In an effort to improve neighborhood safety and awareness, the Milpitas City Council has voted to approve the distribution of free wireless doorbell cameras to city residents.
The initiative was modeled after the City of San Leandro’s Community Ring Camera Initiative, which provides Ring doorbell cameras to residents. Councilmember Evelyn Chua learned about the initiative in 2025 and brought the idea to the City Council last August.
“Public safety is my top priority, and this door camera initiative is about strengthening crime prevention right where it matters most – at home,” said Councilmember Chua in an interview with The Beat. “By equipping residents with tools and partnering closely with our Milpitas Police Department, we’re building a stronger connection between our community and law enforcement to help deter crime and protect our neighborhoods.”
$60,000 in funding has been approved for the program. These funds will be put toward purchasing the cameras, which will be distributed on a first-come first-serve basis.
To be eligible, one must be a verified resident of the City of Milpitas. The cameras will be distributed by the Milpitas Police Department (MPD). The MPD plans to show residents how to set up and maintain the cameras. The City hopes that along with improving safety and awareness, giving residents the cameras will increase the availability of video evidence for investigations.
The doorbell camera provides similar capabilities to Ring cameras, and does not require a monthly subscription to maintain.
“It ensures that all distributed cameras can remain fully operational without recurring costs, reduces financial barriers to participation, and supports long-term program reliability,” read a City report. “Existing digital evidence upload procedures provide a workable method for obtaining footage when needed.”
Residents would be allowed one camera per household.
In the near future, the MPD plans to order a small batch of cameras and host an event where residents can receive them. If they determine that there’s ample interest, they will purchase more cameras and host more events.
“Even with limited funding, we are committed to making this program successful,” said Councilmember Chua. “And we will advocate for additional resources, if needed, to keep our residents safe.”
Note: The Beat will post another article soon to let the community know when the Milpitas Police Department has cameras ready and available.
What could possibly go wrong with giving police access to everything that happens on your porch?
Hello,
I am Milpitas resident and would like to know how I apply for a free doorbell camera given by Milpitas PD.
Thanks for your reply
It would be nice if the article stated how someone could apply for one. Would there be Internet access to said doorbell camera as well? Is there a mobile app with Ring-like capabilities? Can a user add a driveway camera to this system? How would the MPD use this system? Would they have access whenever they want for any reason? If so, count me out.
The picture looks like a blink doorbell. If that is the one you can store video on a SD card on the device or in the cloud. But the cloud version requires a subscription, so who knows maybe the city of Milpitas is paying for the cloud version so the authorities can access it if they need to. Blink cameras run on Amazon, so not sure if you need a Amazon account guess we’ll find out the details later. You might need wifi, in any case it’s all speculation on my part we haven’t seen the details yet.