Legal Question in Consumer Law in Washington

Help! Neighbor is video taping me 24 hrs a day!

Hello,

My boyfriend and I live in a small mobile home park and about a month ago an older lady who lives across the street from us mounted a video camera outside on her trailer and it is pointed directly at my trailer. My sister and her family live right next door to us and this neighbor has been video taping her as well. She even made false allegations to CPS about my sister leaving her children home alone which isn't true. When I called the owner of the park to complain, he was already aware of the situation. In fact, he informed me that this neighbor was showing these video tapes to the police and telling them that we are dealing or using drugs. This is completely untrue, in fact, we only have a handful of friends who visit us, and none of us have ever been in trouble for using drugs. The owner of the park, didn't seem to care about my concerns so now I am at a loss on what to do next. We own this trailer, so moving would be expensive. Isn't this an invasion of our privacy, or defamation of our character, or something illegal? We need help fast, because we are going nuts over this and don't even feel comfortable being outside in our own yard!!


Asked on 3/18/06, 9:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Elizabeth Powell ELizabeth Powell PS Inc

Re: Help! Neighbor is video taping me 24 hrs a day!

What fun this must be for you - not.

Unfortunately, you really cannot proactively prohibit your neighbor from taping you or making reports to CPS or the police. First off, it is a prior restraint on conduct and secondly, there is a law in Washington that protects people making statements to authorities, even if their statements are later found to be incorrect.

What you can do is to ask your closest district court for an anti-harassment order. That is available - for free (contrary to what the clerks may tell you) when someone with whom you do not have a domestic relationship is engaging in conduct that substantially harasses, threatens or annoys you and has no useful purpose.

To start that process, you should write a letter to your landlord, and send copies to CPS and to the police voicing your concerns. You should say what you said here. Outline the situation so they can understand that your request is reasonable - that she stop videotaping you.

What you are doing is creating a paper trail so that they cannot come back and accuse you of ignoring this, or hiding unlawful conduct. Don't bother with phone calls, do it in writing.

You could put up your own webcam pointed at the neighbor's house so that she can see what it feels like to be under surveillance herself.

As a side note: Your neighbor may be having mental health issues that lead her to believe she's in danger. Does she have a caretaker or local family? Might be decent of you to contact them and voice your concerns with them, too.

Good luck with this. Powell

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Answered on 3/19/06, 12:14 pm


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