A panel will discuss a proposal by Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens to have the city’s police partner with a video-sharing social network promoted by Amazon as a security system, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, in the Performance Hall, SoCA Armouries.

Amazon Ring produces a doorbell which allows users to see, talk to, and record people who come to their entrances. Its social media app enables members to post videos of suspicious activity and crimes outside their front doors, and view those from other people within a specified radius.

More than 700 police services in the United States have signed on, which gives them the ability to notify users in the event of a crime and ask for their relevant camera footage. In a September radio interview, Dilkens emphasized that talks were in the preliminary stages. Windsor would be the first Canadian city to use the tool.

Wednesday’s event, “Safer Communities in a ‘Smart Tech’ World,” will feature Chris Gilliard, a professor of English at Macomb Community College, as well as UWindsor law professor Kristen Thomasen and Mita Williams, head of the Leddy Library’s information services department. Education professor Bonnie Stewart will moderate the discussion.

It begins at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Learn more at http://ring.aedileworks.com/.