VIDA Fitness is removing security cameras it planned to activate at two locations after receiving “strong and emotional reactions from community members,” owner David von Storch said. MetroWeekly.
The local gym chain, which is frequented by many members of the gay community and operates six branches throughout the Washington metropolitan area, has announced it will install security cameras in parts of the men’s locker rooms at its Logan Circle location to prevent locker thefts.
According to von Storch, locker thefts, which were previously only a problem in the men’s locker rooms, have increased at VIDA’s U Street and Logan Circle locations.
Typically, thieves work in teams of two. They gain entry to the facilities and enter the locker rooms, where one thief acts as a “lookout” from the sink area while a second breaks the combination locks and attempts to steal items from the lockers.
“Within the last week, two people were arrested for burglary for stealing items from lockers,” said von Storch. “And by the way, it’s not like there are 50 thefts a day. So preventing one theft is a really big deal.”
The planned surveillance cameras were to be installed near the sink area and walking areas, not in areas where people are in various states of undress. But a social media post by a gym employee sparked outrage among some guests.
The story spread like wildfire on social media and was picked up by local news outlets, with some accusing the gym of intentionally violating the privacy of male customers.
“In fact, the initiative was so poorly communicated that some people felt that there were ulterior motives in installing the cameras, such as we wanted to monitor behavior in the locker rooms, because the only locker rooms affected were the men’s locker rooms and the only two locations were primarily ‘gay’ areas,” said von Storch. “So there was a heightened sensitivity about where the cameras were installed. But that’s where thefts became a problem.”
Von Storch defended the idea of installing the cameras, saying that their mere presence could deter potential thieves from attempting break-ins. In addition, they have helped the Metropolitan Police Department investigate all reported thefts.
“We had a protocol where the cameras were recording, but there was no monitor where anyone in the gym could see what was being recorded,” he said. “The tapes are only viewed by MPD after a theft was reported. And they only looked at the period before the theft was reported.”
Von Storch – who is not involved in day-to-day operations since he resigned as VIDA president over 18 months ago – said the gym consulted its own attorney as well as MPD to ensure the camera installations did not violate DC’s privacy laws.
“There is a legal definition of privacy, and that may be different from a personal definition of privacy,” he said. “So under the legal definition of privacy, we have complied completely with the law. We will not do anything that is illegal – that is just not how we operate.”
“So the rules are: if you film someone, you have to put up a sign that is clearly visible. We couldn’t film anyone in their dressing rooms, but we could film people coming and going in the dressing room and in the dressing room itself.
“We couldn’t film in the showers, toilet cubicles or changing rooms. I don’t know about the sauna and steam room, but we didn’t even try that, you know, because the idea wasn’t to catch guys having sex. The idea was to catch guys stealing. But I think there’s a different understanding of what privacy means on a personal level. And I think some people felt that their ‘privacy’, as they define it, was violated.”
As a gay man himself, von Storch understands why some gay guests may have reacted negatively to the announcement of the security cameras. For some, it was a reflection of the historical way gay behavior has been policed, and for others, it may have been an implicit accusation that gay men in particular were prone to inappropriate behavior.
“As someone who has been around for a while, I understand why someone might have misinterpreted this as ‘Hey, we’re spying on you because you’re perverts,'” von Storch said. “We removed the post, but by then the horse was out of the barn. People were taking screenshots of the post and sending them to others, and the way the internet works, it was too late to correct it. The damage was done.”
When asked what would have happened if the security cameras had been installed and recorded sexual behavior between guests, von Storch responded, “That’s a good question. I’ve stated publicly that the sole purpose of the cameras was to prevent theft. So unless we publicly state in advance that the policy is changing, I can’t ethically say that the cameras should be used for one purpose when someone does something sexually inappropriate, but we’re now using them for a different purpose unless we make a public statement in advance that the policy is changing.”
Von Storch noted that what annoys him most about the controversy is the perception by some people that the cameras were installed with malicious intent.
“People assumed we meant something different than what we said,” he said. “And once people get that impression, it’s the hardest thing to undo. So it was too late to even try to start an information campaign, like, ‘This is what we do and these are the results of projects like this.’ So I instructed the gyms to turn off the cameras. And one of the reasons it was interpreted that way was because we really messed up the message. So that’s on us.”
After removing the cameras, the gym chain must now desperately look for other ways to prevent unauthorized entry and locker theft.
A possible alternative to surveillance cameras would be to install turnstiles where gym-goers could only enter the facility by scanning a barcode or using fingerprint identification technology, or by being granted entry to the facility by a receptionist.
Turnstiles were installed at VIDA’s Washington DC locations before 2009, but they were removed because they caused customer dissatisfaction, von Storch said.
At VIDA’s Reston location, there are turnstiles that are operated by barcodes and cannot be “borrowed” or used by a second person – even if they try to take a screenshot of the barcode. Such measures help prevent the types of break-ins the club has experienced at its U Street and Logan Circle locations – where, unfortunately, there is not enough space to install handicap-accessible turnstiles.
“It’s a really difficult problem,” admitted von Storch. “If we put a security guard in the dressing room, you can only imagine the shitstorm that would cause. When we try to provide locks to customers – and we saw that on U Street – one thief smashes them while the other keeps watch. And as soon as someone comes in, they say ‘hey’ and their partner completely stops what they’re doing.”
He adds that it is becoming increasingly difficult to stay one step ahead of potential criminals.
“This was an unexpected setback,” said von Storch about the controversy surrounding the surveillance cameras. “So we have to start from scratch again and think about what we can do to increase security? And the answer is: I don’t know yet.”
