If you live in Jackson, Mississippi, Ring Video Doorbell footage could be streamed directly to city police

Last week, the Jackson City Council voted to launch a 45-day pilot program in which five city-owned surveillance cameras and five privately owned video doorbells will stream live video to local police If this program is successful, it may be expanded

"Residents and businesses will be able to sign a waiver if they want their cameras to be accessed by the Real Time Crime Center," Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba told local NBC affiliate WLBT-TV

"If someone says, 'I want you to use my Ring door camera,' we will be able to use it," Lumumba added

"[The city] won't have to buy cameras for every location in the city"

The back end of the operation is being handled by two private companies unrelated to Ring It was not immediately clear whether other brands of video doorbells or home security cameras could be used in the program

"This is not a Ring program, and Ring is not working with any company or city in connection with this program," a Ring spokesperson told Tom's Guide

Ring has agreements with hundreds of police departments across the US to use its neighborhood surveillance app, Neighbors, and with the permission of the owners of the Ring Video Doorbell, which contributes, allows police to access Ring video clips recorded in residents' past

However, the police have not been able to access the video clips

However, this is the first instance in which police will have direct access to the raw live feed from the video doorbell Ring itself does not provide such access to the police

Lumumba stated that footage from Ring's cameras is only accessed when a crime is reported nearby

"We will be able to pull out all the cameras within a certain radius to get a location and draw a circle around it and see if someone jumps out of the building," the mayor told WLBT-TV

One digital rights group is angry about Jackson's pilot program

"This is not training According to a blog post on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's website yesterday (November 3), "This is not a drill

"Worst case scenario confirmed

"Footage from your front door includes you entering and leaving your home, neighbors taking out the trash, and dog walkers and delivery people working on your street," the post added

"In Jackson, this footage can be streamed live directly to 12 monitors (10 at press time) that are currently under 24-hour police scrutiny

The ring has been criticized by digital rights groups for facilitating police surveillance While one might argue that the street is a public place, many of Ring's outdoor cameras are aimed at residential backyards, and Ring also manufactures indoor cameras for home use

These concerns were not mentioned by Lumumba, a progressive Democrat whose father is the leader of the separatist New African Republic and whom The Nation called "the most radical mayor in America"

Jackson has been hit by a wave of violent crime, with 110 murders reported so far in 2020 In a city of 160,000 residents, the rate is one for every 1,500 residents