Photo: Chris Fama / WBZ NewsRadio
NATICK, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — In an effort to bring connectivity between residents and law enforcement, the Natick Police Department has signed on to join the 'Neighbors' Ring program, an application that shares resources between locals to identify criminals, provide disaster relief, and find lost pets, among other uses.
Residents with the app can voluntarily and anonymously send images or video to neighbors and police officers from Wi-Fi cameras at their homes, officials say. Lieutenant Chad Howard gave WBZ's Chris Fama a tutorial on the software at NPD headquarters, where he pointed out a couple instances of crime on the site.
"If I were to click on a crime— what I'm looking at here is a video of somebody blatantly breaking into somebody else's car. Another video shows a guy just coming right up to the front porch and taking off with somebody's package, this is phenomenal video as his face is right up to the camera," Howard said.
The app is free to all and is available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.
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NPD offcials say they hope the partnership will solve more crimes and make the Natick community safer.
"I would say it's a no-brainer, obviously people are concerned about their privacy— it's completely anonymous, you do not have to share with the police department, but it is an amazing tool to enlist our community to help us find missing persons and solve crimes," Howard said.
Chris Fama (@CFamaWBZ) reports.
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