DeSoto man says neighbor’s security cameras are stripping away his privacy

A DeSoto County man says cameras next to his home are pointing right into his backyard, and he’s worried about his privacy.

Ric Trader spends a lot of time working in his backyard, doing mechanical work as a hobby.

But Trader says he no longer feels a sense of privacy on his own property after discovering his neighbor installed cameras a few months ago.

“It’s right there looking right down on me,” Trader said. “It’s just causing me a great deal of stress.”

One camera is perched on the roof of his neighbor’s home and another set further up on a pole. And despite his tall fence, Trader feels the cameras point right over it. Now he even keeps his back windows closed.

“The blinds are shut, the drapes are drawn,” Trader said.

He says he reached out to the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office, a local attorney and his neighbor, but nothing has been done.

A local attorney says a similar case was raised in Florida where a neighbor’s cameras were ruled as stalking.

“There’s not a whole lot out there, but there is some authority that a security camera pointed at one’s backyard could be taken as stalking,” attorney Christopher Cosden.

Trader says he has nothing to hide but is tired of feeling like he’s constantly being watched.

“I want the damn cameras taken down and I want my privacy back,” he said.

In a case like this, Cosden suggested seeking a local attorney and seeing if there’s any basis for a stalking case.

WINK News attempted to get in contact with the neighbors who have the cameras but were not able to do so.