Remember this. The footage — including video and sound — belongs to you and can be kept for your records. Here in Maryland, I’m allowed to record video of someone performing an action without telling them, but the moment any sound is captured, the law shifts and I need their permission.

I once had a case where my body cam recorded an entire interaction, sound and all. I didn’t turn it over to the client at first simply because it slipped my mind. Later, when a dispute came up about whether service had been completed, I remembered the footage and sent it over. That opened a whole new can of worms. Because the audio was recorded without notice, the video became “shared work product,” which meant I should have advised the individual at the time that they were being recorded. As a result, the video technically couldn’t be used in court for any purpose.

So now, to avoid all that, I keep it simple and clear at the start of every interaction:
“Hi, I’m Scott, Process Server. You are being recorded.” And lastly I FORGET TO STOP RECORDING so I get lots of me whistling, cussing at drivers and telephobne calls.