The camera, which sits about half a meter out from their balcony, came as a surprise to the couple.
– There was talk of them setting up a camera in the area. But nothing that it would be on our building and we received no information via mail or information about when and where it would be set up, says Anna.
No need to worry
Ulrika Sundström, local police area manager in Karlstad, understands that it can feel unpleasant with the camera there, but says that Joakim and Anna can feel safe that the police cannot see either the balcony or the apartment.
– The masking is programming directly into the camera. We cannot see the masked area either live or in retrospect. Nor can we remove the masking and look at it later, she says.
She admits that it is technically possible for the few who manage the installation to reprogram the masked area, but that it would not happen as the police have both the law on camera surveillance and their own guidelines to follow.
Shouldn’t you put up a physical barrier as well?
– Here we also have our guideline to adhere to. And without being a specialist in the field, I can think that the programming in the camera is even safer, because there the camera sorts what we can and cannot watch, says Ulrika Sundström.
Build of the camera went viral
After contacting the municipal landlord, the police and the Tenants’ Association without success, Joakim posted a picture of the camera in an online discussion forum.
– Then I got a lot of comments, says Joakim.
Did you get any useful and not so useful tips from there?
– Yes, the useful thing was to contact the Privacy Protection Authority, who said that I should contact local news. The less useful thing was that I should put on a robber’s cap and just tear it down, which was a very popular suggestion, but I don’t think I want to end up in any criminal records for this, says Joakim.
Joakim and Anna did not want to participate with surnames.