Burglars have targeted homes in the Waldo neighbourhood of Kansas City, Mo., multiple times in the past few months. Now, fed-up residents are teaming up to fight against crime with the help of Ring Video Doorbells.
Waldo resident Kate Burger purchased a Ring Video Doorbell a few months ago with the hopes of never using it to capture crime. But last Thursday, Kate received an alert from her doorbell while at work, and when she opened up the Ring app, she saw an unknown man running off her porch with an Amazon package in tow.
“I think I watched it four times [before] realising what just actually happened,” Kate said.
A man ran up to her front door, snatched a package from her porch and darted off in a dark vehicle parked in her neighbour’s driveway. The incident was recorded by her Ring Video Doorbell, and Kate immediately posted the footage on a community Facebook page, where she learned that she wasn’t the only Waldo resident to encounter similar crimes.
“We had a guy actively try to get inside, [telling] us to open the door on Christmas Eve,” one neighbour said.
“We just got robbed on 78th and Grand,” said another neighbour the next day. “Home invasion,” he confirmed.
“My daughter’s home was broken into on Friday, her birthday,” said another neighbour just a few days later.
And it doesn’t stop there. On the same day as Kate’s burglary, two houses on her street had packages stolen, and less than a mile away, another couple was a victim of theft—only this time, the stolen package was much more valuable than the trinkets stolen from Kate’s porch.
“It happened to be my fiancee’s bridesmaids dresses,” said a Waldo resident who asked to remain anonymous. “[We were] sad, mad, didn’t know what to do.”
The thieves took the bridesmaids dresses to the J Crew store where they were purchased just a few days prior, and they exchanged them for a gift card. Luckily, the store manager was suspicious and kept the dresses to the side. So when the couple called J Crew to report the incident, the store manager returned the dresses to the Waldo couple and immediately cancelled the gift card before it could be used.
The husband-to-be is grateful for the stellar service from J Crew, but the couple is still on edge.
“The next step is a foot inside the door,” he said. “The fiancee is a bit enraged.”
But the couple, along with Kate Burger and a large group of Waldo residents, aren’t taking the burglaries lightly. They’re using their local Facebook page and news media to bring attention to the crime spree and to take action as a group.
“Watch out,” Kate warned the burglars. “We’re watching! And as you can see […] a lot of people are getting that doorbell, so it’s going to make a difference.”
Around the world, communities like Waldo are using Ring and local social media groups to create a new type of digital neighbourhood watch. By putting the power of home security in their hands, Ring is helping these neighbourhoods unite against crime in their communities, making their homes safer and their towns more secure.