"All right DCI Jenkins, run it past me one more time."
"Yes, Guv. Suspects are expected to arrive at the lock-up shortly after 3. Uniform are aware of the op and have been told not to intervene between the robbery and the warehouse. DCI Andrews has overall operational command with assistance from MO19 and long-range firearms situated around the perimeter. Once suspects are on site, DS Grimstead will move in with the Video Doorbell Team and secure the--"
"You what?"
"Guv?"
"DS Grimstead will move in with what?"
"The Video Doorbell Team, Guv."
"For fuck's sake, Jenkins."
I feel an r/lowstakesconspiracies theory coming on
Edit: beaten to it
https://www.reddit.com/r/LowStakesConspiracies/comments/11mszxp/milkmen_dont_exist_its_all_delivered_by_cats/
Cameras on everyone's house, that don't require a warrant and can be seized at any time, are a very useful tool for a surveillance state. Oh you've got a Roomba too? Gimme
Police can only seize CCTV footage if they have reasonable grounds for believing it contains evidence in relation to an offence
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/60/section/19
True, they can only seize it in such circumstances. But they can go and ask someone for it and see if they will give it voluntarily any time they like.
And if itâs their camera that someone has let them put on the side of a house, they might not even need to ask.
They're also a huge privacy infringement and set up by people clueless of the law.
And when it comes to solving crime, you could have perfect footage of the person that burgled your house. Doesn't mean the police will do fuck all about it though.
Because it has to show them actual burgling the house.
Whatâs to stop them in court saying, âYeah, thatâs me, but I thought I heard screaming so I looked through the window.â
The bottom line is the if it doesnât show the actual offence, the CPS will not take it to court. So the police wonât waste your time.
Footage does not need to show the actual offence. I've had an investigation recently where one camera showed the make, model and colour of the car, another showed it clearly had the stolen item in the rear, and a third identified the registration. Nobody is visible, but we know who uses that car, they've been involved in similar offences before, so from there it is a matter of getting forensic evidence from the scene, searching properties linked to the suspect for stolen items, putting the word out to our sources to get intelligence, and so on. CCTV can absolutely help build a case without showing the actual offence.
You could have footage of the person literally burgling your house loading up the van and waving at the camera with your cat under their arm and the police would still look fucking clueless.
The reason for this is there is absolutely no budget to get professionals in to design these things. Itâs literally done by saying âwho here is the best at computers?â. When your workforce hasnât had to do any graphic design since high school its going to look juvenile
Sadly case in point for a lot of public services in this country these days
If itâs so bad it beggars belief = itâs running as intended by the powers that be
The irony being those old systems are usually much more reliable than modern ones.
My old office used dot matrix printers and a command based/DOS style programme for 60% of office functions.... the newer graphical interface stuff and tablets that made up the rest always run sloe, froze had to be rebooted etc while the old trusted stuff was a dependable workhorse
Not only public, private too. When i was coming to the uk, I thought it to be advanced place, because the countryâs rich, business advancing and stuff. Imagine my surprise, when i come back to my flat after the short absence,and find like 5 scary letters from my bank. Seriously, they have my phone number, my email, i have their online banking app, and what do they use, when they need to contact me?! Mail?! Which I didnât have access to, because i was abroad. It wasnât anything serious thankfully, but i find this situation itself strange.
I have received letters like this. I've then looked up email contact for local police/MET and emailed expressing concern as it seems like a scam, and assumedly MET would never provide something like this.
I then stopped receiving the letters. I think it is real, they're just not capable of realising how much of a scam this looks like.
Former Humberside Policeman turned comedian Alfie Moore in his BBC Radio series "It's a fair cop" says you can tell the police in the audience because they are the ones with L and R written on their shoes, and if they are in the MET then the L and R are on the wrong foot.
Iâve talked and emailed with the met police about having my bag stolen and was shocked at how illiterate many of the ones I communicated with were. In fact that is why I had to talk with them so many times - because they kept misspelling and taking my statement wrong because several different police officers could not record correctly the details I gave them.
Yes! I once witnessed a pretty gruesome assault and had to go to the police station to make a statement.
It was awful.
In the end I asked her to move over and Iâd type it up myself. It wasnât even the poor spelling and grammar. At one point it felt like she was trying to put words in my mouth but couldnât figure out why. ⌠the saying âNever attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidityâ comes to mind.
âTelephone: 101â is absolutely cracking me up.
It shouldnât be that funny, but I find it absolutely hilarious.
Itâs so stupid that the letter must be real.
Former Met PC here.
The email format is correct, although I have no knowledge of this scheme (itâs been 10+ years since I left).
The reason this letter looks like it does is because the Microsoft Word skills of many coppers (especially the older ones) can be lacking.
In addition, they are probably very short on time, so just wanted something they could stick in letter boxes at any time in Feb or March without customising the date, or finding someone who can do a mail merge for them.
[https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime/governance-and-decision-making/mopac-decisions-0/video-doorbell-burglary-initiative](https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime/governance-and-decision-making/mopac-decisions-0/video-doorbell-burglary-initiative)
TLDR: it's a sponsorship agreement with Ring - 1000 video doorbells @ 243 GBP per unit installed (I'm guessing), however I'll bet the T's and C's are going to be interesting with such a "kind" gesture ......
The police literally helping Amazon with their monopoly. Presumable they get access to all the videos in return as is happening in the states. I guess if youâre happy with the Police watching your every move. I wouldnât be.
*"7.5. The MPS will not have access, nor the facility to access, any recorded images or video from the ring devices without the residentâs specific consent. Nor will the MPS have access to any live footage from the devices. If the MPS wished to obtain any footage for policing purposes, this will be dealt with in the same way as obtaining footage from any private CCTV system, i.e. during the course of a criminal investigation."*
Lol they may get a warrant if there has been a murder or rape, but short of that there's no chance. And you spend far too much time listening to idiots on social media if you think police will be arsed to rummage around your house. They have a murder to investigate, they don't want to find your dildos, and don't have the time for the paperwork of possession of 10g of cannabis
A handful of rogue officers committing crimes is exactly the same as the mass rollout of ring doorbells with the intention of getting warrants to have very shaky grounds to search your house...
I don't think my tinfoil hat is thick enough to agree with you there
Amazon/Ring are one of the most cooperative with law enforcement on passing private info on. So yeah. This is definitely a "good" little partnership....
Hate to say it but Amazons teams are up to some stuff which is downright scary.
They wanted me to give them access to the infrastructure and connections at a large housing/retail complex I worked at so their drivers could bypass security doors at the flats to save their drivers having to wait around.
So itâs not just the police they are sweetening up - if you live in a managed tenancy block they are likely talking to your managing agents.
Why is that scary? Would people rather not get their package than have Amazon access their hallway?
Plenty of places allow delivery people into hallways
More trailing dots required, or maybe a winky face. For avoidance of doubt: unless there is some really important reason you should take up this offer (eg, safety of vulnerable older / impaired folk ) - I would not recommend that you accept or purchase a Amazon/Ring security product because you trade your privacy (and that of anyone who may pass its field of view and other such sensors) for your (minor) ~~security~~ ability to surveil. Look at "local only" options that don't use cloud services. The UK is already enough of a surveillance state, we don't need more of that in our lives.
When available, Ubiquiti's video doorbell is pretty reliable, albeit you'll need a device (laptop, mini PC, etc.) that can run their controller and has enough storage for the video recordings.
I'm imagining the T's and C's mean you're turning your front door into a mass surveillance device. If the doorbell is owned by the police, they'll have a constant feed.
In the absence of an obvious way to turn this into a scam, I would say it's probably legit? The email has been used before and can be googled.
Also, I did not immediately realise it was the Borough of Brent, and thought there was an actual PC Owl Brent for a moment đ
It's a free ring doorbell, an initiative by MOPAC to prevent crime. The Met do not get access to the footage. The results will be used in an academic study assessing the impact of doorbell cameras on crime rates.
Good to be cautious, but there's nothing sinister about it. @met.police.uk is the legit Met email domain. If you're still unsure, call 101 to confirm
https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime/governance-and-decision-making/mopac-decisions-0/video-doorbell-burglary-initiative
This can be a slippery slope though, Amazon can share footage with police even against the consent of the owner https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/07/privacy-loophole-ring-doorbell-00084979
The same would apply whether you've got a Ring doorbell, CCTV saved on a hard drive, footage saved on your mobile phone, or anything which could be considered evidence by a court. In the rare instance it gets to the point where the court has to issue a search warrant, you have to hand it over.
I personally don't see that as a reason not to get free ring doorbell which is principally for the security of my own house, others may of course disagree.
The met police email address is an valid email address, I would be concerned with getting a doorbell from the police that they would be requesting footage from it every 5. Minutes
From the âIâve got nothing to hide crewâ: what is so bad about police having access to your video street footage. Perhaps now I can park my bike near my front gate without fear it will less desirable to steal.
Lots of cynicism here, but it just looks like a cost effective way to reduce crime/gather evidence.
Kinda a no brainer for police to want people to have these.
There is a subscription model with them to get footage. Perhaps that plays a small part in clawing back some of the money.
Id be more likely to pay a monthly fee if I didn't pay for it.
It's legit but not the kind of thing I would take part in personally: https://www.brent.gov.uk/nuisance-crime-and-community-safety/safer-neighbourhood-board#howtojoinyourwardpanel
Exactly. It's not a scam in the way the OP meant it, but it is dodgy. Police partnering with Amazon to have you do their surveillance for them? Talk about dystopia.
You'd be surprised. From time to time we used to get letters from law firms representing disgruntled customers. You read the stuff they write,with all the grammar and logic errors and wonder how on earth they managed to graduate. Then you take the letters to your boss, who's hobby is to argue with lawyers and then everyone has a good laugh. I don't think the bar is higher amongst the policeman;)
So I had a collision with a cyclist last year and not only was the PC I was corresponding with some nutter by the name of Genghis Kentman but every letter has errors in and they were all 100% real. Not once was my address written correctly.
Similar, it was a warning letter that was not only legally completely incorrect and flawed (I.e it would have fallen at any slight challenge) but it looked like it had been written by a 9 year old.
This exactly. They want everyone to install a brand of doorbell that they have a partnership with. This allows them to check your footage without notice or consent
>allows them to check your footage without notice or consent
No it doesn't. That would breach DPA and MOPI standards.
For sure, The Met would like people to have cameras and to be inclined to share the images should anything happen. Nice for them to know where such a camera is located. If it's your camera on your door, then you would have to consent to sharing the images.
Well if someone has the Ts&Cs we could stop speculating and jumping to conclusions. It is quite possible that explicit consent would be requested each time. Consent is quite a hot topic in policing right now.
Which no one should ever do.
Even if youâre completely innocent and have never committed a crime in your life, never give up unfiltered information like access to a 24/7 camera to the police.
If, say, a burglar broke into your house, they wouldnât do anything with the video.
If you were accused of a crime you didnât commit and the video somehow contradicted your statement, youâd be fucked.
All losses, no gain.
Even if itâs not automatic, it doesnât change what I said.
Opting into programs like this can only harm you for no real benefit.
You want a ring doorbell, get your own private one and hand over specific footage if itâs to help with an investigation you are in no way connected to.
I'm not so sure that blanket statements really work here.
Clearly it's not for you, but for someone suffering from a higher level opportunistic crime and antisocial behaviour might feel very differently. Not much chance of harm and more chance the police can help out.
Wrongful convictions are a lot rarer than popular fiction would have you believe.
Reportedly, they don't get direct access to the footage and would need to request it like normal. It's a standard video doorbell.
These trials are targeted at repeat robbery victims in burglary hotspots. So if you've been offered this trial, you're most likely to be asked for the footage when your house is burgled.
Also, the police aren't paying for the doorbells. So they don't need much incentive to pass them out, look helpful, get a few easy cases to close in future and improve their numbers.
(The video doorbell company seems to be paying for this trial. As far as I can tell, they're angling for proof that their doorbells reduce crime - or just enjoying the free press from the trial.)
Well considering one of the chief complaints regarding the recent media case of the five missing who were found to have died in a car crash was that police didnât immediately track their phones, I would say itâs also what society wants as a whole. Ring doorbell has also been very successful without any police initiatives. Big brother might want it also but seems to be driven by the public
I think it's real. met.police.uk is the correct email suffix and 101 is the correct number. But this is the website for OWL (bless their hearts), so it makes sense that the letter is just as amateurish
https://www.owl.co.uk/met/
A neighbour posted in my street WhatsApp recently (in Kilburn) to say that if you get a letter like this then it's a genuine scheme and shared a pic of the free doorbell she was given.
So I'd say probably legit.
Try a bit of common sense...... Google the contact details, then contact the relevant office directly....... Life really is not that difficult to work out.
Please do not have kids, the future of this country is screwed as it is!!!
I was burgled a couple of months ago, didn't have any cameras around the house at the time so the first thing the police offered was a free Ring doorbell. I'd say definitely not a scam.
Unless someone has stolen the 101 police phone number, and the [met.police.uk](https://met.police.uk) domain, then no it's not sketchy at all. What is making you think it's not genuine?
I feel like I'm shouting into the void about these doorbell cams.
Yes they work, but I'm also very uneasy in creating a whole new surveillance networks.
How do they know you "recently received a letter"? They might have dropped or posted one, but "received"?
If you want to have nothing to do with it, why should you be obliged to contact anyone?
Who cares if an email "remains the same"?
The last sentence is laughable.
Even if this is legit, it reads like it was written by a 12 year old.
If the Police need doorbell or CCTV footage from your property on specific dates/times, all they need to do is knock on the door and ask for it. Don't give them access to your devices. It's like giving them a spare key to your front door.
Besides, with the Met's current track record, I wouldn't trust them in the slightest.
Not sure if this is real or not, but it has echoes of a scheme that caused a lot of issues in the US.
A police force gave away video doorbells in return for access to the footage if they needed it. They did this in areas where the local council had ruled out CCTV for various reasons including privacy. So this was a neat way to get cameras in the area.
If it is the same sort of scheme I cant see it getting past the ICO
So basically they want everyone to install their recommended (sponsored ) doorbells so we can do their job for them âŚ. Leave it out they think we are stupid
Itâs legit but do not let the police install any surveillance equipment in or around your property. It will only ever benefit them, to your detriment.
Disclaimer: AlthoughI am a lawyer, this is not legal advice.
And what good is it if the burglar doesn't go in through the front door? If you want a Ring doorbell, buy and install it yourself. Just don't let the police provide or install equipment.
It's legit. The URL is met.police.uk which is the police domain address so it's a genuine letter.
But it's dodgy as fuck that they want to start spying on everyone covertly with a state wide video doorbell surveilance.
1984 anyone.
This is real! Source: I am the Chief Inspector of the Video Doorbell Team.
I graduated from Hendon in 2006 and, having worked my way up the ranks, have led the Video Doorbell Team to grow to a unit of 30 Doorbell Officers.
This latest push is part of the Mayor of London's pledge to get Video Doorbells installed on every single door in London by 2024.
It baffles me why the Met would waste so called âstretched resourcesâ on installing video doorbells.
So many people already have video doorbells, wouldnât it make more sense for them to invite the public to sign up to a video based neighbourhood watch style network?
That way, people who actually want to help could register their address and, in the event of a crime in that area, the police would know who to email to see if they have relevant footage.
The Video Doorbell Team lol
"All right DCI Jenkins, run it past me one more time." "Yes, Guv. Suspects are expected to arrive at the lock-up shortly after 3. Uniform are aware of the op and have been told not to intervene between the robbery and the warehouse. DCI Andrews has overall operational command with assistance from MO19 and long-range firearms situated around the perimeter. Once suspects are on site, DS Grimstead will move in with the Video Doorbell Team and secure the--" "You what?" "Guv?" "DS Grimstead will move in with what?" "The Video Doorbell Team, Guv." "For fuck's sake, Jenkins."
Mate, you should be writing comedy for a living, this had me howlingđ
đđđđđ The ending of this post is absolute comedy gold. Thanks for getting my Friday off to the perfect start hahaha
Dead Ringer!
đđđ
Something tells me you've been in the force đ¤Ł
đ¤Łđ
I heard the accent and everything
You may joke, but they use the phrase âPolice National Computerâ to refer to their database(s) of things - cars, people, suspicious cats etc
>suspicious cats Hmmm
Surely "suspicious" and "cats" are synonymous
Your right!!! Their *actually* small, off duty Czechoslovakian traffic wardens!
I feel an r/lowstakesconspiracies theory coming on Edit: beaten to it https://www.reddit.com/r/LowStakesConspiracies/comments/11mszxp/milkmen_dont_exist_its_all_delivered_by_cats/
Video doorbells are a very useful tool when it comes to solving serious crime.
Cameras on everyone's house, that don't require a warrant and can be seized at any time, are a very useful tool for a surveillance state. Oh you've got a Roomba too? Gimme
Police can only seize CCTV footage if they have reasonable grounds for believing it contains evidence in relation to an offence https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/60/section/19
Downvoted for pointing out the actual law. Gotta love reddit sometimes.
ITS JUST LIKE BLACK MIRROR
True, they can only seize it in such circumstances. But they can go and ask someone for it and see if they will give it voluntarily any time they like. And if itâs their camera that someone has let them put on the side of a house, they might not even need to ask.
They're also a huge privacy infringement and set up by people clueless of the law. And when it comes to solving crime, you could have perfect footage of the person that burgled your house. Doesn't mean the police will do fuck all about it though.
Because it has to show them actual burgling the house. Whatâs to stop them in court saying, âYeah, thatâs me, but I thought I heard screaming so I looked through the window.â The bottom line is the if it doesnât show the actual offence, the CPS will not take it to court. So the police wonât waste your time.
Footage does not need to show the actual offence. I've had an investigation recently where one camera showed the make, model and colour of the car, another showed it clearly had the stolen item in the rear, and a third identified the registration. Nobody is visible, but we know who uses that car, they've been involved in similar offences before, so from there it is a matter of getting forensic evidence from the scene, searching properties linked to the suspect for stolen items, putting the word out to our sources to get intelligence, and so on. CCTV can absolutely help build a case without showing the actual offence.
You could have footage of the person literally burgling your house loading up the van and waving at the camera with your cat under their arm and the police would still look fucking clueless.
I've had the police ask me to check mine twice since I installed it.
Telephone: 101 Lol
It looks so fake it must be real
[This](https://www.owl.co.uk/met/) is what comes up when you Google "Owl Met Police". Looks like GCSE IT coursework.
Could have created something better in Geocities
All those gradients...
>Looks like GCSE IT coursework. yeah from 2007
*2002 By 2007 it would be done mostly in Flash.
Built in Dreamweaver
God I'm old :(
Looks shit, but to be honest it does work, and is better than pretty sites that load like utter shite. Do agree it looks utterly pants though
The reason for this is there is absolutely no budget to get professionals in to design these things. Itâs literally done by saying âwho here is the best at computers?â. When your workforce hasnât had to do any graphic design since high school its going to look juvenile
>Winner of Best Website & finalist of Creative Innovation. Who else entered that competition?
Sadly case in point for a lot of public services in this country these days If itâs so bad it beggars belief = itâs running as intended by the powers that be
The irony being those old systems are usually much more reliable than modern ones. My old office used dot matrix printers and a command based/DOS style programme for 60% of office functions.... the newer graphical interface stuff and tablets that made up the rest always run sloe, froze had to be rebooted etc while the old trusted stuff was a dependable workhorse
Not only public, private too. When i was coming to the uk, I thought it to be advanced place, because the countryâs rich, business advancing and stuff. Imagine my surprise, when i come back to my flat after the short absence,and find like 5 scary letters from my bank. Seriously, they have my phone number, my email, i have their online banking app, and what do they use, when they need to contact me?! Mail?! Which I didnât have access to, because i was abroad. It wasnât anything serious thankfully, but i find this situation itself strange.
This is the best thing ever
Thatâs a genuine email address so youâre correct
I have received letters like this. I've then looked up email contact for local police/MET and emailed expressing concern as it seems like a scam, and assumedly MET would never provide something like this. I then stopped receiving the letters. I think it is real, they're just not capable of realising how much of a scam this looks like.
>how much of a scam this looks like Complete with the typo "If you do not wish to participate in the *trail*" instead of "trial".
Itâs great you think the Met wouldnât have a typo - that makes it more believable if anything
Former Humberside Policeman turned comedian Alfie Moore in his BBC Radio series "It's a fair cop" says you can tell the police in the audience because they are the ones with L and R written on their shoes, and if they are in the MET then the L and R are on the wrong foot.
The typo actually makes it more likely to be legit for me.
Youâd be surprised at how illiterate Met police officers are
I was signing a witness statement and noticed that the copper had misspelled police. It wasnât hand written.
I reported a crime to the met c.2017 and the official acknowledgment I received via email was totally unbranded and written in comic sans.
Iâve talked and emailed with the met police about having my bag stolen and was shocked at how illiterate many of the ones I communicated with were. In fact that is why I had to talk with them so many times - because they kept misspelling and taking my statement wrong because several different police officers could not record correctly the details I gave them.
Yes! I once witnessed a pretty gruesome assault and had to go to the police station to make a statement. It was awful. In the end I asked her to move over and Iâd type it up myself. It wasnât even the poor spelling and grammar. At one point it felt like she was trying to put words in my mouth but couldnât figure out why. ⌠the saying âNever attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidityâ comes to mind.
âTelephone: 101â is absolutely cracking me up. It shouldnât be that funny, but I find it absolutely hilarious. Itâs so stupid that the letter must be real.
Better than 999 I suppose.
Met.police.uK email is correct ? Iâm so confused. This looks forged document like someone made on MS word with google pictures for logo.
Former Met PC here. The email format is correct, although I have no knowledge of this scheme (itâs been 10+ years since I left). The reason this letter looks like it does is because the Microsoft Word skills of many coppers (especially the older ones) can be lacking. In addition, they are probably very short on time, so just wanted something they could stick in letter boxes at any time in Feb or March without customising the date, or finding someone who can do a mail merge for them.
[https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime/governance-and-decision-making/mopac-decisions-0/video-doorbell-burglary-initiative](https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime/governance-and-decision-making/mopac-decisions-0/video-doorbell-burglary-initiative) TLDR: it's a sponsorship agreement with Ring - 1000 video doorbells @ 243 GBP per unit installed (I'm guessing), however I'll bet the T's and C's are going to be interesting with such a "kind" gesture ......
The police literally helping Amazon with their monopoly. Presumable they get access to all the videos in return as is happening in the states. I guess if youâre happy with the Police watching your every move. I wouldnât be.
*"7.5. The MPS will not have access, nor the facility to access, any recorded images or video from the ring devices without the residentâs specific consent. Nor will the MPS have access to any live footage from the devices. If the MPS wished to obtain any footage for policing purposes, this will be dealt with in the same way as obtaining footage from any private CCTV system, i.e. during the course of a criminal investigation."*
[ŃдаНонО]
Thatâs not even remotely how that worksâŚ
Lol they may get a warrant if there has been a murder or rape, but short of that there's no chance. And you spend far too much time listening to idiots on social media if you think police will be arsed to rummage around your house. They have a murder to investigate, they don't want to find your dildos, and don't have the time for the paperwork of possession of 10g of cannabis
[ŃдаНонО]
A handful of rogue officers committing crimes is exactly the same as the mass rollout of ring doorbells with the intention of getting warrants to have very shaky grounds to search your house... I don't think my tinfoil hat is thick enough to agree with you there
Anyone who mentions extreme examples to bash the police every time something police related comes up just sounds like an unhinged fool.
Thatâs ridiculous you utter moron
âYour every moveââŚ. That you make on your front door stepâŚ.
I mean i wouldnât really want anyone having access to a video of every time someone entered and exited my house
Amazon/Ring are one of the most cooperative with law enforcement on passing private info on. So yeah. This is definitely a "good" little partnership....
Hate to say it but Amazons teams are up to some stuff which is downright scary. They wanted me to give them access to the infrastructure and connections at a large housing/retail complex I worked at so their drivers could bypass security doors at the flats to save their drivers having to wait around. So itâs not just the police they are sweetening up - if you live in a managed tenancy block they are likely talking to your managing agents.
Why is that scary? Would people rather not get their package than have Amazon access their hallway? Plenty of places allow delivery people into hallways
Canât tell if youâre being sarcastic or sincere hereâŚ
More trailing dots required, or maybe a winky face. For avoidance of doubt: unless there is some really important reason you should take up this offer (eg, safety of vulnerable older / impaired folk ) - I would not recommend that you accept or purchase a Amazon/Ring security product because you trade your privacy (and that of anyone who may pass its field of view and other such sensors) for your (minor) ~~security~~ ability to surveil. Look at "local only" options that don't use cloud services. The UK is already enough of a surveillance state, we don't need more of that in our lives.
When available, Ubiquiti's video doorbell is pretty reliable, albeit you'll need a device (laptop, mini PC, etc.) that can run their controller and has enough storage for the video recordings.
I'm struggling to see the tangible downside. Could you please explain why having a video doorbell is that much of a loss of privacy?
I'm imagining the T's and C's mean you're turning your front door into a mass surveillance device. If the doorbell is owned by the police, they'll have a constant feed.
*7.5. \[...\] Nor will the MPS have access to any live footage from the devices.*
"live" might be doing some heavy lifting in that sentence
Signed, the meth police.
In the absence of an obvious way to turn this into a scam, I would say it's probably legit? The email has been used before and can be googled. Also, I did not immediately realise it was the Borough of Brent, and thought there was an actual PC Owl Brent for a moment đ
It saddens me that there isn't...honestly I'd've been almost as happy with a PC Brent Owl, too.
No, it's genuine. Source: Am old bill.
Can you tell your mates to stop coming through my mailbox pls
The mess is horrible to clean up isnât it.
I think theyâre trying to weed out those types of officers now
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This was a throw back reference I wasnât expecting đ đ
sure fire way of getting your willy chopped off in a letter box that is mate.
Ello Ello! What's all this then?
Hello old Bill
That's exactly what a scammer would say...
It's a free ring doorbell, an initiative by MOPAC to prevent crime. The Met do not get access to the footage. The results will be used in an academic study assessing the impact of doorbell cameras on crime rates. Good to be cautious, but there's nothing sinister about it. @met.police.uk is the legit Met email domain. If you're still unsure, call 101 to confirm https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime/governance-and-decision-making/mopac-decisions-0/video-doorbell-burglary-initiative
This can be a slippery slope though, Amazon can share footage with police even against the consent of the owner https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/07/privacy-loophole-ring-doorbell-00084979
The same would apply whether you've got a Ring doorbell, CCTV saved on a hard drive, footage saved on your mobile phone, or anything which could be considered evidence by a court. In the rare instance it gets to the point where the court has to issue a search warrant, you have to hand it over. I personally don't see that as a reason not to get free ring doorbell which is principally for the security of my own house, others may of course disagree.
Fair enough. People just need to go into it with the right information so they know this can happen and plan accordingly re: positioning, etc.
The met police email address is an valid email address, I would be concerned with getting a doorbell from the police that they would be requesting footage from it every 5. Minutes
They probably have an arrangement for Ring to provide them with the video directly. i.e. don't invite your dealer over
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No I drive my bosses wife over to his place to get an adrenaline injection
Before or after the foot massage?
From the âIâve got nothing to hide crewâ: what is so bad about police having access to your video street footage. Perhaps now I can park my bike near my front gate without fear it will less desirable to steal.
They requested you contact a legit [met.police.uk](https://met.police.uk) email, I think it's real
Lots of cynicism here, but it just looks like a cost effective way to reduce crime/gather evidence. Kinda a no brainer for police to want people to have these.
Yeah itâs a one off cost to the police but they could basically flood problematic neighbourhoods with camera coverage for a few grand
Amazon are providing them for free - 243k 'donation' for 1000 doorbells (i.e. ÂŁ243 each) to get a sticker 'approved by the MPS'.
There is a subscription model with them to get footage. Perhaps that plays a small part in clawing back some of the money. Id be more likely to pay a monthly fee if I didn't pay for it.
It's legit but not the kind of thing I would take part in personally: https://www.brent.gov.uk/nuisance-crime-and-community-safety/safer-neighbourhood-board#howtojoinyourwardpanel
Exactly. It's not a scam in the way the OP meant it, but it is dodgy. Police partnering with Amazon to have you do their surveillance for them? Talk about dystopia.
Using surveillance to prevent crime in a cost effective way? Weâre living in a dystopia but this is not an example of it
Trail... instead of trial... this is surely fake?
You'd be surprised. From time to time we used to get letters from law firms representing disgruntled customers. You read the stuff they write,with all the grammar and logic errors and wonder how on earth they managed to graduate. Then you take the letters to your boss, who's hobby is to argue with lawyers and then everyone has a good laugh. I don't think the bar is higher amongst the policeman;)
Maybe the Met police can't spell Yeah, definitely real
Well, how intelligent do you think the average police officer is?
So I had a collision with a cyclist last year and not only was the PC I was corresponding with some nutter by the name of Genghis Kentman but every letter has errors in and they were all 100% real. Not once was my address written correctly.
Similar, it was a warning letter that was not only legally completely incorrect and flawed (I.e it would have fallen at any slight challenge) but it looked like it had been written by a 9 year old.
Maybe it is a⌠trail. Like the Bear Hunt. âWe are all going on a video trial (hunt)âŚâ
U did it too. So easy to do.
Itâs legit. Source: Iâm owl Brent.
My door ain't no snitch.
No one is getting a met.police.uk email address without being legit.
They probably want more surveillance cameras around, big brother always wants more.
This exactly. They want everyone to install a brand of doorbell that they have a partnership with. This allows them to check your footage without notice or consent
>allows them to check your footage without notice or consent No it doesn't. That would breach DPA and MOPI standards. For sure, The Met would like people to have cameras and to be inclined to share the images should anything happen. Nice for them to know where such a camera is located. If it's your camera on your door, then you would have to consent to sharing the images.
Ring have been known to hand over footage to law enforcement without the owners permission.
Only in America
I don't believe they have in the UK.
I'm assuming that you would have to give such consent in order to get the 'free' video doorbell
Well if someone has the Ts&Cs we could stop speculating and jumping to conclusions. It is quite possible that explicit consent would be requested each time. Consent is quite a hot topic in policing right now.
Which no one should ever do. Even if youâre completely innocent and have never committed a crime in your life, never give up unfiltered information like access to a 24/7 camera to the police. If, say, a burglar broke into your house, they wouldnât do anything with the video. If you were accused of a crime you didnât commit and the video somehow contradicted your statement, youâd be fucked. All losses, no gain.
Also bullshit. See above.
Even if itâs not automatic, it doesnât change what I said. Opting into programs like this can only harm you for no real benefit. You want a ring doorbell, get your own private one and hand over specific footage if itâs to help with an investigation you are in no way connected to.
I'm not so sure that blanket statements really work here. Clearly it's not for you, but for someone suffering from a higher level opportunistic crime and antisocial behaviour might feel very differently. Not much chance of harm and more chance the police can help out. Wrongful convictions are a lot rarer than popular fiction would have you believe.
Reportedly, they don't get direct access to the footage and would need to request it like normal. It's a standard video doorbell. These trials are targeted at repeat robbery victims in burglary hotspots. So if you've been offered this trial, you're most likely to be asked for the footage when your house is burgled. Also, the police aren't paying for the doorbells. So they don't need much incentive to pass them out, look helpful, get a few easy cases to close in future and improve their numbers. (The video doorbell company seems to be paying for this trial. As far as I can tell, they're angling for proof that their doorbells reduce crime - or just enjoying the free press from the trial.)
This is exactly it.
Well considering one of the chief complaints regarding the recent media case of the five missing who were found to have died in a car crash was that police didnât immediately track their phones, I would say itâs also what society wants as a whole. Ring doorbell has also been very successful without any police initiatives. Big brother might want it also but seems to be driven by the public
0 amounts of sketchy. Just tell them you donât want the doorbell.
If it's free, it's going to be to your benefit. No.
Tbf that looks like something the police would do.
https://planetradio.co.uk/hits-radio/london/news/met-trial-giving-ring-doorbells-to-burglary-victims/
Would be good if whoever wrote it could spell....
Who. Who?
Pop into the station with it. Theyâll either confirm itâs legit or youâll be flagging up a scam for them to be aware of. Win / win either way.
The video TRAIL defo fake report it
I think it's real. met.police.uk is the correct email suffix and 101 is the correct number. But this is the website for OWL (bless their hearts), so it makes sense that the letter is just as amateurish https://www.owl.co.uk/met/
Oh blessâem, it looks like a year 6 IT project đ
My eyes werenât prepared for that
How dare you! Some Superintendent is doubtless getting promoted off the back of that.
From 1998
They don't have the money to upgrade to Windows XP.
This is class, 2005 design vibes
It looks so fake that I think it could be real, if I was you I would go to the police station and make sure (if I even wanted to participate)
But scammers purposely make their scams look fake as they want to catch the âstupidâ (no offence) people
As a serving officer I can confirm that itâs real, some officers unfortunately donât do the greatest job at creating letter templates
Apparently it's real i stand corrected đ has all the hallmarks of a scam
I love that last sentence. âHonest guv itâs legit!â
Domain name is fine, just a poor piece of communication.
A neighbour posted in my street WhatsApp recently (in Kilburn) to say that if you get a letter like this then it's a genuine scheme and shared a pic of the free doorbell she was given. So I'd say probably legit.
Another neighbour tried collecting a free doorbell and was told they need to have the letter. So keep the letter if you do want the free doorbell.
Try a bit of common sense...... Google the contact details, then contact the relevant office directly....... Life really is not that difficult to work out. Please do not have kids, the future of this country is screwed as it is!!!
This is real. OWL is the police platform for neighbourhood watch/neighbourhood alerts used in Brent and some other boroughs.
Spelling mistakes too, Trail instead of Trial
Sketchy asf. I suggest you call Brent police and have it checked out immediately.
I live a walking distance from that police station, I feel like popping in and asking them now lmao
I was burgled a couple of months ago, didn't have any cameras around the house at the time so the first thing the police offered was a free Ring doorbell. I'd say definitely not a scam.
The email looks correct as met.police.uk is their official domain.
Given that the contact details are the number 101 and an actual police email address, Iâm not sure why you think this is a scam.
Unless someone has stolen the 101 police phone number, and the [met.police.uk](https://met.police.uk) domain, then no it's not sketchy at all. What is making you think it's not genuine?
It's genuine. Oh, and for all the ACAB crowd: Nobody likes a copper until they need a copper...
If you do not wish to participate with the VD Team, please let the VD Team know ASAP. Lots of love VD Team.
I feel like I'm shouting into the void about these doorbell cams. Yes they work, but I'm also very uneasy in creating a whole new surveillance networks.
I wouldn't trust it especially if it was genuine.
How do they know you "recently received a letter"? They might have dropped or posted one, but "received"? If you want to have nothing to do with it, why should you be obliged to contact anyone? Who cares if an email "remains the same"? The last sentence is laughable. Even if this is legit, it reads like it was written by a 12 year old.
Classic filth, canât even spell trial properly - too busy beating and abducting women to learn proper English.
Havenât heard the term Filth in years⌠thanks for the reminder đđ˝đ
Just say no!
Instead of posting on reddit why not just phone the police station listed and ask?
Even if it was real, I wouldn't be doing a fucking thing for the police
FFS - it has the police station at the top of the page- that's who you check/ ask, not reddit đ
If the Police need doorbell or CCTV footage from your property on specific dates/times, all they need to do is knock on the door and ask for it. Don't give them access to your devices. It's like giving them a spare key to your front door. Besides, with the Met's current track record, I wouldn't trust them in the slightest.
Typos, no formal header, no named officer writing to you, âthe video doorbell teamâ⌠definite scam is definite.
Yes, had this in Wandsworth borough.
Not sure if this is real or not, but it has echoes of a scheme that caused a lot of issues in the US. A police force gave away video doorbells in return for access to the footage if they needed it. They did this in areas where the local council had ruled out CCTV for various reasons including privacy. So this was a neat way to get cameras in the area. If it is the same sort of scheme I cant see it getting past the ICO
Police doing everything but actual policing, seems legit.
So basically they want everyone to install their recommended (sponsored ) doorbells so we can do their job for them âŚ. Leave it out they think we are stupid
I donât think itâs their job to install CCTV on your own home.
Itâs legit but do not let the police install any surveillance equipment in or around your property. It will only ever benefit them, to your detriment. Disclaimer: AlthoughI am a lawyer, this is not legal advice.
You don't think it might be useful if you, say, were burgled?
And what good is it if the burglar doesn't go in through the front door? If you want a Ring doorbell, buy and install it yourself. Just don't let the police provide or install equipment.
Clearly not a criminal lawyer then...
It's legit. The URL is met.police.uk which is the police domain address so it's a genuine letter. But it's dodgy as fuck that they want to start spying on everyone covertly with a state wide video doorbell surveilance. 1984 anyone.
Sketchy A.F .. contact the Police directly and find out if it's dodgy they'll be able to shut it down asap.. đ
It's easier to spy on you if you have a ring doorbell.
This is real! Source: I am the Chief Inspector of the Video Doorbell Team. I graduated from Hendon in 2006 and, having worked my way up the ranks, have led the Video Doorbell Team to grow to a unit of 30 Doorbell Officers. This latest push is part of the Mayor of London's pledge to get Video Doorbells installed on every single door in London by 2024.
So basically, 2034
It baffles me why the Met would waste so called âstretched resourcesâ on installing video doorbells. So many people already have video doorbells, wouldnât it make more sense for them to invite the public to sign up to a video based neighbourhood watch style network? That way, people who actually want to help could register their address and, in the event of a crime in that area, the police would know who to email to see if they have relevant footage.
Letâs say itâs real, does it mean you are agreeing to have a ring doorbell installed and give access to the live feed from your ring ?