Doorbell camera footage and the law

[RingringQ]

Having seen reports about doorbell camera footage in the tragic case this week, I'm confused. When we got one, we were told (or read somewhere) that footage taken of people on the street (i.e. beyond our front garden) could not be used unless we put up a sign advising passers by that they were on camera. That made sense, as I'd heard similar about CCTV.

But now it seems the police are actively seeking out doorbell footage, which presumably could then be used in a court of law?

Can anyone clarify? We have dodgy neighbours so it might be nice to make sure any untoward incidents are caught on camera...

Perhaps those people did have a sign.

@Frogartist

Perhaps those people did have a sign.

Ha, that's true.

There will be a legislative reasons the footage can be accessed and utilised.

Well, I live on a private road. On Lockdown 1 when it was Uber quiet, I’d caught a guy hiding stolen goods on our cctv. Tbh, the police were over the moon as they hadn’t realised we had cctv on the house.
The cctv covers our private road and the next road. The cctv was used as evidence in court and he got 2 and a half years.
We also caught fly tippers with the help of a neighbour who’s cctv covers the other side of the road.
We’ve also caught foxes stealing dds wellies to play with
It is absolutely worth getting. I’d only originally got it as some parcels went ‘missing’.

I'm sure there is. Really wasn't suggesting that the police were doing anything wrong, in case it came across that way. Just wanted to understand.

That's brilliant @Longdistance! Did the police want to know if you had a sign up, or did it not matter? Naughty foxes

How long did the fox get?

Does this help?

www.protectingyourself.co.uk/security-cameras-and-the-law.html

@FreddyTheFlute

How long did the fox get?

🤣🤣🤣

My understand is that anything that happens in a public place is fair game. If you capture something that happens in private places (someone else's gardens for example) it may be less admissible although I imagine you would only need the permission of the land owner not the person captured.

They ask for dashcam footage as well Dont they, that would have no sign and would cover the public.

When our neighbours were burgled the police went to all surrounding houses to ask for any camera footage we had.

Article 8 of the EHCR details your right to a private life etc. So if you walk into (eg) a supermarket, it has to tell you it has CCTV in order for you to consent to it. Your personal CCTV or doorbell etc is subject to the same law. But it's kind of not really enforced as far as I can tell. But if you had CCTV that looked into a neighbour's garden then that would breach their human rights.

I wrote a dissertation on this 5 years ago and my memories are vague (as you can tell) and I focussed on automatic facial recognition and not the human rights aspect in particular.

It's a great question OP. I wish I could remember more.

Sorry *ECHR.

In my street 3 neighbours myself included have proper professional CCTV fitted we cover the whole street between us 😂 using the same firm
I have 3 cameras, my next door neighbour has two and the guy opposite has two 😂 it’s a very quiet street 😂
A few other neighbours have ring doorbells
We have a ring doorbell as well which i love

The CCTv was very useful a few years ago when there was a serious incident at the end of the the street and one of our cameras caught everything .
Police use the cameras to get a conviction and the guy got 5 years
I’ve also had neighbours asking if we saw their car being damaged , or parcels being delivered and going missing .
No ones ever complained as they know we are all happy to share it if needed

Tons of info about this on the internet.
The short answer is yes, CCTV is permissible in court.

Just to add, if you have a sticker on your door saying CCTV in operation you are covered.

Ring doorbells come with a sticker for this, I put mine in the window

My neighbour has one of these doorbells and sometimes shares interesting footage, usually if a fox or something. It does annoy to know me that they can hear what I’m saying as I walk past their house. If these become widespread then it won’t be possible to have a private conversation while walking in a residential area. This bothers me.

No questions from the police about the positioning of the cctv.
The fly tippers got the walk of shame when dh and the other neighbours confronted them.
As for the foxes, they got to hide gardening gloves in our planters. So fun to watch 🦊

There is no legislation covering cctv that us owned by a private individual. GDPR covers organisations but there is no expectation of privacy in public. In public you can film what you like.

@FreddyTheFlute

How long did the fox get?

Never mind that, I want to know what he said about it.

Wouldn't a fox need to steal 2 pairs of wellies?

@MrsMackesy

Wouldn't a fox need to steal 2 pairs of wellies?

I think he was caught after his first offence.

My understanding is that you can record anything/anyone in a public place. That's what I heard a police officer explain. So, if your CCTV covers a public place, that should be allowed. Don't quote me on that now, but that is what my understanding of it is.