Condo Media - February 2018 - 34

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

"Don't call them
security cameras.
Call them
surveillance
cameras."
PATRICK BRADY, ESQ.
Partner, Marcus, Errico,
Emmer & Brooks, P.C.
"Don't call them security
cameras," Brady admonishes. "Call them surveillance cameras." Cameras
don't prevent crime, he emphasizes, "If they did, no one robbing a 7-11
would look up at the camera and smile."
Owners who assume, not illogically,
that "security cameras" ensure security,
will have a basis for suing the association when they are victims of crimes
that, in their minds, the cameras were
supposed to prevent. For that reason,
among others, Brady advises boards to
send a notice informing owners that
cameras have been installed. The notice
should state clearly that the cameras
do not guarantee security, and remind
owners of their need to remain vigilant,
he suggests.
While cameras won't prevent car
break-ins or other security problems,
Brady notes, they can identify where
the problems are occurring, and they
may capture an image of the people
responsible-all good reasons for associations to install them. But surveillance
equipment, he emphasizes, represents
just one piece of a security system that
should include many other components-proper lighting, for example,
functioning door locks, and measures to
control access to the community.

34

CONDOMEDIA

If you install surveillance equipment, you
should do it correctly,
Brady says. That means
selecting the right
equipment and locating
it properly. "If you put a
camera with limited range
on top of a pole and point it at a
dark spot 30 feet away, it's not going to
do you much good," he notes.
The equipment associations install
also has to be maintained, Brady
points out. The equipment should be
monitored regularly and repaired or removed if it isn't working properly. "Fake
cameras" are a particularly bad
idea, he believes, because
they lead owners to assume the association is
providing surveillance
that doesn't exist. An
owner who assumes
the hallway camera
recorded the burglar
breaking into her unit will
be disappointed, to say the
least, to discover that the camera is
just an empty box.
Boards have to decide how to manage
the data that surveillance equipment
records and stores. The key questions:
How long will it be retained and who
will have access to it.
"Our position is, the tapes are the
property of the association," Brady says.
Access should be limited to the associa-

tion's manager and designated board
members. "The purpose is to document
wrongdoing," he says, "not to enable
neighbors to spy on each other." It is
reasonable for boards to share video
evidence of a crime with law enforcement officials, Brady says, "but you
shouldn't show the tapes to an owner
who wants proof that his or her spouse
is having an affair."
Video cameras also create privacy
concerns, which boards should recognize, Brady says. "Owners have no
expectation of privacy in common
areas," he notes, but they have every reason to expect privacy inside their units.
That means owners have no legal basis
for objecting to cameras in hallways,
elevators and parking lots, but boards
must make sure that cameras installed
in common areas can't peer through
owners' open windows or doors. "Positioning is important," he says.
Cameras with audio features may also
be problematic, Brady cautions, because
it is illegal in some states (Massachusetts among them) to record people
without their permission. Illustrating
the point: A driver stopped for speeding
secretly recorded the policeman's inappropriate behavior and introduced the
recording in court. "He beat the ticket,"
Brady says, "but he was charged with
violating the wiretapping statute."

CHRISTOPHER LANNI,
CMCA, AMS
President, Secure
Residential Services, LLC;
Corporate Risk Adviser
For Barkan Management
Company, Inc.
Video surveillance systems have multiple benefits, Lanni, believes. In addition
to recording criminal behavior, they
can identify operational problems-
how people are getting into buildings
or gaining access to a property, doors
that aren't locking, gates that aren't
closing, how snow removal contractors
are performing in a blizzard. Cameras
also have a staff multiplier effect, Lanni
Condo Media - February 2018

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