police use the app and request video from the cameras in the area for additional valuable evidence that may be captured on the device. Whats really cool about this app is that if your camera didn’t activate during that event they won’t even notify you.
Does the app identify me?
No it keeps you anonymous, only police departments are identified in the app. Police can comment on posts and provide general safety tips but they are identified as a police officer.
Also every post gets reviewed so you can’t post about a yard sale or a suspicious sandwich, they will never make it on.
What other uses does the app give?
Mostly the app is about crimes, suspicious people, etc. but police can also use this tool to post about public events going on like national night out.
