NY State Police Need Public’s Help With Strange Device

New York State Police are seeking the public's help with a strange device, which has been used in a crime. The New York State Police in Horseheads have launched an investigation after several suspicious incidents at the Barrington housing development in the town of Horseheads. Multiple surveillance devices have been found near several residences. One home where a device was found was burglarized and money was stolen from the homeowner.

The surveillance devices are made up of cardboard boxes with leaves glued to them to help camouflage them. The devices also contain a cell phone and a battery pack. The suspect(s) have been targeting Asian American business owners in the Horseheads area.

Read More: Can Someone Legally Put A GPS Tracking Device On Your Car In New York?

If you have any information regarding these devices you can contact the New York State Police at 585-398-4100.

Can You Be Arrested For Recording Someone Without Permission In New York?

Can you use your camera to record someone without their permission?  We see all of these videos of random, seemingly unknowing people going viral for doing all types of weird and crazy things.  But, can you get in legal trouble if you post a video of someone being a 'Karen' (Karens love to say that they don't give permission to you recording them) or even dancing in a parking lot, without their permission?

According to Legal Beagle, the short answer is 'yes',

New York State law gives people a right to record via audio or video on their own property, at their place of work and in public spaces. However, they must consider the privacy of others when doing so. This right does not extend to dressing rooms, bathrooms or other places that are deemed private.

According to N.Y. Penal Law § 250.45,

A person is guilty of unlawful surveillance in the second degree when:

 

For his or her own, or another person's amusement, entertainment, or profit, or for the purpose of degrading or abusing a person, he or she intentionally uses or installs, or permits the utilization or installation of an imaging device to surreptitiously view, broadcast or record a person dressing or undressing or the sexual or other intimate parts of such person at a place and time when such person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, without such person's knowledge or consent.

There are more instances when video recording becomes illegal. You can see them here.

The law applies to recording a person in public, at work, or in private. A person's backyard may be considered a place where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. In 2017, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Backyard Surveillance Law,

Any owner or tenant of residential real property shall have a private right of action for damages against any person who installs or affixes a video imaging device on property adjoining such residential real property for the purpose of video taping or taking moving digital images of the recreational activities which occur in the backyard of the residential real property without the written consent thereto of such owner and/or tenant with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another person, or with intent to threaten the person or property of another person.

***This article is not intended to give legal advice or counsel.