Can police demand to have your doorbell video? Here's what you need to know

If police knock on your door and ask you to surrender your video doorbell footage, do you have to give it to them?

Consumer Reports Dan Wroclawski said legally, the answer is, “No, they can’t.”

“If police ask for your footage, you can choose to share it with them or you can simply ignore the request.”

A spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service told CTV News Toronto if a home or business has a video doorbell or security camera, police may request for its footage for their investigation, but the property owner does not have to provide it.

“The majority of homeowners are cooperative with police and are happy to provide doorbell video, but it’s not mandatory that they have to,” the TPS spokesperson said.

However, according to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), if the police really want your video, they can find ways to access it.

"You can say no for sure, but police can still produce a warrant to essentially compel the companies to provide the footage from your doorbell without your consent," Daniel Konikoff, Interim Director of the Privacy, Technology and Surveillance program with CCLA told CTV News Toronto.

Konikoff said it also depends on what kind of video doorbell you have.

"There are lots of different companies that make these doorbells. There is Ring, Eufy, Arlo (and) Google Nest. They all have their own terms and conditions," Konikoff said.

Even if you own the doorbell, the CCLA said you may not necessarily own the video, as it could be stored on the cloud or on company servers.

If your footage is stored in the cloud or on manufacturers’ servers, police can request it through your video doorbell company. If the footage is stored locally on your system, they may have to come directly to you with a warrant if you refuse to hand it over.