Ring App

Thumbing through the Neighbors app on my phone, I

get the feeling that my quiet New Jersey suburb isn't so

Safe.

There are videos of folks appearing to walk up to front

doors and stealing packages. Another video shows an

alleged vandalism of an outside light, and yet another is

of an attempted car break-in. There's the lighter stuff, too,

like kids stealing whole bowls of Halloween candy -- yes,

including the bowl itself -- and a handful of fox sightings.

I'm getting this feed through Neighbors, an app launched

by Ring, Amazon's smart-doorbell company. It's free to

download and use, and lets people share, view and comment

on crime and security information in their communities. Most

of the posts are video clips shot by Ring video doorbells and

security cameras.

Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff said in an interview last month that he

sees Neighbors as a major part of his company's development,

using the app to help more people work together to reduce crime

in their communities. The app, which launched in the US in May,

has over a million active users sharing information on alleged

crimes and suspicious behavior, Siminoff said.

"We're seeing it become a foundation," Siminoff said. "It enhances

everything we do in the company."

Siminoff and Eric Kuhn, Neighbor's general manager, spoke to

CNET to show off some of Neighbors early results, saying it's

quickly becoming one of the biggest aggregators of crime and

safety data in the country.