Ring partners with Flock Safety and Axon, reversing privacy commitments and expanding police surveillance

Amazon’s Ring announced partnerships with both Flock Safety and Axon, marking a dramatic reversal of its January 2024 commitment to limit police access to user footage. The partnerships enable law enforcement agencies to request Ring doorbell camera footage through third-party platforms operated by companies whose surveillance technologies are used by ICE, federal agencies, and police departments nationwide. The timing was particularly notable: the same day as Ring’s announcement, 404 Media reported that ICE, the Secret Service, and the Navy already had access to Flock’s camera network.

Flock Safety Integration and AI Surveillance

Through the Flock Safety partnership, law enforcement officers using Flock platforms like Nova or FlockOS can request video evidence from Ring cameras tied to specific times and locations. Flock Safety specializes in AI-powered surveillance cameras that scan license plates, identify vehicle information, and enable natural language searches of footage to locate individuals matching specific descriptions. However, such AI tools have been extensively documented to amplify racial bias in policing. The integration potentially connects Ring’s millions of private doorbell cameras to Flock’s network of over 30,000 AI surveillance cameras already deployed across the United States.

Community Request Program Mechanism

Police departments using the integrated platforms can submit video requests that include incident details and unique investigation codes, which then appear in Ring’s Neighbors app for users in selected geographic areas. Ring emphasizes that users retain the decision whether to share footage, but civil liberties advocates note the system normalizes constant police surveillance requests and creates social pressure to comply. The Electronic Frontier Foundation stated that “their technology doesn’t make people safer, it just subjects them to a round-the-clock warrantless digital dragnet.”

Reversal of Privacy Commitments

Ring had dismantled similar police-access features in January 2024 amid public outcry over unchecked surveillance, marking that policy change as a victory for privacy advocates. The new partnerships with Flock Safety and Axon effectively resurrect the same functionality through third-party intermediaries, suggesting Ring’s retreat from police partnerships was tactical rather than substantive. By routing requests through external surveillance companies rather than Ring’s own platform, the company may be attempting to create legal and public relations distance from warrantless police access to its massive private camera network while maintaining the underlying surveillance infrastructure.