The Do It Yourself Detective
Real Private Investigators helping you take care of your real problems yourself!
Electronic Surveillance
I have saved the subject of electronic surveillance for last because not only is this type more sophisticated it is thusly, more difficult to detect. Depending on how it is done and what state you live in, it may be illegal and therefore not the first choice of many operatives to gather information.
Electronic surveillance could be as simple as the $20.00 microphone from Radio Shack mentioned earlier. This device uses a watch battery on the transmitter end and is small enough to be placed in the home, office or vehicle and then with a little tuning of an FM receiver (car radio, Sony walkman, etc.) the operative can hear anything going on in that room while he is a safe comfortable distance away. This device is at the low end of range, sensitivity and of course price, but a quick study of those magazine ads mentioned in the introduction can give anyone access to a more powerful, longer range, but of course, more expensive wireless listening device.
Anyone can buy these, anyone can use them and they are easily placed. People can even use these devices as a "body wire."
There are devices available to law enforcement and private investigators that are more sophisticated, with longer range, longer battery life and require a dedicated receiver.
We cannot even begin to account for all the microphones. There are
hundreds of them. Some in the form of a lamp that is plugged into household current, is quite powerful and never needs a new battery. Another device replaces your electrical outlet that is wired in place and allows you to plug your own appliances into it while it merrily sends whatever you are saying to the operative in the next apartment, the motel room next to yours or the vehicle around the block.
As these words are written device after device comes to my mind and they are certainly being evaluated by people who may want to pick just the right one to use against you.
There are also microphones that are not used inside a building, but can be used outside a building by attaching to a hard surface, usually glass, and converting the vibrations into sound that we can monitor.
There are probes that can penetrate walls that when connected to an amplifier can hear what is said in the target room.
