What To Do With Your Security Camera Footage After A Threat

March 21st, 2023

Part of most homes’ safety protocol is to have security cameras installed as a safety precaution. However, this is a safety blanket that most people would prefer to never have to access if possible. If you and your household have the misfortune of needing access to your security footage, you need to still protect your privacy following protocols for safety.

True, you may need to grant access to the personnel or third-providers for monitoring your footage or allow the authorities to go through your footage after an incident. However, it is best to safeguard your home’s security to ensure that justice will be served while still having your own safety blanket.

Safeguarding Who Has Access to Footage

For most homeowners in Houston, the only time that you will need to access footage from a security camera would be after a threat or a crime has occurred in your home. When this happens, the question now becomes who will have access to the footage that your home security cameras have captured.

It pays to have security arrangements already secured before any threat occurs. This means being ready with an action plan before you even execute the installation and setting up security cameras in the home. 

Grant the Right Access to the Right People

Decide beforehand which personnel you will grant access and monitoring capabilities. If they are part of your household staff, you still need to have contractual obligations to you. If you will be tapping a third party for this, the same sense of confidentiality needs to be signed and secured. Remember, as much as the security footage is supposed to keep your home safe, the footage will tend to capture other details beyond the actual crime.

As an added precaution, make sure that the footage will not be removed from your residential address in Houston. It would be best to also limit the access and control of the footage to pertinent people related to your case.

Where It Doesn’t Cross The Line

Because of safety threats, paranoia and fear may arise. It does not help if the individuals tend to band together to ensure their safety. Neighborhoods in Houston can easily gather and encourage each other to take extra precaution together. However, data privacy experts warn that this may escalate into a type of uncontrollable vigilante justice.

This can also be triggered by the advancement of technology. Feed sharing can also occur for security cameras, and this can become an issue down the line. Artificial intelligence develops with every advancement, especially when there is a tendency to combine technologies and access.

For example, police authorities can combine their existing technologies and make other footage better. However, how this information will be wielded and used in the future. Limiting this access in a proper contract can cap unnecessary application of the footage.

There is a middle line between successful safety and unstable security. Being responsible for your household’s safety before any threat becomes imminent is the best line of defense.