Cute videos, but little evidence: Police say Amazon Ring isn't much of a crime fighter

[looney2ns]

Cute videos, but little evidence: Police say Amazon Ring isn't much of a crime fighter

Hundreds of police departments have signed agreements with Ring to gain access to footage filmed on home surveillance cameras

www.nbcnews.com

 

[sebastiantombs]

But people just buy into the "latest and greatest" even though they're ignorant, and refuse to educate themselves, about the actual usefulness of a Ring POS.

 

[coney27]

I'll throw my two cents in on this one. I'd estimate over the last three years, since these gimmicky cameras have become more popular, I have responded to about 20 dispatched calls which included the suspects or incidents being captured on video from one of these cams.

I'll be generous and say three out of the 20 incidents have resulted in good, usable, informative video which will lead to the capture of the suspects.

Honestly 90 to 95% of the time the Ring, Arlo, Wyze, ADT, Comcast etc. etc. camera is crap and only produces crap video that is not useful to me. People expect wonders when they purchase these crappy cameras due to their pretty impressive advertising campaign the companies put out there. People literally are mounting these cameras up far too high, and far away from their wireless signal so normally the video is choppy and pixelated at best, or the camera only captures the incident partially and or you never get a real good look at the bad guys face and can barely make out what they are wearing.

Their 2.8mm lenses are especially useless unless the bad guys walks within 10 ft of the cam and stares directly at it for a few seconds. Normal citizen, just like the "newbs" on this forum expect one camera to do it all for them. People will place one ring spotlight cam above their garage and will expect the cam to cover their front door located 30 ft away. Technically the 2.8mm lense covers their door but with little to no detail, rendering the video useless when the bad guy kicks in the front door and commits a burglary.

Especially where I work, and like many other departments across the country, most of the crime occurs after sunset. These cameras performed ridiculously poor at night and usually never capture a incident. Even if the camera does capture the incident all you can see are black blobs who you can only assume are people or fast moving pixels which are assumed to me vehicles. Overall the cameras es especially usless at night.

Overall the cameras are bullshit but nieve people love to spend their hard earned money on the newest cool piece of crap. And the end it's their loss and they are no safer or secure in their own home.

 

[mat200]

I'll throw my two cents in on this one. I'd estimate over the last three years, since these gimmicky cameras have become more popular, I have responded to about 20 dispatched calls which included the suspects or incidents being captured on video from one of these cams.

I'll be generous and say three out of the 20 incidents have resulted in good, usable, informative video which will lead to the capture of the suspects.
..

Thanks @coney27

Given: Amazon purchased Ring to help secure the Amazon supply chain.

So given that, I would like to have your impression on how well the Ring is working for that purpose.
( i.e. cutting down on package theft, or catching package thieves during the day time hours )[/QUOTE]

 

[coney27]

So given that, I would like to have your impression on how well the Ring is working for that purpose.
( i.e. cutting down on package theft, or catching package thieves during the day time hours )

[/QUOTE]

A active deterrent like a video doorbell is always beneficial. I've seen several situations where the porch pirate recognizes the cam and turns back around committing no crime besides a simple trespass. I have also seen a porch pirate notice the cam and still commit the larceny of a package, caring non the less. I have also seen, comically, the porch pirate also steal the ring doorbell along with the package.

I like to think something, as in a deterrent, is better than nothing. It's really dependent on the criminal themselves though. If they do not care about being arrested they will still commit the crime either way, camera or not. Some people are more opportunistic and wont risk getting arrested for a simple package that contains unknown items.

And yes IMO I feel with the prevalence of more and more doorbell cams the less and less paperwork I do for stolen packages.

 

[samplenhold]

I do not think that the 'deterrence effect' is that big a deal. Most thieves really believe that they will not get caught, even with their face on camera.

 

[wtimothyholman]

I like to think something, as in a deterrent, is better than nothing. It's really dependent on the criminal themselves though. If they do not care about being arrested they will still commit the crime either way, camera or not. Some people are more opportunistic and wont risk getting arrested for a simple package that contains unknown items.

And yes IMO I feel with the prevalence of more and more doorbell cams the less and less paperwork I do for stolen packages.

My advice to those in my neighborhood who ask about my camera system: "Any camera is better than no camera at all."

I completely agree with your assessment about the overall quality of Ring, Nest, or Wyze cams compared to a good Dahua or Hikvision camera, but over the years I have learned that most of my neighbors are absolutely intimidated when trying to install anything that even smacks of electronics or electricity - and most of them are highly educated professionals. Ring, Nest, and Wyze are as popular as they are because those companies have made the installation process as brain-dead simple as possible, yet many of my neighbors are still paralyzed at the thought of trying to do it themselves.

Even a bad camera will tell you what time the crime took place, how many people were involved, if they were driving a car, etc. Some information is better than none at all. I just wish I could persuade more of them to install even a couple of Wyze cams to cover the streets and alleys around their homes, much less a Dahua varifocal or PTZ camera.

 

[Sybertiger]

There's at least one homeowner in my neighborhood that has a fake camera with a blinking LED. I guess you could say it's better than nothing too...he believes it to be a deterrent.

 

[wtimothyholman]

There's at least one homeowner in my neighborhood that has a fake camera with a blinking LED. I guess you could say it's better than nothing too...he believes it to be a deterrent.

And perhaps it is, at least for some thieves. That's the problem with a dummy camera as a deterrent; you never really know.

What I find particularly amusing is that some dummy camera models are as expensive as a real Wyze cam. Some homeowners just don't think these things through very well.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Some Most homeowners just don't think these things through very well.

 

[Sybertiger]

Some Most homeowners just don't think these most things through very well.

 

[Arjun]

When poor choices lead to shoddy outcomes, this affects most those that are ill-informed. Consumerism is full of choices but doesn't mean you with what paid-advertisers tell you to do.

 

[samplenhold]

You never get what you don't pay for.

 

[coney27]

This is a prime example of what I am referring to. This citizen notified the police of a car burglar caught on their Ring doorbell. This video, besides time, date, and a white four door vehicle, is useless to me. Yet people believe they have evidence of a crime and that crime is earth shattering. This citizen bought a Ring Pro 2 for $299 and his happy with their video captures. SMH.

 

[wtimothyholman]

This is a prime example of what I am referring to. This citizen notified the police of a car burglar caught on their Ring doorbell. This video, besides time, date, and a white four door vehicle, is useless to me. Yet people believe they have evidence of a crime and that crime is earth shattering. This citizen bought a Ring Pro 2 for $299 and his happy with their video captures. SMH.

But look at it this way: 99 out of 100 Ring camera owners will never upgrade, and crappy video is all they will ever have. But 1 out of 100, after being frustrated by the poor quality of a Ring or Nest or Wyze cam, will start looking into options for better cameras. And before you know it, a brand-new newb arrives at this site, educates himself, and upgrades to a much better system.

There's no secret sauce for convincing your average homeowner to invest in a good security camera, but at least a few will get a taste of what is possible while using a cheap camera, and then take the leap. That's why I'm such an advocate of installing any camera, even a $20 Wyze cam. The first step is always the hardest.

 

[coney27]

But look at it this way: 99 out of 100 Ring camera owners will never upgrade, and crappy video is all they will ever have. But 1 out of 100, after being frustrated by the poor quality of a Ring or Nest or Wyze cam, will start looking into options for better cameras. And before you know it, a brand-new newb arrives at this site, educates himself, and upgrades to a much better system.

There's no secret sauce for convincing your average homeowner to invest in a good security camera, but at least a few will get a taste of what is possible while using a cheap camera, and then take the leap. That's why I'm such an advocate of installing any camera, even a $20 Wyze cam. The first step is always the hardest.

I agree. It's just somewhat comical to see people being overly happy and ecstatic with videos such as the one above. On several occasions I have explained to people why Rings are awful, shown them stills from my personal captures and they then want to instantly hire me to install the same setup on their home.

 

[Parley]

Here is a ring video from a neighbor who gave me the information so that I can get a closer look with my cameras. The police were not called.

By the way with myself and a neighbor having Dahua and Hikvision cameras, crime has really gone down in the neighborhood. I would say it has now been a year since anything of significence has happened. A couple of car door checkers but that has been it.

 

[Jessie.slimer]

When the ADT guy came out to finally remove my cameras (after numerous service calls), he even told me that they are not surveillance cameras. He said if you want to see license plates or make out faces, you need to get a "real camera". No joke, his words.

Far from what they say on the commercials.

You get a 30 second clip. Hopefully the crime is over within 30 seconds of first motion detected, or you wait a couple minutes for the next 30 second clip.

It's a joke.

 

[mat200]

Here is a ring video from a neighbor who gave me the information so that I can get a closer look with my cameras. The police were not called.

By the way with myself and a neighbor having Dahua and Hikvision cameras, crime has really gone down in the neighborhood. I would say it has now been a year since anything of significence has happened. A couple of car door checkers but that has been it.

Thanks @Parley

I'm having some challenges viewing that mp4... I did not see any time stamp. Was there a time stamp on that video?

 

[Parley]

There was no time stamp on the video that she sent me. However it looks like I still have one video left over of the car door checker walking across the street from my house and then he turned the corner and went up the street to her house. By the way this camera has since been replaced by a Dahua 4MP IPC-B5442E-Z4E with the 1/1.8" sensor.

View attachment Michelle Car Door Checker.mp4