“They seem to be enlisting law enforcement in a sort of sales role. ”When police departments go even slightly off script, Ring pushes back. In April, the Bloomfield Police Department in New Jersey announced it was partnering with Ring and published a press release on social media that, according to documents obtained from another public records request, appeared to be almost entirely written by the company. The only parts that weren’t taken from Ring directly were quotes attributed to Bloomfield’s mayor, Michael Venezia, and its public safety director, Samuel DeMaio. Still, a member of Ring’s public relations team emailed the department after its announcement, asking for several corrections to be made, like ensuring Ring was always capitalized and its Neighbors app was mentioned by name. Once a police department has access to Ring’s portal, officers can use it to request video footage from local Ring camera owners. The request email uses a template largely written by Ring, although police specify the time frame and geographic area they are looking for, as well as add a custom message. Police don’t need to obtain a warrant to send a request, and citizens aren’t under any legal obligation to hand over their recordings. But Ring doesn’t always remind customers of that fact. In one request from May, sent by police in Bloomfield, Ring starts by informing people that “Sharing videos is absolutely your choice. ” In another message sent by El Monte police in June, that explicit disclosure wasn’t present.