Legal ramifications of the placement of surveillance cameras

[Big_Red]

As some of you may know I am having a whole lot of problems with my neighbors. They do a lot of stupid things and one of them is thrashing the outside of my house. Unfortunately, most of what happens takes place at night or when I am not home. Today my house was egged with hard boiled eggs (colored Ester eggs). My driveway and the side of the house by the garage were covered in egg whites, yolks and crashed shells.

I want to catch these a-holes in the act so I've started to put up surveillance cameras around my house. However, one area (kitchen door/garage) that currently has no monitoring but it desperately needs it, is where most of the offenses take place. The reason why there are no cameras in that area is because they would be facing my troublesome neighbors house and depending on the placement they could potentially look at their kitchen window.

So my question is:

What are the laws regarding videotaping someone else's property? Would having a camera pointed directly at their house make me a "peeping tom" or would it "invade their privacy"? What if I had a camera pointed at my driveway but happened to catch the side of their house?

I called the police to report today's incident and the officer who came out to my house did not know the answer to my questions. I am hoping that someone here can answer them and perhaps even cite a law.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[RKG]

You may legally record video (but not audio) of anything you can see from your own property.

 

[TOM-P]

I would also call the police for all acts of vandalism to your property, even if it is just eggs..... If you catch them on video maybe they can tie it all together.

 

[Big_Red]

You may legally record video (but not audio) of anything you can see from your own property.

Is there a citation?

 

[wolf223]

take a week of vacation and pull guard duty....

on another thought, what about your other neighbors? are they having problems? or is just you? this does suck but you need to think about how far your willing to go.

once you figure that out, PLAY BALL.

 

[Big_Red]

on another thought, what about your other neighbors? are they having problems? or is just you? this does suck but you need to think about how far your willing to go.

Several neighbors have complained to the police but as far as I know we are the only ones who get the "extra special" treatment.

 

[Stefanlg55]

What i would do is take a baseball bat to there mailbox. Just what i would do, It doesn't mean you should.

 

[yanici]

Well, Red, I'd say that with the video setup and lighting you'll be getting all the evidence you need against these clowns. Maybe you can sue them for mental anguish or something so that they feel it in the pocket book, too.

 

[wolf223]

i would personally play dumb at this point, unless you are willing to go the extra mile. put up your high speed cameras and NO TRESPASSING signs and let the system work (LE, complaints, get with the neighbors ect..)

this is diplomatic now, because you've been specifically targeted.

you can always stay up late / wake up early and really f*** up their world too. but that comes with consequences as well. if you ain't ready to accept any / everything, then don't go this route. -but it looks like they beat you to this step... huh...

 

[BossHarley]

Another idea which might be cheaper is get a couple of the game camera setups. They will snap pictures based on movement at night etc.

However, I think making peace is about the only way things will work out. When I was growing up we lived in a community where all the houses were on dead end streets. Almost every house had kids etc. We had a single man move into a house on our street. He hated kids, did everything he could do to mess with us. We would play ball in the street (since almost no traffic) - so he would park his car on the street - 2 car garage, 50 ft double wide driveway. He would sit in his house by the front door and if one of our balls (baseball, football, basketball etc) would go into his yard - he would run out grab it and run back into his house. We tried going to him and talking, he wouldn't open the door (mind you I was a very respectful and ~12 year old at the time). The older kids got tired of it and started fighting back - egging, letting the air out of his tires things like that. He went to the parents, called the police. As long as he kept aggressively fighting the kids they fought back. I really don't know what changed his mind, but one day when we were playing in the street he came out and asked us if we wanted to get all the balls he had taken from us. It was literally a washing machine box 1/2 full. After that nobody messed with him, and he didn't bother us.

Long story, but the point is, if there is any way to make peace with these neighbors I would bite the bullet and try.

 

[vellnueve]

Long story, but the point is, if there is any way to make peace with these neighbors I would bite the bullet and try.

From what he's said, it's a lost cause.

 

[Big_Red]

Long story, but the point is, if there is any way to make peace with these neighbors I would bite the bullet and try.

We are way past that point. We've tried to be civil and ignore their actions but they continue to act like a-holes. I am no longer interested in making peace with them. I want them to go away.

Anyway, this thread seems to be getting off topic. I appreciate your comments but I am still looking for some concrete info regarding videotaping someone else's property.

 

[Kevlar]

Try here...

http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=13492

 

[drgrant]

My guess is you are going to have a very difficult time finding a "cite". The law generally only -prohibits- behavior, it does not "authorize" it. So videotaping your neighbors is legal simply because it's not against the law. I've never seen a law or case where video recording was an issue, unless the person had some "reasonable expectation of privacy." Their yard, etc, which is visible to everyone else, doesn't pass that sniff test... not by a mile.

-Mike

 

[FCI Corp]

What i would do is take a baseball bat to there mailbox. Just what i would do, It doesn't mean you should.

That makes you as bad as his neighbors. That isn't going to make his problems go away. It will most likely make them worse.