Ring Video and Facebook Post Lead to Suspect’s Arrest in Olympia, Washington

DJ McDonell fell asleep one night with his phone on silent mode.

“Shame on us,” he said. “Our phones will no longer be on silent when I go to sleep.”

The next morning, DJ saw that he had missed a motion alert from his Ring Video Doorbell. He launched the video, and this is what he saw:

At around four o’clock in the morning, a man walked up to DJ’s porch and tried to pick the locks on his front door. With a cigarette in his mouth, the suspect looked casually at the camera, and despite it being pitch black outside, the night vision sensors on DJ’s Ring Video Doorbell captured him clear as day.

“It was very disturbing,” DJ said. “To see some guy trying to pick the lock and trying to get inside our house.”

The attempted break-in was unsuccessful, but DJ wasn’t going to let the crook get away scot free.

He immediately called the police and filed a report. Then he turned to social media and posted the video and pictures of the suspect captured by his Ring Doorbell on Facebook. Within hours, the video had a few thousand shares, and support from neighbors flooded DJ’s social media pages.

“Stay safe, bud,” said one of his neighbors.

“Glad you had cameras. Now you can go after him!” said another.

DJ’s Facebook post gathered momentum, and by the afternoon, he was surprised by all the attention he was receiving.

“I had copious amounts of people asking what this product was,” he said. “We even have a few major news channels in our area coming to do an interview about […] what happened.”

The publicity worked, and a family member had recognized the suspect and turned him in. Thanks to Ring and DJ’s social media push, it took less than a day for the Lacey Police Department to put the crook behind bars.

“The criminal was arrested only a few hours later, all because I had this video and it spread like wildfire,” DJ said. “[The police] were stunned by how clear the video quality was and how a tool like this led to the arrest of a perpetrator.”

DJ and his neighbors are now working to upgrade security at their homes. DJ said he plans on adding  Stick Up Cams to the sides and rear of his property so he can watch over his entire house. And his Facebook friends are now big fans of Ring and plan on adding Video Doorbells to their home security arsenals. Locals are still concerned about crime in the area, but they’re thankful to have Ring and their neighbors for support.

“We were incredibly shook up by this event, but can sleep soundly knowing we have Ring on our side,” DJ said. “Thank you so much for such an awesome product! I will forever be evangelical about Ring’s security.”

While we’re glad that Ring played a part in this criminal’s arrest, we can’t stress how important it is to have support from your community and persistence in your pursuit. Without DJ’s tenacity and his neighbors’ help, the suspect might still be tormenting Olympia homes.

To learn how Ring helps communities team up to fight against crime, see ring.com/neighborhoods. And if you’re interested in starting a neighborhood watch to help protect your own community, check out this article.

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