CCTV systems + legalities

[mr2aw11]

Not motoring related, but does contain a legal question, so I thought I'd post here, apologies in advance gor the length...

I live in an end-terrace house, with a metre wide alleyway to one side, and the local Post Office with it's adjoining flat the other side of the alley. At the back of the alley way are a set of steps running alongside the side of my rear yard's wall. Opposite the PO (accross the road) is an area of land hosting a bus stop and bench.

As you may have figured by now, the alley and bench/land opposite the PO are congregating grounds for the local miscreants. The noise and language, drinking, smoking, littering (fast food packagin, bottles that contain something stronger than pop, lager cans, fag packets/butts ect.), urinating, and general behaviour of said urchins is now getting me down a tad. Doesn't help that Mrsmr2aw11 is pregnant (due November) and could really do without the stress right now.

In the past, polite words by myself and the neighbours for the kids to tone down their behaviour or move along have resulted in petty acts of vandalism against property and vehicles, and I recently spent over £8k buying the land opposite my house (next to the bus stop) and building a double garage.

Just wondering what the legalities are regading CCTV coverage of the garage from my house (which would, no doubt, also cover part of the bus stop area) and the alley (which I suspect may be a public right of way, but is actually shown on the deeds of my house as mine - looking into this further).

Also wondering if any PHers have invested in CCTV systems, as I've been looking on the net for solutions - I'm an electrical engineer by education (if not trade - and I left uni over ten years ago!), so I've been looking at cameras linked to the PC or a DVR as probably the best solution - shouldn't be too difficult to set up.

Advice greatly appreciated.

Kelvin

[bluepolarbear]

As far as I am aware you can put CCTV up to cover your property and public areas but you can not cover other private areas eg neighbours garden. If covering public areas (and arguably private areas) you should put a sign up saying CCTV in force and giving contact details. You can the charge £10 a time to provide snaps of the local scrotes when they ask for it.

[jasandjules]

Yeah, I agree with that.

Public places are fine, and places you have a legal interest in. You can record it, also making sure you are not invading anyone's privacy... But pointing it at your garage which happens to capture scrote action.. Should be fine..

[J_S_G]

Agree with others regarding the legalities. Cheap web-cam pointing out of the window and pretty much any recording software would probably be a budget way of doing this. I'd also buy one of those £20 fake CCTV cameras to stick on the outside of the house just so that they know they're being watched.

[g_attrill]

Just do whatever you need to, worry about the legalities if the problem arises. AFAIK there have never been any prosecutions related to such use of CCTV other than deliberate invasions of privacy, eg. neigbour pointing camera at other house to annoy them.

Gareth

[rsvmilly]

I have heard (anecdotally) that if you want to rely on the images for any legal purpose you should have a date stamp. Also, I *THINK* you need to put the CCTV sign up even for your own property.

[mr2aw11]

Cheers for the responses folks - been quiet today after last night's run in. Seems to be a pattern, police show up (the number of complaints from our row of houses appears to have got a good response from local plod ), things quieten down for a while, but no doubt "normal service" from the local scrotes will be resumed shortly...

[Dibble]

Not sure about the CCTV aspect, but keep calling (and getting a reference number) each time you have a problem.

Unfortunately, if you don't call, it won't get logged on a computer, so it won't be a problem...

[Parrot of Doom]

Pour a couple of bottles of strong bleach down the alley, and where they congregate. They won't hang around any more.