Covert CCTV

[Service Engineer]

You wouldn`t believe just how many hidden camera`s are being used now days.

The technology used in some instances is simply amazing, such as a lens capable of seeing through fog as though it wasnt there. And the technology used in some superstores which can list items sold and add up takings at any till to the exact penny.

I met a covert installer a few days ago whilst working as a subbie, some of the advances and instances in which they are being used is amazing. He even mentioned footage he`d captured using a camera pen, in which a 70 year old cleaner woman was found taking snapshots of blueprints and later found to be supplying them to a competitor.

Is anyone here involved with this side of our industry, do we have any PI`s in our midst..? I`d like to hear a lot more on this subject.

[CompostCORNER]

I've been involved in the making of covert systems for Hull City Council's Environmental and Trading Standards department plus one or two other public financed institutions. Some of the things I used to make even surprised me that I actually pulled off the job.

I remember this job where I had to unpick the strap on a shoulder bag, fit a minature boardcam, feeding the wires down the strap and into the bag. The bag itself carried a 12vdc power source and a 5.8Ghz transmitter that had a range of about 2 miles. These signals were recieved by an assistant in a van. This job was for the local DHSS tracking housing benefit cheats.

Modifying radio cassette CD players to have a covert within the speaker enclosure whilst leaving the rest of the unit operational was basic work. The camera and transmitter would be powered from the actual CD players PCB so not only was it still operational as a CD player, it was totally portable as a covert.

You can find yourself in awkward situatuions doing covert. One chap who suspected his wife was cheating had my company install a system inside his house. His wife never questioned the dummy intruder alarm system with PIR cameras or the new heat detector in the bedroom. The chap just wanted proof. He was devastated. He called me out a few weeks after install and I attended thinking there was something worng with the system. He put a tape into the VCR conveniently hidden in the loft and there on the screen was his wife, being made love to by her secret lover. I mean, what do you say in a situation like that. The guy seemed adamant on embarrassing his wife.

A lot of the devices I created would be hit and miss though. Sometimes they worked quite well and were very practical but other times they were totally useless. I must have binned hundreds if not thousands of pounds of equipment trying to get a decent end product. Although things are much much smaller now, its still not always plain sailing with covert. You just need to be imaginative enough to dream up ways of hiding the equipment.

Tony

[CompostCORNER]

Me and my partner Sally had a good 3 month period where we would enter pubs, clubs ect... around midnight and work the night installing covert systems. In this game you do find out one thing. Covert cameras are seldom installed to catch the punters but more than often to spy on the not so honest staff members.

One particular club in Hull, Sal and I installed 4 covert cameras, a monitor and VCR locked in a metal cupboard. One camera was hidden within an existing 3 pin socket. The conduit had to be dissassembled to accept the coax and power cable. The socket had to be made dead. Due to it's weird place of installation, the socket would never be used. We cleared the site at 06.40 the next morning and sat in the van having a smoke just as the cleaner opened up. A close one there.

This club was losing 2 full barrels of lager from its seller every week. How the hell no one noticed a couple of barrels going walkies so regularly was beyond me.

Tony

[p&ralarms]

I carried out a contract for a large national company, who had recently employed a security manager (Ex-met).

For a time I was installing 2 systems a week, (on top of my 'normal work') gruling when you consider the hours! Our favorite was hiding the cameras in the suspended ceiling or partition walls. We had a great deal of sucess, caught hands in tills and even a very large (new) diesel engine leaving the rear of a premises.

A couple stand out, I fitted a covert camera on a trade counter (while it was open) at the request of a manager of this company. The camera was in a JB which we had stuck on credit card symbols and simply told the staff we were coming back next week to fit the new fangled tills. This camera was 2 feet away from the cash draw. Less than an hour later the manager rang me and requested that I remove the camera, as they had caught the suspected member of staff literally with his hand in the till. At court this company sucessfully claimed the cost of me installing the camera from the lad in question along with a large fine.

I think my favorite one was the request for a covert camera in a walk in wardrobe..... I was asked to source all the equipment I would need quickly and to pack it securley into a carton, it was then sent by DHL to saudi arabia - I got there first!! (two days later). Two of us installed the camera and digital networked recorder looking at a space in the wardrobe where the safe used to be. The clients wife then informed us that they were moving to another of their homes later that week!! This little excercise cost the client over £10,000!!! However he was very pleased as my colleage now works directly for him, full time on a handsome salary.

Covert security is a very different beast to anything else out there, and the elation from catching someone is heightened by the expression of gratitude from the client.

Aron Totney

P & R Alarms Limited

[Rich]

I've done my fair share of covert systems, and I think 99% of the time they were to catch staff, I did set up a system that caught handbag thievs and lead to alot of convictions, Its alway nice when nobody but you can see where youve hidden the cameras.

Its amazing what you can get away with.

I look forward to installing more

I dont miss the bit where you've got 5 minutes before people turn up though, Sometimes its been a very close call

[Guest dale]

The only thing is, as engineers have we ever spotted covert cameras?

I have, in the local hospital canteen, and a BP petrol station.... always pretty obvious when there is a smoke detector directly above a till!

The reason I noticed the one in the hospital was as the sighting of the smoke detector was completely stupid, and wouldnt have caught a fire quick enough the location it was sighted (if at all!).

I think we have to use a bit of common sense when sighting covert cameras, otherwise people will get suspicious.

[Guest S&K SYSTEMS]

thats right dale now i dont know if any of you out there are the same as me when i go out to job ie domestic i am allways looking round for cams they either trust me which go goes along way in my books or they are well hidden

[TSS]

try using the board from the rs covert thermostat (available from enterprise bedford)

The picture is outstanding! and there is enough space for the tranmitter inside too...

I put one inside one of those awful self activating decoys on ebay! everyone knows they are dummies so ignores them... caught the b******s tho...

James

[Guest]

i thought covert cctv was a no no?//.National Installer.// wont touch it...

[Guest dale]

You are supposed to get home office approval for a covert CCTV operation, as I queried it when I spotted it at mums works, but they produced a home office letter giving them approval.