Can police get my Ring footage?
Ring’s rules on police access have changed several times since 2024, and changed again in September 2026 with new encryption. Here is how it works now, based on Ring’s own law enforcement guidelines and support pages.
1. Police ask, and you decide. Local police and fire departments can post a Community Request in the Neighbors feed asking for video from a time and area. The program runs through Axon’s evidence system. Answering is optional, and Ring says the agency is not told who saw the request or who ignored it. If you do share, Ring automatically includes your home address and email, and the video cannot be taken back. Ring dropped a planned link with the license-plate company Flock Safety in February 2026, before it launched.
2. Police get a court order. You cannot opt out of legal process. According to Ring’s guidelines, a subpoena gets basic account details such as your name, address and billing information. Video requires a search warrant. Ring says it tells you before handing anything over, unless a court bars it from doing so. Police can also ask Ring to preserve an account’s data, for up to 90 days at a time and 180 days in total.
3. Ring decides it is an emergency. Ring may give video to police without a warrant when it believes there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury. In that case Ring says it notifies you afterward, with exceptions such as cases where notice could put someone at risk.
What encryption changes. Ring is rolling out TAKE (“Throw Away the Key” encryption) as the new default. Ring’s cloud keeps the keys to each video for up to 24 hours to run features like Smart Alerts, then deletes them. Ring says that for videos protected by TAKE or full end-to-end encryption, it can only provide account information and the encrypted video files in response to a warrant. As Gizmodo put it, Ring says the system could make it harder for police to get videos. The Electronic Frontier Foundation points out that Ring can still read video during the first 24 hours and that a court could, in theory, order Ring to keep keys longer. Only end-to-end encryption keeps Ring out completely, at the cost of features like Shared Users and Video Search.
Search Party is a separate thing. Search Party scans outdoor cameras for lost dogs and wildfire smoke, and is on by default. It is a neighborhood feature, not a police one, and Ring says your video is only shared if you agree after a match.
How to keep your footage to yourself:
- Control Center → Video Encryption. Switch to TAKE when Ring offers it, or turn on end-to-end encryption if you can live without the features it removes.
- Control Center → Public Safety. Opt out of Community Request emails, and simply ignore requests in the feed.
- Control Center → Search Party. Turn off the pet and flame icons for each outdoor camera if you do not want them scanned.
- Device Settings → Privacy Settings. Turn off audio recording and add Privacy Zones, so less is captured in the first place.
- Delete old clips you do not need. Video that no longer exists cannot be requested.
The full Ring privacy guide has the complete paths and the trade-offs for each setting. If your Ring account is linked to Amazon, the Amazon account guide covers the account-wide settings.