Bug Sweeps Are Not Just For Corporations and Governments

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When I was a young Sergeant in the New York City Police Department I dated a girl who lived alone in a small privately owned apartment building in midtown Manhattan (NYC). She was always concerned that the superintendent, that she felt was creepy, was spying on her in her apartment. I could not discount the notion as I agreed that the superintendent was kind of creepy and certainly stranger things have been known to happen in NYC. She was most concerned when she was not home and knew the super had been in the apartment to fix something, let in the exterminator, fix the heat, etc.

Periodically, at her request, I would inspect the apartment to look for signs of hidden video cameras, audio devices and other eavesdropping equipment. At the time, I was a Sergeant in the NYPD’s Narcotics Division and was very familiar with a variety of tiny easy to hide “pinhole” cameras and other eavesdropping equipment that we used in our own investigations. What I also knew was that these miniature eavesdropping devices worked very well, were not very expensive and were very easy to hide.

I will say that the old painted-over electrical box above her bed did look a bit odd and although I never did find anything that doesn't mean she was being paranoid as this kind of thing does happen quite frequently. Just goggle terms like voyeur cam and hidden cam (but not while at work) and you will see that there is a huge market for this type of footage on the Internet. Unfortunately, the target of the spying is usually a young girl who is victimized in her own bathroom or bedroom or sometimes in a gym locker room where she also has an expectation of privacy.

Stephanie’s Law

New York State passed a law in 2003 to protect against unlawful surveillance and named it Stephanie’s Law after Long Island resident Stephanie Fuller, whose landlord, Shultz, had secretly videotaped her bedroom in her rented apartment. In pushing for stricter sentencing in these cases, lawmakers argued that these crimes were similar to sexual assaults. New York State redefined the laws to take into account new types of surveillance technology and classify these types of privacy invasions as sexual assaults. The law defines unlawful surveillance as the use or installation of a recording or imaging device to view, broadcast, or record a person dressing and undressing, or his or her sexual or private parts for the purpose of entertainment or profit without the individual’s permission and where the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy (§250 New York Penal Law). A conviction is punishable for up to 4 years for a first time offender and will require the perpetrator to file as a sex offender.

Something to consider

If you are moving into a new apartment, renting a beach house for the summer in Long Island or moving your daughter off campus into a private home or apartment building, you might want to consider having the place checked for bugs. Not the kind of bugs you need an exterminator for, but rather miniature eavesdropping devices that may be hidden and that could be spying on you or a loved one and recording or transmitting footage of your most private moments.

Professionals who can help are called TSCM or Technical Surveillance Counter Measure Technicians and they are experts at finding these devices using a combination of training, experience, sophisticated electronic detection equipment and hard work.

Click here to learn more about TSCM Inspections, aka Bug Sweeps

Click here to learn about the equipment used in a TSCM Inspection

Click here if you are interested in a free TSCM Consultation

Joe Cordes is the VP of Investigations at MSA Investigations