Hello Frank, as President of my cooperative, we do not have a policy in place. When the security cameras were installed, we told our shareholders only management can view the security tapes if there is an incident. This protects the privacy of our shareholders who are just going about there day. The securitycamera footage is only used to view a thief or accident. We had objections and they appreicated the privacy.

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We recently had security cameras installed which caught the super and his buddy verbally assaulting me. They were on their usual topic of how I belong in a mental institution. Since the MA witnissed the attack I turned to him and said "Now do you see that I mean?" His response was "You were not physically hurt, and no laws were broken because the constitution allowed for freedom of speech". I had reported this behavior in the past but the board and MA insisted that it was my "perception" and a "he said she said situation" and they needed to consider the supers side of the story. When I asked for a copy of the tape the board president told me I could not have it because I would use it to sue the co-op. He is 100% percent correct and if he had ever thought about giving me the same consideration he gave the super he would not hae this concern. The super and MA got the boot on March 31 and in the few weeks since the building nmhas undergone major changes. It is much cleaner and most of the junk that lined the asement hallway is gone. The best change is I can enter the basement without dreading another encounter. But I have hard feelings toward the board because of the shabby treatment
I received from them. I sent them a certified letter stating that I want the video preserved for my pending legal action. From what I have observed it is reasonable to assume they havealready destroyed it, which will not be a good reflection on them.

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It sounds like the board took action based on your complaint and probably prior complaints about the super and MA. They did what was right so you really have no reason to take any further action. They should not release the security footage to you but they should also not destroy it.

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it is important to know the time frame you are working with . Many e security systems have only a 3 day timeframe before it auto records over prior footage. Some use a motion detection system, and it is a longer time frame. Some are 5 days. They all are all automatically written over. unless the media is removed from the device. Also my experience with video tapes that i have shot for possible court use, is that the original tape has to be presented to the court, plus a chain of custody provided.. This is in the criminal court system, i am not sure of the civil requirements.. Find out exactly what they are before you need them, know the minimum time frame before it is recorded over. Make sure you subpoena the time frame and camera in question, and most important of all , realize many security cameras do not record AUDIO. In a case like that, it may be best to call the police and have them come and take the he said/she said , get a copy of the report from your precinct, so you have credible evidence, mention the camera to the police and they will ask the MA the overwrite time frame and may be to .take the recordings if a crime has been committed, ie an assault/battery,
otherwise you now know your time frame and can contact a lawyer or subpoena them yourself,

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From a purely technical perspective, most surveillance systems in use today by co-ops and condos are DVR (Digital Video Recorders) and not VCR (Video Cassette Recorder). They record the video image(s) on one or more multi-gb hard disks. The only way to extract the image for external viewing is onto an optical disk (DVD) or USB drive. I'm not sure how "chain of custody" fits in here. With hard drives, depending on how many total gigabytes the DVR has, how many cameras are in use, the frame rate and image resolution for each camera, and if it is continuous record or event-driven, images can be stored for weeks or months before being over-written.

But in spite of all that, the very first thing MK should do if she/he is contemplating any legal action, is to contact an attorney. Going it alone is probably the worst think someone with MK's issues can do because they will invariably run afoul of the process for pre-trial discovery and either not get what they need, or disqualify themselves from receiving it in the first place.

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From what you describe, you actually DO have a privacy policy: "We told our shareholders only management can view the security tapes if there is an incident. ... The securitycamera footage is only used to view a thief or accident."

I've been speaking with board and managers who say they don't have a policy -- but then when I ask who can see the footage and when, they rattle off conditions and safeguards. Policies ARE there -- de facto policies not written down. And de facto policies dangerous, being prone to misremembering, misinterpretation and on-the-fly changes since, not being written down, who can naysay your version of them? Boards leaving themselves open to claims of ambiguity, and of policy applied differently for different people, which can lead to lawsuits -- whereas a written policy you can show a court and show how you lived up to it.

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Do you have a corrupt super or one with those tendencies? Then you have a real problem as videos can be misused.

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