Cape Coral Police partners with Ring to assist victims of domestic violence

Reporter: Rich Kolko Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Credit: WINK News.

In 2017, a protective order and failure to monitor an ankle bracelet led to a man being able to track down his estranged wife and murder her inside her Cape Coral home.

Cape Coral Police Chief David Newlan did not want to see this happen again.

“I started thinking, ‘What can we do to help and support our victims of domestic violence?’” Newlan told WINK News.

Recently, a video from a Ring doorbell camera in California recorded a woman running away from her attacker, only to be dragged by her hair back home. The doorbell camera recording helped lead to the arrest of the attacker, inspiring Cape Coral Police Department to take initiative in its own jurisdiction.

Cape Coral Police Department has partnered with Ring doorbell to help victims of domestic violence in Cape Coral.

CCPD is giving out 100 Ring doorbells to victims of domestic violence that have a protective order. Cape Coral police victim advocates are working to get the doorbells handed out. They’re also partnered with Abuse Counseling and Treatment Inc. shelters.

If an offender is caught on camera, it provides police with immediate proof they need to make an arrest.

“Once you are on video, you are captured,” Newlan said. “The beauty of that is you’re prosecuted. You don’t have to be home, if I’m the victim at work. If you go on my property, and I have an injunction on you, the violation is on the property. Immediately, I have you on video you are done — immediately.”

And people with a Ring device can be notified via phone immediately if anyone shows up on their doorstop.

“If something happens, you have it on your phone,” Newlan said. “It lets you know that, and they can call us. And we can be there.”

MORE:

CCPD also partnered with Ring last year, utilizing the Neighbors app to help prevent crime in the city’s residential areas.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.