A new neighbor moved in and is really advocating for them, but I think most people in the HOA are split. It's come up after some recent thefts after someone left a garage door open. I'm thinking of organizing my arguments like this:
- Even with a camera capturing a thief's face, police are unlikely to actually catch the person or retreive the stolen property.
- Invasion of personal privacy, I don't like being tracked and my whereabouts being monitored
- Surrendering biometric data without my consent
- Police / ICE using the data without permission to harass our residents
How does this sound? It's so exhausting fighting against this. Does anyone have any other good points or articles that can provide support? Many thanks in advance
I'd reinforce point one with consideration of cost/benefits. Purchase, install, maintenance, replacement, and compliance with legal requirements are all going to have a cost. Most people don't feel like they're getting their money's worth out of having an HOA in the first place, much less want to pay more for essentially no benefit. Since the primary benefit of security cameras (if not being professionally monitored) is deterrence, maybe you could get the benefit without the invasion or cost with some dummy cams. <10% of the cost for 99% of the benefit.
And if the thefts keep occurring despite dummy cameras, you know it's someone from the HOA. Maybe the new neighbour themselves!