more on non-working cameras preclude insurance claim coverage July 30, 2025

KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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more on non-working cameras preclude insurance claim coverage
July 30,  2025

more on non-working cameras preclude insurance claim coverage from article on July 10, 2025
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Ken,
   I read your emails religiously. I ignore most of the postings regarding fire alarm systems since we do not install commercial fire, thank God. I believe last week there was a posting regarding security systems, burglary versus camera systems and the associated law suits. It always scares me when I read one of your postings and want to leave the industry that I have been in for 52 years. We install lots of camera systems. When asked by customers about adding cameras to their security system,
   I explain that you can have a burglar alarm with no cameras and a camera system with no burglary. Cameras can show you if there is activity in your home or business when your burglar alarm activates but unless you are willing to spend a great deal of money having the cameras monitored, they probably won't provide notice of an intrusion. They will give you great pics of a masked burglar taking your stuff but could let you know the alarm is real.
   We are not a burglar alarm company. We are a low voltage contractor. We sell, service and install burglar alarms, camera systems, access control, structured cabling, audio/video, central vacs and intercoms and of all that we do, the most unreliable, malfunctioning and high service demand product that we install is CCTV cameras. In most cases, the system is not the problem but unstable internet and too much access by the end user who changes something or unplugs a cable from a network switch. When we contract the systems, we never list the burglar alarm and the camera system as related in any way. If there are Alarm.com cameras on the same app as the burglar alarm, we emphasize that the only connection is access to the cameras through the app.
   Now, you tell me that an insurance underwriter may not pay a claim if the burglar alarm activates perfectly but the cameras fail. God bless America.
Stan Corn,
Alarms, Inc

Response

   Alarm systems are incorporating cameras more and more. Alarm verification, which use to be limited to telephone call verification, is being replaced or supplemented by camera verification. Camera monitoring typically comes in two varieties: video clips and live streaming. Now add audio interaction between central station operator and intruder and you have another effective deterrent. As you note, camera monitoring adds expense for the customer. It also add revenue for the alarm company. I'm old fashion, I still refer to Low Voltage Integrators as Alarm Companies. I know you'll forgive me because you still refer to the cameras as CCTV and I not sure if that terminology is obsolete or not, but I don't think a true CCTV system, without any remote access, is installed much these days. [unless I am not defining CCTV properly].
   The discussion was raised by the insurance carry who approved the insurance coverage, and the insurance contract, relying on the insured's description of its security system, which included the cameras. The insurance contract required that the entire system be operational at time of the loss in order for the insurance coverage to be available.
   The security contract will specify the equipment and systems. If these systems are then incorporated in another agreement, in this case an insurance contract, then there needs to be compliance. Instead of an insurance contract it could have been a mortgage, or lease, or security agreement or franchise agreement, or who knows what else.
   What equipment and systems are appropriate in a particular installation is up to you, the alarm professional, subject of course to the customer's budget. We don't know that the carrier in the case reviewed demanded any particular equipment, such as the cameras. it could have. But here I think it was simply that the cameras were included in the description of the security system and the insurance contract required that all of the system be working.
   I've had a number of claims where cameras were involved, though so far they have been unmonitored cameras, so the damage was loss of data. I have pointed out on more than one occasion that cameras were designed and intended to simply record the data for review after the incident, not detect the incident. But come cameras do detect and some camera service is designed to deter. Dont make the mistake of bridging the next gap and suggesting, or worse promising, prevention.
   Be sure to point out deficiencies in design and availability of more equipment in the Disclaimer Notice.
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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