Releasing security footage to residents

Per Florida HOA statutes, only HOA records that are written are eligible for inspection by owners. See for example FS 720.303 (4). On the other hand, FS 617 has a catch-all provision that suggests the video footage might be a record an owner has a right to "inspect and copy."

On the third hand, the owner has to provide a proper purpose. I tend to agree with the manager that the HOA should err on the safe side (minimizing possible HOA liability) and take the position that there is no proper purpose that can justify an owner's request to see photos of juveniles. I think the HOA should politely tell the owner this. The owner can rage all she wants. The HOA should dig in for now. If the owner wants, she can try to lawyer up to get the video footage.

I also think the HOA should tell the owner that the transmitter (that let one of the vehicles in) belongs to someone in her household.

As for a policy, I think the policy should state something like, "Due to social media and so liability concerns, video camera footage will not generally be available to owners." Then consider each request from an owner on a case by case basis.

Lori

Tell her to ask her daughter.

LetA,
So, if an owner asks for information and video of when the Kids get home from School is that a reason? What about the divorce lawyer? The reason why video cameras are on HOA property are to protect HOA assets. Not solve parental problems.

If your thoughts would become true what if all owners wanted access to the Live Stream of the cameras? Would that be, ok? The board and the Management usually have access to the cameras. In our case the only way we investigate any footage is if it is a case of damage to our property including vandalism.

Then you start charging for records request. The OP is questioning possible criminal activity, refusing or stalling implies a coverup.
I understand the need to have some modicum of order when it comes to surveillance video, otherwise one would be neck deep in video request

On the surface, requesting surveillance footage is no different if a member request copies of the vendor invoices and check register.
How can you separate the two?

Terri,
If someone sat out and watched or recorded everything that happened, they would be called Crazy or a Stalker. Can you imagine that times hundreds? Can you also imagine all of the false alarms calls to PD? The reason to have cameras is the work 24/7 and they are only really important when an event happens.

When I lived in Ca. we had License palate capture cameras at out entrance and exit. This data was used probably 5 times over the 8 years I was on the board. Our other cameras were used more but very few times.

In Texas we have 19 cameras and only once in the last 6 years have, we had to show a renter camera footage. In that case she said her some was ambushed and shot with an Airsoft gun by a gang. He was shot just below the eye and FB obviously went crazy and demanded changes to All of our rules. When the footage was reviewed it showed several kids including the victim playing with the guns, and he was actively shooting others and was shot while playing the game. She filed the Police report and when we saw the video, we invited her in to see how involved her son was in the game. The stories always change when video evidence is on file.

Terri,
I agree with you. This person filed a police report, and the video was shown to her. We have 19 cameras, and they record 24/7 for years and catch a lot of nothing. I feel no need to give anyone access to thousands of hours of footage for the 5 minutes of video that is related to a single event.

If our community every asked for complete access it would be denied without hesitation.

It is ok if we have a different opinion on this topic. That is what makes the world go round.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The police clearly do not think that pounding on the door at 10:45 pm is not a crime either, because they refused to investigate further. They just took the incident report.

I spoke with our sheriff's department community liaison. He comes to a lot of our meetings and is very helpful. He said that some of his communities have no problem releasing the footage and others simply don't. He suggested contacting our attorney to have an opinion in writing in case this woman tries to sue us for the footage - which we haven't decided to give her or not give her. The sheriff's deputy also told me that the detectives would request the footage if it was necessary.

I did reach out to our attorney for his opinion.

Why is nothing every easy when it comes to HOAs? We do release footage to insurance companies if we are making a claim for damage at the gates. We will release to law enforcement. And if a real crime had had happened, we would have cooperated. But this owner is not an easy person to deal with. Email after email to the PM and now to me. She wants a meeting because she's not happy that we know someone in her household let the car in the gate. But we have to be careful - she seems to think that a gated community guarantees safety. It does not. We don't have guarded gates and we only have a part-time security patrol a few hours a week. I don't want the association to be legally responsible because of a security "failure" when we don't guarantee security. To me, it's a slippery slope because we have cameras but don't really have true security because people have many ways to get in the gates and we can't control them all.

In California, the Corporations Code sec 1500 provides that any written record has to accurately portray information converted from another source.

This is not even close to what the California Corporations Code says.

Regardless, the Florida nonprofit corporation statute and HOA statutes appear to me to be clear.

Terri,
Of course, you are correct, nothing is more accurate than video proof. The problem is I can promise you almost none of the HOAs documents mention anything about video recordings. Maybe in the future but not today. The problem with video recordings is that most NVR/DVR systems overwrite the video recording after 3 weeks. This time varies by the recorder, but no boards are keeping data backups of these recordings. If the event goes unrecognized after the video is gone it is gone forever.

To try my best to return to YOUR issue, Lori: My urban center high rise twin towers have an 24/7 staffed drive entry kiosk to underground parking and a circle drive, and the 3 entrances from our city block-occupied buildings all require fobs. We have several cameras around the exterior sidewalk-sides of our towers. They're monitored by our entry kits staffers and in both managers' offices.

Our Rules & Regs & Welcome Package both state near the very beginning that security is everyone's job to be alert for anyone trying to follow them into the buildings or drive entrance, etc.

More important, our governing documents, and this would be somewhere in the CC&Rs & also perhaps in the Articles of Formation, nowhere say that the purpose or job or obligation of the Association is to provide for residents' safety and security (or health). It might be worth your time, Lori, or a director who likes this sort of research to scrutinize your gov. docs to see if any kind of security or safety is a part of the Association's purpose. It would seem to me that your HOA cannot be responsible for residents' personal safety if not a part of your docs. (This, obviously, is different than correcting slip, trip and other hazards in the common areas since maintenance most likely is clearly identified as the Assoc. job in your docs.)

Our soon-to-be-ex MC insisted that the words used by residents & even some PMs--"guards" or "security"-- be banned from our PM & assistants' lips and from our directors' mouths precisely because those words give residents a false sense OF security. So, even though the vendor calls these employees, "security professionals," we've been referring to them by the MC's preference, "Access Control Officers" --ACOs-- for years. Any reference in communication from the PM is "ACOs."

Here's a sample from our recently updated Rules & Regs handbook, which is a gov.doc.: "[Our HOA] is equipped with video cameras, controlled access doors, locking mechanisms and entry phone systems. No building, however, has completely secured facilities and no warranty is made or implied as to resident safety. It takes the vigilant observation and prompt action of residents to prevent unauthorized access or failure of these systems. Please report any concerns and violations promptly to on-site Access Control Officers (ACOs) and/or Management."

It all might be worthwhile to meet with this women-- you & 1-2 other directors to explain the HOA's responsibilities and HER responsibilities. Show her the relevant parts of your gov. docs. IF, by chance, your docs are not very clear on this point, your Board might think about beefing them up via the easiest doc.