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Amazon’s Ring offered a footage request system to more than 400 law enforcement agencies

Amazon’s Ring offered a footage request system to more than 400 law enforcement agencies

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The company released an interactive map

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Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Amazon’s Ring security service has partnered with more than 400 law enforcement agencies across the United States, the company disclosed today in a blog post.

In the post, Ring said that it had created an extension of its Neighbors app, called the Neighbors Portal, which police can use to submit a request through Ring to users for video recordings related to investigations, or to make public announcements as “a verified law enforcement officer.”

Company released interactive map

“We share updates when new law enforcement agencies join Neighbors through the app, social media and local press, but our users have asked for an additional way to search this information,” the blog post reads. The company also released an interactive map that lists the partnerships, as well as the active date of the agreement. Ring said in the post that it would keep the map regularly updated.

The announcement follows a wave of press questioning Ring’s agreements with law enforcement. In July, Motherboard reported that Amazon had told police it had partnered with more than 200 law enforcement agencies, quickly raising questions about user privacy, and about exactly how close those relationships extended.

The number of partners could also be rising rapidly. Earlier in the day, The Washington Post reported that 401 law enforcement agencies used Ring’s tools, but that the number rose to 405 by the time Ring published its own post later in the day.