KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Complying with legal process 
May 29,  2021
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Complying with legal process
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Ken
          We were served with a Sheriff Warrant to produce video data.  Do we need our customer’s approval to comply?
Anon
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Response
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          It’s becoming more common for law enforcement to rely on data recorded and stored by private alarm companies.  You’ll get your request soon enough.  It can come from police or fire department looking for alarm activity reports or video data; it can be to support a criminal investigation and charge, or a civil matter. 
          Requests for records for records and data can be made informally, or formally.  You are required to comply with a formal request, which is made by Warrant or court order or other legal process.  It doesn’t have to come from a sheriff or judge’s order.  Lawyers are officers of the court and authorized to issue Subpoenas which have the same effect as an order from a judge.  When served with legal process you need to comply. 
          You don’t have to notify your customer of the request [and you may be prohibited from doing so under some circumstances, though the legal process will state that prohibition.  You can let your customer know that the legal process has been received and that you intend to comply by a certain date unless the customer takes action to quash the warrant or subpoena, or have the court order stayed or dismissed. 
          You aren’t legally obligated to turn over or produce records and data when getting only an informal request.  
          You usually cannot charge law enforcement or the fire department for production of records.  Sometimes you can charge reproduction charges. 
          You may be required to appear at a pre-trial discovery proceeding or at a trial.  Your presence will be required by subpoena or court order; compliance is not optional.
          There are a few items in the All in One agreements that address these situations.  First, the Standard Form Agreements make clear that you, or the central station, own the video or audio data; you own your own records.  You can charge your customer for compliance with legal process, including testifying in court.  You can be compelled to testify to the facts only, which would be the information in the records; you cannot be required to testify to your expert opinion unless you are being paid; you get to set the fee.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com