Neighbors must talk it out over cameras’ placements

Question: I live in Manoa. Some of my neighbors and my family have formed an informal neighborhood watch group. One of our neighbors who is not part of our group installed security cameras on their property. One camera not only points directly at my property, it is angled so that it looks right into my back door. At night with lights on, our in-house movements are visible and recorded by this neighbor. Our departures and arrivals home are recorded. Another camera was positioned on their roof with a view of the other neighbors, but has since been removed. The camera(s) are of deep concern as the reason we formed the neighborhood watch was due to burglaries in our neighborhood. The police warned us that our living patterns are observed by burglars. Is there anything that we can do about this neighbor’s intrusion into our privacy?

Question: We have a neighbor who installed cameras on the side of their house. Originally they had a camera situated to view the side of their house. Recently, they adjusted the camera to view my yard and patio area. We feel that this is an invasion of our privacy and it seems to be illegal to use the cameras to view what is happening on my property. Are we assuming correctly and who should we contact to rectify the situation?

Answer: We contacted law professors, the Honolulu Police Department, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.

This was either a subject not within their kuleana or they had no answer or information to share.

The ACLU said it "protects people from infringements on their civil rights by government," not between private parties, while the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission doesn’t have jurisdiction over invasion-of-privacy matters.

"Our civil rights jurisdiction covers discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and state-funded services, on specific protected bases (race, sex, ancestry, religion, disability, etc.)," explained William Hoshijo, the commission’s executive director.

"The constitutional right to privacy protects against government intrusion into private matters — family, procreation, medical decisions, etc.," he said.

From what we have been told and what we’ve seen in Internet discussions, unless you can show or prove criminal intent, in which case it would be a matter for police, there is no law prohibiting a neighbor’s camera from facing your home.

Depending on your neighbor, the advice is to try to work it out between yourselves. A step above that is to seek professional mediation.

"That sounds like a perfect case for mediation," Tracy Wiltgen, executive director of the Mediation Center of the Pacific, said when we contacted her about your complaints.

"Neighbors with security cameras need to understand how they’re making their neighbors feel uncomfortable. Even though security is important, maybe they can aim the cameras differently," she said.

Wiltgen said the Mediation Center hasn’t had any cases like this recently.

"It’s not like something we’ve been getting calls on."

But as home security cameras become more available and affordable, she said similar complaints are likely to become more frequent.

To get the mediation process going, one neighbor has to contact the center.

However, both sides have to agree to mediation.

For neighbor disputes, a flat $50 fee is charged to each side. If you think mediation might work, contact the Mediation Center of the Pacific at 521-6767.

Go to mediatehawaii.org for more information.

Mahalo

To an "Earth Angel." It’s one thing to read about "it’s already paid for" happenings, but then it happened to us. We tried to pay for parking at the Blaisdell Center last month when we went to see "The Lion King" and were told someone in a black car had already paid for us. We simply beamed throughout the entire production of "The Lion King." Thank you and bless you for "WOWing" us. — Three senior citizens

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