WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Driving through neighborhoods in Luzerne County, you're bound to see home surveillance cameras. Doorbell cameras like Ring can help law enforcement investigate crimes.
"A lot of the violent crimes that we've had were solved by using some sort of video surveillance. It's always a help and gives us a starting point," explained Wilkes-Barre Police Sgt. James Sheridan.
But now, new changes to the Neighbors app through Ring could change how some departments gather information.
The company, owned by Amazon, announced police agencies will no longer be able to use the "request for assistance" tool to request and receive user video through the app. The tool allowed police to acquire video without getting a warrant first.
"In isolated incidents, more often than not, if there is a victim of a crime that has a Ring camera or some sort of home surveillance, they voluntarily turn that video over to us, and if it's a situation where we need to serve legal process, we are going to do that anyway," said Sgt. Sheridan.
Sgt. Sheridan says he doesn't believe his department will see any negative impacts from this change.
"We do have close-knit neighborhoods, and I think there are people who look out for each other, so if there is a crime that happens, I believe that neighbors would want to help and say, 'I have this video, is it going to help?'"
Sheridan says this is just another example of how officers need to be up to date on the latest technology and rules that go along with it.