Less than two years after removing a feature that made it easier for law enforcement agencies to request footage from owners of Ring doorbells and other security products, Amazon has partnered with two companies that will help facilitate the same kinds of requests.

Two weeks after rolling out a new product line for 2025, Ring, owned by Amazon, announced a partnership with Flock Safety, as part of its expansion of the Community Requests feature in the Ring Neighbors app. Atlanta-based Flock is a police technology company that sells surveillance technology, including drones, license-plate reading systems and other tools. The announcement follows a partnership Ring entered into with Axon, previously Taser International, which also builds tools for police and military applications.

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Taken together, the two partnerships point to Amazon’s Ring division not only reintroducing tools for police to request images or video from Ring customers without a warrant but also to a closer alignment with companies that have ties to police departments, ICE, the Secret Service and branches of the military.

Ring described the process for Community Requests in one of its blog posts. It said an agency that is verified with Axon Evidence, which Axon owns, could submit a community request that includes a specific location and timeframe of an incident and details about what’s being investigated.  

The request would appear publicly in the Neighbors feed for people in that area, notifying them with the option to provide footage for that incident. 

«If you ignore the request, the agency will not know; your anonymity and videos are protected. The choice is entirely yours,» Ring said in the post.

According to the post, video footage submitted goes directly to Axon Evidence, where it is verified for authenticity.

Community Requests are ‘local,’ according to Ring

In an email responding to our questions, a representative for Ring reiterated the process for Community Requests, adding that «only local public safety agencies can initiate Community Requests.» 

The localized area submitted is limited to half a square mile, and those agencies don’t have access to information on who will receive a request to share footage or how many Ring users are in a given area, according to Ring. The company says those requesting information must follow community guidelines. 

According to Ring’s website, only local and county entities — whether they’re law enforcement, nonprofits, or local government — can set up a Neighbors Verified account. While federal agencies or local branches of federal agencies might be customers of Axon or Flock, they wouldn’t be eligible for a Neighbors Verified account and would not be eligible to file a Community Request, even if it were done on their behalf by a third party such as Axon or Flock, the Ring representative confirmed to CNET.

The partnerships would give those agencies more entry points for creating these requests. Amazon hinted in one of its blog posts that it may add partnerships with other companies. Community Requests can only come from agencies that have been verified by a third party, such as Flock or Axon, and by Ring as well.

Back in 2018, when Flock Safety was a nascent startup, it set up its own cameras in neighborhoods to provide surveillance to fight crime. 

Surveillance bystanders

While the footage from Ring devices is only given to local organizations by permission of the footage’s owner, that doesn’t mean other people — such as someone walking their dog or children playing in a neighborhood — are free from potential privacy issues if they’re captured on camera.

«This arrangement creates a tricky problem from a privacy standpoint for consumers because the people who never signed up for surveillance in the first place could be watched, and they never agreed to that,» said Erik Avakian, a technical counselor at Info-Tech Research Group and the former chief information security officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Avakian said that making Ring footage availability opt-in still doesn’t address the issue of what happens to footage once it’s in the hands of law enforcement or other groups. 

«It could be used for other investigations, shared with others, or perhaps even used to capture biometrics and personal information like facial recognition features,» he said. «The videos might also end up revealing more about neighbors, visitors, or passersby than about the actual incident itself.»

He said one solution would be to blur out any individuals or identifiable artifacts from footage if it’s not part of the investigation. Regardless of whether that’s possible or not, Avakian said that companies such as Ring and those requesting footage should be transparent about how videos or images will be used, how long data will be stored, and if it’s shared with anyone else.

Mesh policing

What Ring and local law enforcement are doing with Community Requests may create some efficiencies for agencies that are stretched thin and don’t have the resources to gather as much evidence as what doorbell and security camera owners may be able to provide.

«Crime isn’t slowing down, but police resources are stretched thinner than ever,» said Ryan Schonfeld, co-founder and CEO of HiveWatch, which uses AI technology to create security ecosystems.   

«Technology integration gives a single officer access to necessary data that was previously unavailable, doing the work that would have required an entire team,» Schonfeld said. «If we want crimes solved and public safety maintained, we need to embrace the interoperability that makes it possible with the resources we actually have.»

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has a diverse mix of topics. The purple one might make you hungry, and it also includes a classic Connections letter-addition trick. If you need help, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Tip over.

Green group hint: Time to read.

Blue group hint: Think tantrums.

Purple group hint: Trick-or-treat treats, with a different letter.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Topple.

Green group: Part of a book.

Blue group: Lose it, with «out.»

Purple group: Chocolate bars plus a letter.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is topple. The four answers are fall, spill, tumble and wipeout.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is part of a book. The four answers are cover, jacket, leaves and spine.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is lose it, with «out.» The four answers are bug, flip, freak and wig.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is chocolate bars plus a letter. The four answers are crunchy, dover, marsh and skort. (Crunch, Dove, Mars and Skor.)

Toughest Connections puzzles

We’ve made a note of some of the toughest Connections puzzles so far. Maybe they’ll help you see patterns in future puzzles.

#5: Included «things you can set,» such as mood, record, table and volleyball.

#4: Included «one in a dozen,» such as egg, juror, month and rose.

#3: Included «streets on screen,» such as Elm, Fear, Jump and Sesame.

#2: Included «power ___» such as nap, plant, Ranger and trip.

#1: Included «things that can run,» such as candidate, faucet, mascara and nose.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a good one for people who like to guess a lot of vowels. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has three vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with a vowel.

Wordle hint No. 4: And that vowel is…

Today’s Wordle answer begins with I.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer means something that is desirable or perfect.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is IDEAL.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Oct. 18, No. 1582 was HAVEN.

Recent Wordle answers

Oct. 14, No. 1578: FORUM
Oct. 15, No. 1579: SPOOF
Oct. 16, No. 1580: CATTY
Oct. 17, No. 1581: GROSS

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q. 

Some solid starter words to try:

ADIEU

TRAIN

CLOSE

STARE

NOISE