Are you being required to install surveillance cameras at your own cost?
We want to hear from you!
Local governments throughout the country—from Chatham Twp., NJ, to Atlanta, GA, to Houston, TX, to Rialto, CA—are passing ordinances that require certain businesses to install surveillance cameras at their own cost and turn footage over to the police without a warrant.
These ordinances trample the Fourth Amendment rights of business owners, infringe property rights, and unfairly saddle certain businesses with thousands of dollars in new expenses to install high-definition surveillance cameras and to archive (or sometimes even stream) their footage so it’s available for police on demand.
These laws typically require certain businesses, like bars, convenience stores, and gas stations to install surveillance cameras with sufficient lighting, keep the cameras running 24/7, and store all footage for at least 30 days. Upon request from police, businesses will be forced to turn over their footage without a warrant.
The decision of whether or not to install surveillance cameras at a business should be up to the owner, not law enforcement or city officials. So should the decision to turn over footage to the government.
If your local government is considering or has passed a similar requirement, we would love to talk to you and discuss your options.
Please fill out the form below and provide information to see if IJ can help defend your rights.
The Institute for Justice is a nonprofit, public-interest law firm dedicated to the protection of constitutional rights, including the Fourth Amendment and private property rights.
IJ successfully represented two Tennessee landowners in a lawsuit challenging warrantless surveillance cameras placed on private land in Tennessee.