Adam Schanz
AP Photo/Jessica HillThe police who keep watch over the town of 16,000 raffled off free cameras in a partnership with the camera manufacturer. So far, the devices have encountered more bears than criminals, but Chief Ed Stephens is still a fan. "Anything that helps keep the town safe, I'm
going to do it," he said. But as more police agencies join with the company known as Ring, the partnerships are raising privacy concerns. Critics complain that the systems turn neighborhoods into places of constant surveillance and create suspicion that falls heavier on minorities. Police say the cameras can
serve as a digital neighborhood watch. Critics also say Ring, a subsidiary of Amazon, appears to be marketing its cameras by stirring up fear of crime at a time when it's decreasing. Amazon's promotional videos show people lurking around homes, and the company recently posted a job opening for a managing news editor to "deliver breaking crime news alerts to our neighbors. ""Amazon is profiting off of fear," said Chris Gilliard, an English professor at Michigan's Macomb Community College and a prominent critic of Ring and other technology that he says can reinforce race barriers. Part of the strategy seems to be selling the cameras "where the fear of crime is more real than the actual existence of crime. For example, you can create rules to have the lights turn on when motion is detected, have your doors unlock when a smoke alarm goes off, and have a camera begin recording when a sensor is triggered.Some systems store recorded video locally on an SD card or a solid state drive, while others offer cloud storage.Locally stored video is a good choice for do it yourselfers on a budget, but you have to be careful not to *overwrite video you may need later.Cloud *storage makes it easy to store and access recorded video, but *it can cost hundreds of dollars per year depending on your subscription.Some *systems offer both cloud storage and local storage, *and some provide a dedicated storage drive that gives you DVR capabilities with time lapse recording, which makes it easy to find a video event that took place at a specific point in time.
LunaAll of the systems we've *tested feature an app that lets you
pandouse your smartphone as your* command center to arm and disarm the system, create rules, add and delete components, and receive push notifications when alarms
Alarm Panelare triggered.Most apps also allow you to do things like
Motion Activated CameraCove Alarm Panelrecorded *video, lock and unlock doors, *change thermostat settings,
Glass break sensorand silence alarms.Some apps
Alder Youtube Videowill even use your phone's location services to *automatically arm and disarm the system according to your physical
Alarm app for Alderlocation.The
Alder Jobs Indeedmore expensive systems usually come with
Alders jobs and companya wall
Smart Smoke Detectormounted *panel that acts as a communications* hub, with
Luna smoke detectora touch screen display that allows you to do everything the app does.The display
Cellular Alarm Monitoringlets you* communicate with a professional monitoring* service
Rapid SOSwhen an alarm is triggered and view video from any of the installed security cameras.While many systems use wireless components that are installed using
Cove Security Reviewsdouble sided tape, some high end systems use components that require professional *installation.
"In this Thursday, June 20, 2019, image made from video, Chris Gilliard speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at an office in Dearborn, Mich.
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Quick, easy installation.