NHPD
Allan Appel Photo
Lt. Rentkowicz pitches neighbors on Amazon’s crime-reporting app.
The rise of Ring has spawned privacy concerns.
So long block watches. Hello … Neighbors by Ring?
That was the word from District Manager Lt. Jason Rentkowicz at Tuesday night’s Quinnipiac East Management Team (QEMT) meeting.
In an era of shrinking participation in block watches, apps like Ring are becoming the new way neighbors inform each other about potential criminal activity and suspicious behavior.
Rentkowitz asked the two dozen neighbors gathered for the monthly meeting at the Bishop Woods School cafeteria to begin to familiarize themselves with the free Ring app.
Amazon sells the Ring app as part of a company it purchased in 2018 for $2 billion.
If he goes to Twitter, NextDoor, or Facebook to pick up a lead or note a crime report, Lt. Rentkowicz explained, he might have to scroll through people making political comments or wanting to sell a bicycle.
What distinguishes Neighbors by Ring is that the site is limited to posting of public safety issues. As such, “it’s the only social media that partners with the police,” he said.
In the near future, the NHPD will likely make the announcement of its partnership (it’s free) with the app, he said. Rentkowicz said he wants his citizens in the ninth policing district to get a head start.
“My goal is to get people acclimated” to using the app, he said.
New West Hills/Westville/West Rock top cop Lt. Elliot Rosa also this week urged neighbors in an email to consider using the app. “I will be pushing this out as the “New Block Watch. Some of you may be familiar with the NextDoor app, it has pitfalls, so please become familiar with the Neighbors App,” Rosa wrote. “This app will enable us to share more information, ‘in real time.’ It can send alerts straight to your phone & mine. It is a way for us to communicate faster, better, and more reliably.”
Ring’s camera footage from its own surveillance products instantly uploads. So will images from any other brand of security equipment, Rentkowicz said. And as soon as someone posts, the material goes live in real time and officers can access the footage or photographs. Such instant imagery gives officers a head start in solving crime.
Posting is anonymous, he added. The only people to be identified on the site will be the police officers who are responding.
A posting neighbor can also be sure that, unlike on Twitter and Facebook, the responding officer is the real thing, Rentkowicz said, because the app folks and the NHPD are now in the process of giving each officer in the department their own approved log-in.
New Haven’s effort follows in a national trend of law enforcement use of the Ring app, and of the general popularity of the app. It has caused controversy, as well. Critics like the ACLU’s Technology for Liberty program have expressed concerns about the app and the devices sowing distrust and racial fear-mongering in neighborhoods. (Click here for a story about such concerns in Boston.)
Other tech watchers— like the Electronic Frontier Foundation — accuse Amazon of using Ring “to surveil its customers” through third-party trackers.
(Some readers have also posted concerns in the comments section at the bottom of this article.)
Management team attendees.
“I know the chief has talked about trying to revitalize block watches,” Rentkowicz said. “Maybe the department will come up with a mix of this and old fashioned block watches,” but in his view, at least in his far-flung district, he said he is not aware of any active block watch.
Some people have discussed restarting them, and ideas for other block-watch type patrols in response to upticks in crime are out there. But no additional steps have been taken. Rentkowicz said he doesn’t see adding an additional meeting to people’s busy schedules. While social media posting does not have the neighborhood-building quality of daily and nightly walks that old-fashioned block watchers engaged in, the in-person back and forth already takes place at the management team meetings, where crime reports are always a central feature.
Social media, and this app in particular, will be the better alternative, the modern blockwatch, he said.
“It’s not a replacement for 911. It’s for sharing information and ID clips,” he added. And eventually the app will be able to provide crime data maps and be a source for the sending out of bulletins and police alerts.
Side By Side
Lt. Rentkowicz prepared this comparison of postings on Nextdoor and Ring’s “Neighbors” app, to show why he considers the latter more useful:
Recent posts on “Nextdoor”:
• A Blue Ray player for sale
• An ad for Valentine’s Day fondue
• A discussion regarding the Mayor
• Illegal dumping at Lighthouse Park
• A photo of a sunrise in the Cove
• A landscaper wanted
• A request for bottles and cans
• A sheet rocker wanted
• An ad for meal deliveries
• An ad for mortgage refinancing
• An inquiry regarding a pony ranch
• A person in search of compost
Some examples of posts on “Neighbors”:
• A suspicious person checking door handles
• A stranger entering a porch
• A car accident with a fire
• A car break in
• A package thief
• Trespassing
• Coyotes in the neighborhood
• A report of gunshots
• One Amazon ad
MIGHT be a good supplement to block watch organizing, but not a replacement.