Ring's latest partnership allows police to access camera footage through Flock

Amazon's Ring brand is entering into a new partnership with surveillance company Flock Safety to make it possible for law enforcement to request footage from smart doorbell owners. The move is part of a pivot back to collaborating with police, after Ring spent several years distancing itself and its products from law enforcement agencies.

As part of the partnership, "public safety agencies" using Flock's Nova platform or FlockOS will be able to use Ring's previously announced "Community Requests" program to receive footage captured by the camera of a Ring customer. Agencies investigating an event that might have been captured on camera will have to provide details like the "specific location and timeframe of the incident, a unique investigation code, and details about what is being investigated" before the request is passed on to relevant users. Throughout the process, the identity of Ring users is kept anonymous ...