wireless in my car

[derekt]

Hi,, I'm new to this forum but I am looking for help/advice.. I have a neighbour who is delibaretly and Malicously scratching my car. it has been going on for over a year now. we live down a lane and our cars are parked in a council owned car park at the top. He keeps running a key or similar along my rear bumper. it is covered in long scratches. I cannot see my car or the car park from my house. The police have told me there is nothing they can do unless I can prove he is doing it.. I have just purchased a set of small wirless cameras and a recording device and was intent on placing them in the rear of my wifes car facing the rear of my car so that they will capture him in the act. The problem I have is the Police think I would be breaking the law as you cant put CCTV up which looks onto public areas. I dont think this is classed as CCTV as the cameras would be in my wifes car and not fixed to any permanent structure, also I cant see the difference between using them or leaving a conventional video camera on her back parcel shelf. people film in public places all the time and are not breaking any laws ( who hasnt seen you've been framed). can anyone offer any advice? I'm sure if my cameras caught a murder or any other serious crime being comitted the police would have no problem!! I would welcome any comments and thanks in advance.. PS just a footnote to point out when positioned the rear of my wifes car the camera would on see a row of cars and wouldnt pick up any houses or windows or other property.. thanks

[iStorm]

cctv images that are caught on camera that do not have the Time & Date generated (stamped) on the video are not admissable as evidence in court! Also it is against the law to acuire video for third party viewing in a public area without "Warning Cctv In Operation" signs being displayed.

[derekt]

thanks for the reply.mmm?? I'm not sure I agree, I'm talking about leaving a small portable camera on the back shelf of a car. is that classed as CCTV? its not permanently fixed. I often read of insurance firms who hire private tecs to follow and film insurance fraudsters and thats not classed as CCTV. also people have hid cameras in windows to catch antisocial behaviour outside their homes. I suspect what is defined as CCTV is a grey area. The police said I require proof the guy is vandalising my car and if they wont take a video clip of him in the act then I'm not sure what constitutes proof.

[iStorm]

You will deffo need a time and date stamp on your evidence

[derekt]

agreed, thanks for taking the time to reply..

[Jim]

The problem I have is the Police think I would be breaking the law as you cant put CCTV up which looks onto public areas.

This isn't entirely true. I haven't found the police to be a good source for CCTV information as most of them don't really understand it in full because it isn't their area of normal enforcement. It's generally held that you can't overlook public areas but you actually can with restrictions.

From what I've read on UK and EU guidelines, you could place CCTV overlooking your car for the specific purpose of crime detection. The restrictions are that it can't be used for any other purpose and only crime committed against your property would be admissible. All other recordings would need to be deleted as soon as possible. This belief that you can't overlook public areas is, in my personal opinion, partly though not completely true.

Home CCTV

"The current advice is that you should not be deliberately viewing areas outside your own property's boundary unless it is unavoidable."

This quote from the Fife police website is indicative of what I've found in many places and not just Scotland which appears to be more restrictive than England.

You can't generally target public areas but if you were to train a camera as closely as possible on just your property (i.e. car) then you are likely not in any violation and the evidence would be admissible. In these instances you can only share your recordings with the police. Any other use of recordings would be violations.

You might want to consult a lawyer though so please don't take my opinions as legal advice.