Question about possible destruction of evidence?

[elkstan]

What is the name of your state? California


My neighbors house was broken into sometime in the past week when she was out of town. She left me a message about it and said the police are going to contact me about getting the footage from my security camera that faces her property. They haven’t contacted me yet.

The problem is over the past couple days I have been doing a project out front that is not strictly legal. Which is why I was doing it while my neighbor was out of town. I had stupidly not thought of turning off the cameras before I started this project.

So obviously I don’t want the police to see me doing this project. My security cameras only keep the past 72 hours though. After that it starts recording over itself. So the guy breaking into her house may have also been recorded over already. If not though he will for sure be recorded over by Sunday.

I suppose I’m just want to know if I could get in trouble for destruction of evidence or something if I just let the process happen and do nothing to stop it. Also what exactly are my obligations for responding to the police when/if they do contact me. How soon would I have to reply. What would happen if let’s say I went out of town early tomorrow morning for a weekend camping trip or something and they couldn’t get ahold of me.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? California


My neighbors house was broken into sometime in the past week when she was out of town. She left me a message about it and said the police are going to contact me about getting the footage from my security camera that faces her property. They haven’t contacted me yet.

The problem is over the past couple days I have been doing a project out front that is not strictly legal. Which is why I was doing it while my neighbor was out of town. I had stupidly not thought of turning off the cameras before I started this project.

So obviously I don’t want the police to see me doing this project. My security cameras only keep the past 72 hours though. After that it starts recording over itself. So the guy breaking into her house may have also been recorded over already. If not though he will for sure be recorded over by Sunday.

I suppose I’m just want to know if I could get in trouble for destruction of evidence or something if I just let the process happen and do nothing to stop it. Also what exactly are my obligations for responding to the police when/if they do contact me. How soon would I have to reply. What would happen if let’s say I went out of town early tomorrow morning for a weekend camping trip or something and they couldn’t get ahold of me.

You are not obligated to have recording security cameras at your house. The fact that you do could be helpful to the police in solving the break in at your neighbor's house, but its not an obligation on your part. Nor are you obligated to stay home for the weekend in case they try to contact you.

The project you were doing that wasn't strictly legal was apparently being done in your front yard, so it couldn't have been anything too dreadful. If I were in your shoes I would review the tapes myself to see if anything showed the break in, and then run the illegal activity by an attorney, and then decide whether or not you need to be concerned about yourself.

 

[adjusterjack]

There is video editing software on the internet for free that can be used to edit out the parts that you don't want anybody to see.

 

[Zigner]

There is video editing software on the internet for free that can be used to edit out the parts that you don't want anybody to see.

True, but is edited evidence credible evidence?

 

[Ohiogal]

True, but is edited evidence credible evidence?

No.

 

[zddoodah]

I suppose I’m just want to know if I could get in trouble for destruction of evidence or something if I just let the process happen and do nothing to stop it.

You are under no obligation to do anything with respect to the incident at your neighbor's house. I suggest that you confer with a local criminal defense attorney regarding your own criminal activity to which you admitted in your post.

 

[LdiJ]

You are under no obligation to do anything with respect to the incident at your neighbor's house. I suggest that you confer with a local criminal defense attorney regarding your own criminal activity to which you admitted in your post.

He didn't necessarily do anything criminal. He said "not strictly legal". It could have easily been some unpermitted project rather than a criminal activity.

 

[elkstan]

You are not obligated to have recording security cameras at your house. The fact that you do could be helpful to the police in solving the break in at your neighbor's house, but its not an obligation on your part. Nor are you obligated to stay home for the weekend in case they try to contact you.

The project you were doing that wasn't strictly legal was apparently being done in your front yard, so it couldn't have been anything too dreadful. If I were in your shoes I would review the tapes myself to see if anything showed the break in, and then run the illegal activity by an attorney, and then decide whether or not you need to be concerned about yourself.

I’m already very familiar with legal consequences of my project. I just wanted to get an idea about the video thing so I could compare which is worse.

 

[adjusterjack]

There is video editing software on the internet for free that can be used to edit out the parts that you don't want anybody to see.

True, but is edited evidence credible evidence?

No.

The remaining part may clearly show an identifiable burglar breaking into the house. Experts could tell that the unedited part was genuine. Besides, it would at least engender further investigation.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Is there any reason to believe that your questionable act on your yard happened at the same time as the break-in?

 

[elkstan]

Is there any reason to believe that your questionable act on your yard happened at the same time as the break-in?

If it happened during the past three days then what I was working on is in the video.

 

[adjusterjack]

Have you looked at the video yet?

If not, then go look before you waste any more time here.

 

[LdiJ]

Have you looked at the video yet?

If not, then go look before you waste any more time here.

I agree. The whole issue is moot if the video doesn't show anything.

 

[elkstan]

Have you looked at the video yet?

If not, then go look before you waste any more time here.

No, there’s way too much to look through. I probably wouldn’t get through it all before it got deleted unless I save it to a different storage device. I would rather avoid doing that for obvious reason.

 

[LdiJ]

No, there’s way too much to look through. I probably wouldn’t get through it all before it got deleted unless I save it to a different storage device. I would rather avoid doing that for obvious reason.

Your system doesn't fast forward?