Isle of Palms leaders discuss use of cameras in short term rentals

ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCBD) – Isle of Palms public safety leaders decided to not make any city ordinances regarding cameras inside short term rentals on Tuesday.

Short term rental owners are able to install cameras on the outside of their properties and in shared spaces. However, many rental agencies like Airbnb and Vrbo prohibit cameras and recording devices inside the structures. Isle of Palms Police plans to follow state statutes, as there are several laws against voyeurism and protect victims from invasion of privacy and sextortions.

“Our code enforcement works with short term quite often – the short term rental companies. So, every year we try to have those meetings where we just talk about hey the busy season is coming, these are some things we have coming up,” Kevin Cornett, chief of Isle of Palms police department, said. “This is just one opportunity for us to talk about this conversation and say what are you all doing, what are best practices we can assist you, maybe make some recommendations. Or maybe, make the short term rental companies to come together and set their own guidelines.”

The public safety committee asked several question regarding the topic. Police said this is an uncommon complaint on the island.

“We’ve had one incident in 2023, where a camera was in a short-term rental. Our investigation actually revealed that it was a family member of the individuals renting there, and the complainant, victim, made the decision not to move forward with any charges. So, that case was closed,” said Cornett.

Ultimately, no action was taken to make any city ordinances because state statutes adequately cover the crimes and come with harsher punishments.

“So, we made the decision we weren’t going to recommend any city ordinances at this time because there’s more teeth in these state statutes. State legislators have been very forward thinking in helping us to get state statutes in place to get the sextortions and aggravated sextortions that came out in 2023,” Cornett said. “We have a very comprehensive voyeurism statute that’s in place that we use to charge or help us with the investigation with these types of crimes.”

The annual meeting between the city’s code enforcement officers and the short term rental group is expected to be scheduled soon.