When police departments go even slightly off-script, Ring pushes back. In April, the Bloomfield Police Department in New Jersey announced it was partnering with Ring, and published a press release on social media that, according to documents obtained from another public records request, appear to be almost entirely pre-written by the company. The only parts that weren’t taken from Ring directly were quotes attributed to Bloomfield’s mayor, Michael Venezia, and its public safety director, Samuel DeMaio. Still, a member of Ring’s public relations team emailed the department after its announcement, asking for several corrections to be made, like ensuring Ring was always capitalized and its Neighbors app was mentioned by name.
“Unfortunately I can’t make [the mayor and public safety director] say anything specific,” Bloomfield Police Captain Vincent Kerney wrote back to the Ring staffer. “All of the information was copied and pasted directly from your press releases with the exception of the quotes.” The Ring public relations representative insisted the changes be made at least on Facebook, which they later were, according to the post’s edit history. The Bloomfield Police Department did not return a request for comment.
Once a police department has access to Ring’s portal, officers can use it to request video footage from local Ring camera owners. The request email uses a template largely written by Ring, although police specify the time frame and geographic area they are looking for, as well as add a custom message. Police don’t need to obtain a warrant to send a request, and citizens aren’t under any legal obligation to hand over their recordings. But Ring doesn’t always remind cu ..
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