QUESTION:

Hi Ken,

I have a CCTV question for you.  We installed a analog video system for a church 6 years ago to record the day care areas and protect themselves from lawsuits brought about by parents. At the time we used VHS tapes so they could be stored forever - in case a child came forth years later and said they were molested.

Now they are adding on to the building and we are planning on converting everything to digital, which requires more expense to store the video indefinitely.  What would be a reasonable amount of time that they should keep video to protect themselves.  It seems they have a bigger liability by having spent money on a video system than churches that don't.

Thanks, for your time.

Gary Lewis

Apollo Security Group, Inc.

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ANSWER:

    The statute of limitation on actions for negligence is a state statute and varies state to state.  Generally its three years.  There are many conditions that toll the statute of limitations from running, such as absence from the state, bankruptcy and infancy, the latter being the relevant issue for your question.  Since your data is covering child supervision a child could sue within that child's minority,  usually 21 yearsa of age.  Of course video data is not the only evidence that one would rely upon if defending a claim, and in fact may be useless if allegations place an occurrence outside of the scope of the cameras.  I don't know if video storage, perhaps placed on discs permanently and stored indefinitely, would be overkill.  I doubt that a custom and practice has developed yet so that one property owner, or day care center, or whatever operation, would be looked upon adversely because video, not required at all by law, were not maintained.  If it gets to the point that failure to produce such data would permit an adverse inference at a trial, then I suppose a whole new service will grow storing this data.