Columbus Police, Lowndes Co. Sheriff hope Ring Doorbell’s video and safety information sharing app can help solve and prevent more crimes

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – In the ongoing fight against the area’s rising crime, law enforcement has repeatedly stressed the importance of working with the community.

Tuesday evening, the Columbus City Council unanimously approved a new deal with Ring Doorbell to join their Neighbors Public Safety program.

The hope is that its free Neighbors app can help foster that kind of teamwork.

“Trying to be everywhere at one time is impossible,” says Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins. “So we need information from the public to help solve some of these crimes.”

The Neighbors app allows residents to share safety updates and video directly with each other and local law enforcement.

“They can share it on a cell phone in this Neighborhood app or that customer can share it with his other neighbors with just the push of a button,” says Columbus Police Chief Fred Shelton.

The Columbus Police and Fire departments as well as the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department are all involved. Sheriff Hawkins says the information they can get from the large number of Ring cameras in the area could be invaluable.

“We can target a certain area, maybe in New Hope or Crawford or Caledonia,” he says. “We can set up geofences in these areas and gather information when a crime happens.”

The user can pick the specific area or neighborhood that they would like to receive or contribute updates to. A person does not even need a Ring camera to use the app. They can use something similar like a Nest camera or even their cell phone.

“We’ll get real-time footage,” Chief Shelton says. “What happened, what time it happened, with the GPS location.”

Columbus resident Clay Bowen has a Nest camera himself and believes they can be very effective.

“Knowing the fact that we can share that (video footage) and share it with law enforcement, I think it’s a step in the right direction that is sorely needed for Columbus right now.”

Chief Shelton says the increased anonymity from the app could also help more people come forward with information related to active investigations.

“It’s anonymous, so nobody knows if you shared your video, nobody knows your address, not even the law enforcement agency,” he says.

However, law enforcement agencies do not have access to users’ Ring devices, live streams or any other personal information. Agencies must request videos from the public and it is up to the individual to decide if and how much video they would like to share.

“Big Brother’s not out here trying to get your information,” said Sheriff Hawkins. “We’re out here trying to solve these crimes and with the community’s help, this is one way that’ll work.”

CPD and the fire department will start training on the app during the second week of June and the sheriff’s department will do the same a short time after that.