Malden Introduces Neighborhood Watch App

With the world constantly changing and certain events happening, there have been constant talks about security.  In Malden, the talk about security has been about the safety of their neighborhoods, which makes the Neighbors app by Ring a good place to start for Malden residents.  

Detective Marc Gatcomb stated that “the Neighbors app was instituted by Ring.” The app was coded in a way that the messages would remain anonymous to the Malden Police Department.  

This means they would not know who the message is going to, but everyone who uses the app is given a number if they want to post anything or reply to any of their requests. “If a person wishes to reply to [their] request, they would be known as Neighbor33 etc. unless the end user provided their exact location and information.” 

The creation of the app came from Ring “as a platform to interface customers and law enforcement, to converse and share information” as Gatcomb stated when asked about who came up with the idea to have Malden residents use it.

A benefit of having the Neighbors app is that the user does not have to have a Ring device to upload a video.  In fact, any video content can be uploaded from any device such as a cellphone or a home video system. With the app not being at the proprietary Ring software, it makes sharing information more possible for multiple users.  

Gatcomb had continued to say that the Neighbors app gives investigators another tool “to access and communicate with Malden residents.” The app also allows them to post advisories to all Malden residents that use Neighbors, like “[keeping] car doors locked as [they] are experiencing an uptick in car breaks where the doors were left unlocked.”

“[They] understand that as times change, so does policing. Old fashioned police work will always be a staple, but combined with breakthroughs in technology and social media for information dissemination, it is believed more crimes can be solved.”

Gatcomb clarified that he and the other detectives also used the Ring devices and the Neighbors app but does not endorse it professionally.  The app is free but is currently accessible to only Apple users.