Cameras Focus On Neighbor: Western Springs Woman Charged

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – When someone shows up at a house on Woodland Avenue in Western Springs, a camera from a neighbor's house announces, "Hi, you are being audio and visually recorded."

That's what officers said they heard last week when they answered a call at the house in question. They were there because a woman complained that all of her neighbors' cameras were pointed at her house. The houses are 10 to 15 feet away from each other.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained the police report. In connection with the case, Eva A. Kirsch, 68, was cited on a charge of disorderly conduct, police said.

According to the report, Kirsch's neighbor told police that she had no privacy and is alarmed every time her neighbor's camera makes the announcement. And she said every time she is outdoors, Kirsch comes out and yells obscenities for her to get away from the fence and stay off her property, police said.

This also occurs when friends and family come to visit, police said. The neighbor said she has no conversations outdoors because of the cameras facing her house.

The neighbors have an ongoing property line dispute over a 6-inch area, the report said.

The cameras, some of which have floodlights, are on a fence between the houses, police said.

An officer told Kirsch that she was not allowed to use security cameras to audio or visually record the neighbor or visitors to the neighbor.

While the officers were at the neighbor's house, an arriving friend appeared alarmed when a camera made the announcement, police said.

In citing Kirsch, officers advised her to reposition the cameras to face her own property.

When the officers left, they said they heard the automatic message again.

Last July, Kirsch was charged with trespassing on a neighbor's property numerous times. Patch published a story at the time about the details of the situation.