Video Surveillance in Wuppertal | Patrick Kurtz in a Brief Interview on Radio Wuppertal

Short Radio Segment from February 2017

As early as February 2017, Radio Wuppertal interviewed Patrick Kurtz, the owner of Kurtz Detective Agency Wuppertal, for a segment on the topic of public and private video surveillance in Wuppertal. Below we provide a transcript of the segment, in which another interview partner also has his say.

Public Video Surveillance at Döppersberg in Wuppertal

Presenter: "The new central station is to be monitored with twelve cameras – that is our topic this morning. Deutsche Bahn is currently planning this together with the Federal Police. It is about security; we are meant to feel safe at the new Döppersberg. At railway stations this is always somewhat difficult; there are underpasses, there are dark corners, and at stations you also find dubious individuals. Drugs are sold there, many people consume alcohol – I do not mean that in a discriminatory way, but one often has an uneasy feeling at the station. Especially when travelling alone at night as a woman ... Hence the surveillance cameras.

 

But what is actually permitted? Which areas may be monitored with cameras? This is precisely regulated by law: anyone may monitor their private property with cameras – their own house, the garden, the garage driveway and so on. And in fact more and more people in Wuppertal are doing this. Schlüsseldienst Becker has for some time now been selling surveillance cameras, as Christian Becker told us."

 

Christian Becker: "We were repeatedly asked whether we could also offer alarm systems or video systems. That became so frequent that we said, all right, we need to start doing this as well. We are a specialist security retailer; it is part of our field. And it has seen enormous demand with us. We sell many alarm systems and also video surveillance systems."

Legal Restrictions on Private Video Surveillance

Presenter: "The high demand for surveillance cameras began approximately one and a half years ago. That was around the time when we had particularly high numbers of burglaries in Wuppertal – we also reported on this at Radio Wuppertal. It is very important: anyone installing such video surveillance may only monitor their private property. You must under no circumstances film the pavement in front of your house or your neighbour’s garden. Many people, for example, also want to monitor their car because it is often scratched. However, there are a few things we must bear in mind, as Wuppertal detective Patrick Kurtz told us. He also offers surveillance cameras."

 

Patrick Kurtz: "The problem is that if the car is parked in a public parking space, for example on the street or in a parking bay with other vehicles, you may not carry out video surveillance there, because this would record a public area. Accordingly, the possible uses of video surveillance technology for private individuals are relatively limited."

 

Presenter: "So no one may simply be filmed without their knowledge. And how do you feel about being constantly monitored? We spoke to many people in Wuppertal about this. You will hear more from us on that later ..."

Note

The presenter’s statement that we would offer surveillance cameras may be open to misunderstanding. We would therefore like to clarify at this point that Kurtz Investigations Wuppertal does not sell security technology, but uses it as part of our services (installation, maintenance, evaluation and removal).

Kurtz Investigations Wuppertal

Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 55

D-42103 Wuppertal

Tel.: +49 202 5289 0063

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-wuppertal.de

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-wuppertal.de/en

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