Williamson sheriff's office joins Ring surveillance app

The Williamson County sheriff's office is joining a free Neighbors app provided by the Ring video surveillance company to help keep neighborhoods safe.

Joining the network will provide the sheriff's office with information about local crimes or safety issues caught on camera by people who have the Ring security system, said Patricia Gutierrez, a spokeswoman for  the sheriff's office. The sheriff's office will be able to request videos from people who have caught crimes, such as burglaries, on their cameras, she said.

Residents can join the Neighbors app for free by texting WilcoTX to 555888 on their smartphones. The app will allow them to join their neighborhood and share crime and safety-related photos and videos, and also to receive safety alerts from their neighbors, law enforcement and the Ring team, according to a news release from the sheriff's office.

READ: Williamson County residents urged to register surveillance cameras

The Williamson County sheriff's office is the first law enforcement agency in the county to partner with Ring, the release said.

"By bringing security to every neighbor with the free Neighbors app, the Williamson County community can stay safe on top of crime and safety alerts as they happen," said Jaime Siminoff, the chief inventor and founder of Ring in a statement in the release.

Last year, the sheriff's office was able to verify that someone tried to kidnap an 8-year-old girl near Round Rock with the help from a neighbor's video surveillance camera. The kidnapper was not found, Chody said, because the camera wasn't at the right angle to capture a license plate number.

Residents are asked to enter their name, the number of cameras and their general locations on a website so that if there is a crime in their area, investigators can ask to view footage to see if it captured the incident, Chody said.