The police department of El Monte, California, paid for 20 Ring home surveillance cameras with taxpayer money and planned to distribute them to residents who reported crime and promised to testify against them in court, according to documents obtained by Motherboard.
The documents, which were obtained via public records request, show that the police department started a “Ring Reward Program” in early February, about a month before it officially began a partnership with Ring.
An El Monte Police Department officer told Motherboard in a phone call that the department purchased 20 Ring cameras from Home Depot, but none of them have been given out because there have been no eligible crime tips. They said the department did this of its own volition, and not in concert with Ring. Ring told Motherboard in an email that the company has never encouraged law enforcement agencies to start Ring Reward Programs like the one started in El Monte.