http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/realestate/more-surveillance-cameras-at-new-york-residences.html?pagewanted=2
Another motivator: a sudden swell of gut renovations or deliverymen.
“The issue is how many nonresidents you have coming into the building,” Mr. Moss said. “With a big construction project, you could have a dozen different laborers on site. And a food delivery person could easily get off at the wrong floor. Then if he decides he isn’t happy with his tip and scratches up the wood on the elevator, we’ll have it on video.”
When a homeless shelter opened two years ago on West 25th Street, the perimeter of the nearby condo Chelsea Mercantile got more cameras, according to a resident who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized by the building’s board to comment. “We’ve always had perimeter cameras,” the resident said. “But because of concerns about loitering, we added some to get a wide perspective of what was going on on the sidewalk.”
Building managers say that cameras can serve as a deterrent to crime and offer documentary evidence if the deterrent proves ineffective. As a rule, tapes are preserved for 30 days.
“We have perimeter cameras out in front of the building,” said Larry McCool, the resident manager of a co-op in the East 50s. “There have been stickups on the street and I had beautiful pictures and the police were able to catch the guys. Detectives will call me fairly often and give me the time frame of an incident and I start reviewing the video.”
Sometimes, it takes a little nudging for buildings to acknowledge their vulnerability. Mr. McLaughlin is installing a system at a property that was easily breached by a security team doing reconnaissance in advance of a visit by “a person of prominence within the government,” he said. “The agent got onto the roof of this particular building, then located the resident manager and said, ‘Your building is not very secure.’ ”
The board’s members acted swiftly, perhaps more concerned about their own safety than the safety of the bigwig who was planning a visit to the neighborhood.
Beyond their security uses, however, cameras can function as a kind of management tool.
A few years ago, a co-op on the Upper East Side upgraded its surveillance equipment “partly to monitor our night man,” said Phil Ginsberg, a longtime member of the board. “Everyone liked him, but he had a history of falling asleep. With the new system we could monitor him. He’s still with the building, but he’s on probation.”
Mr. Dolin says he has been getting more calls from condo boards intent on catching residents who are “hoteling” — offering their apartments for short-term rental — and from landlords bent on collaring tenants of rent-stabilized apartments who aren’t being truthful about their primary residence. “We bring in cameras and put them in the hallways,” Mr. Dolin said.
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