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TAPES
FROM SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS – PUBLIC RECORDS OR NOT?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
January 31, 2014
Wherever
we go, it seems that surveillance cameras are following us. More
and more community associations install surveillance cameras all
over the place. It’s still debatable if these surveillance
cameras are really serving the purpose as intended, but sales of
surveillance equipment are brisk.
Even
if the pictures made by the cameras are often not of real good
quality – there are many stories circulating about the
pictures not being clear enough to identify people who were
vandalizing the community association property or parked cars
– more and more boards vote in favor of installing
surveillance cameras.
But
with more and more cameras in place we see more and more heated
arguments about the question: “Who should have access to the
tapes?”
Considering
the
Florida
statutes the simple answer is: Every member of the community –
the tapes should be considered official records if made with
equipment owned by the association!
But that’s easier said then done, especially considering the
fact that it can get very costly for the association to store
all these tapes (or CDs).
Don’t
forget, according to the
Florida
statutes all “Official Records” have to be “maintained within the state for at
least 7 years.”
Even
if modern technology allows CDs to record for 24 hours, imagine
the amount of CDs an association has to keep to fulfill a 7-year
requirement? And now imagine the association has 4 cameras
running? That are more or less 10,000 CDs the association has to
keep. In my opinion that kind of demand would be plainly insane
– especially financially.
But
so far the statutes are silent on the matter of surveillance
equipment, if tapes are considered public record or how long to
store the tapes. I think legislation clarifying these issues
should be considered before these arguments find their way to
the courts.
And
let’s not forget the issue of privacy. Many condos have
surveillance cameras installed in the hallways. Owners are not
allowed to install surveillance cameras that monitor the
hallways, but if we make the association camera tapes public
record, every owner can request the tapes and see when you left
and came back home, who visited you and/or if your kid sneaked
in a “friend” while you were gone. Do you really want your
neighbor to be able to see all this – and even put it on
his/her website for the whole world to be seen?
I
would suggest that these tapes be only accessible to board
members and security personal and that they are kept
“private.” Law enforcement should have access to it if
needed – no question here. The recordings should be kept for
no longer than 30 days, if not used for any legal purpose.
This
discussion leaves us in my opinion with more questions than
answers.
What
say you?
-
Should
we not protect what little privacy we have left?
-
Should
the tapes from surveillance cameras be considered public
records?
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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