Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
The police have a new way for you to know what’s going on in your neighborhood! With Ring you can make a difference and share suspicious activity or crime with the people who live around you. This helps builds a virtual safety net and that’s exactly what criminals don’t want. You can share pictures, video or just text the suspicious behavior.
The Topeka Police Department has announced that it is joining the free Neighbors app by Ring to provide the Topeka community with real-time, local crime and safety information. The Neighbors network already has millions of users and has been instrumental in catching package thieves, stopping burglaries and keeping neighborhoods safe.
This app allows people to communicate with one another in their own neighborhoods in real time to share text information, clear pictures and videos with one another and the Topeka Police Department.
Residents can text topekaks to 555888 from their smartphone to download the Neighbors app for free on iOS and Android and use the app to; join their neighborhood, share crime and safety-related videos, photos and text-based posts; and receive real-time safety alerts from their neighbors, local law enforcement and the Ring team.
“We are extremely excited to be partnering with Ring on this new endeavor,” said Topeka Police Chief Bill Cochran. “Not only will this app be used to communicate in a new way with our community, but we feel this tool will help us greatly when partnering with citizens to fight crime.”
Jamie Siminoff, Chief Inventor and Founder of Ring said, “We’re excited to have the Topeka Police Department join Neighbors to keep their community up-to-date on local crime and safety information. Over the past few years we have learned that when neighbors, the Ring team and law enforcement all work together, we can create safer communities. Neighbors is meant to facilitate real-time communication between these groups, while maintaining neighbor privacy first and foremost. By bringing security to every neighbor with the free Neighbors app, the Topeka community can stay on top of crime and safety alerts as they happen.”
How It Works
- Text topekaks to 555888 or go to: https://download.ring.com/topeka from your smartphone to download the app for free on iOS and Android.
- Opt-in to join your neighborhood.
- Customize the geographic area you want to receive notifications for (users must verify where they are located and cannot participate in other neighborhoods).
- Receive real-time alerts from your neighbors, local law enforcement and the Ring team that inform of crime and safety alerts as they happen.
- View local crime and safety posts via a live feed or interactive map.
- Share text updates, photos and videos taken on any device, including Ring’s home security devices.
- Work with your community to make neighborhoods safer.
This partnership comes just months after the department launched it’s See Topeka program. That initiative allows people to register their security cameras with the police department so they know where cameras are located. The police department can then ask for permission to obtain footage from the cameras if they could help in an investigation.
About Neighbors
Neighbors is a neighborhood watch app that provides real-time, local crime and safety information. Download the free Neighbors app (iOS/Android), join your neighborhood, and use the app to: view neighborhood activity; share crime and safety-related videos, photos and text-based posts; and receive real-time safety alerts from your neighbors, local law enforcement and the Ring team. For more information visit: www.ring.com/neighbors.
About Ring
Ring’s mission is to reduce crime in neighborhoods by creating a Ring of Security around homes and communities with its suite of home security products and services. The Ring product line, along with the Ring Neighbors app, enable Ring to offer affordable, complete, proactive home and neighborhood security in a way no other company has before. In fact, two Newark, NJ neighborhoods saw an over 50 percent decrease in home break-ins after Ring Video Doorbells and Spotlight Cams were installed on 11% of homes in the communities from April-July 2018 when compared to the same time period in 2017. Ring is an Amazon company. For more information, visit www.ring.com. With Ring, you’re always home.
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