Ring announced it will no longer allow police departments to request private user footage through its Neighbors app, a practice that has fueled privacy concerns about the company’s relationship with law enforcement.

Eric Kuhn, general manager of subscriptions and software for Neighbors, said in the announcement that the company was sunsetting its “Request for Assistance (RFA)” tool.

The RFA feature, introduced in 2021, allowed public safety agencies, including fire and police departments, to solicit and obtain videos from users that may be relevant to an investigation without the police needing to seek a warrant.

Kuhn did not specify a reason why the RFA feature was eliminated; however, it was prompted by concerns about its ethical implications. There have been ongoing questions regarding the company’s handling of private data and its relationship with law enforcement.

Amazon acquired Ring in 2018. In May 2023, Amazon agreed to pay more than $30 million in a settlement to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations of “privacy lapses” in its Alexa and Ring divisions, according to CNBC.

The settlement called for Ring to delete any customer videos and data collected from an individual’s face, referred to as “face embeddings,” that it obtained prior to 2018, as well as delete any work products it derived from videos, CNBC reported.

Kuhn said public safety agencies will still be able to use the Neighbors app to share safety tips, updates and community events.

“They will no longer be able to use the RFA tool to request and receive video in the app,” he continued. “Public safety agency posts are still public, and will be available for users to view on the Neighbors app feed and on the agency’s profile.”