Amazon Makes It Harder for Police to Access Ring Doorbell Videos

Amazon’s Ring will no longer allow police to request users’ doorbell video footage in its neighborhood watch app.

In a blog post on Wednesday, Ring said this week it plans to discontinue its “Request for Assistance” tool, which allowed law enforcement to submit requests for users’ footage in their communities through a publicly accessible post in its Neighbors app, CNBC reports.

“Public safety agencies like fire and police departments can still use the Neighbors app to share helpful safety tips, updates, and community events,” Eric Kuhn, head of Neighbors, wrote in the post. “They will no longer be able to use the RFA tool to request and receive video in the app.”

Police can still obtain Ring video footage using a search warrant or subpoena. The company added that Ring may provide footage directly to law enforcement “in cases involving imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to any person.”