The task becomes more challenging by the day, as criminals grow more sophisticated, but due to the strides being made in technology, we have an ever increasing arsenal of methods and techniques with which to fight crime.

Industrial espionage

Electronic eavesdropping or 'bugging', is widespread in business today. Board meetings, apparently held in strict privacy, often have uninvited guests in the form of fly-on-the-wall microphones the size of a pinhead, picking up every word.

The same goes for sensitive phone calls, with entire conversations being recorded for the eager ears of competitors. The value of a business edge is gone, the knowledge now being shared by many.

In South Africa, industrial espionage has become rife. More and more companies acquire proprietary and confidential information by unethical and illegal means in order to gain undue or unfair advantage over competitors. And, just as some business people have never been averse to spying - indeed, many regard it as essential - some electronic surveillance operators have always been keen to help, for a price.

Sophistication

It is worth noting that the surveillance sense of the word 'bug' came in to common usage before 1920, so perhaps it is no surprise that the science has now developed to an extraordinary degree of sophistication.

A radio transmitter can be the size of a match-head and as thin as a credit card. It can be disguised as a pen or a pocket calculator and left on somebody's desk, or it can be built into a wall plug. As for microphones, they can simply be a thin wire pushed through a cavity in a window or wall, almost invisible but connected to a radio transmitter in another room.

The ordinary remote control on the boardroom table can be adapted as eavesdropping equipment, and the so-called infinity device, the electronic ear in the keyhole, can convey sound thousands of kilometers away, even to another country.

Counter measures

Taking a stand against the "Buggers" are the "Debuggers", like OF&A. They provide counter-surveillance expertise, making use of equally sophisticated electronic equipment. This equipment is used together with physical searches to locate bugs that are almost impossible to detect without state-of-the-art scanners or, at the very least, a highly trained eye.

And, since the protection of valuable proprietary information must be a continuous process, so it is vital that debugging exercises are carried out regularly. If not, confidential information is at risk and, along with it, the continued viability of the business.

Surveillance Cameras

In covert applications, law enforcement agencies, private investigators and private security forces all share the goal of identifying crime and gathering the evidence that will be effective in stopping the problem. One of the main tools of the trade is the concealed camera. Thanks to miniaturisation, cameras can be hidden in smoke detectors, clocks, and other seemingly innocent devices. Thus they become the eyes of the investigator.

At OF&A, we have disguised many hundreds of cameras, and today's technology enables us to hide cameras on our investigators. This enables us to see, hear, and record what the wearer is seeing and hearing. What's more, the use of video surveillance tapes is becoming standard practice in the courtroom. Video footage is perhaps the most effective testimony there is, and a thorough investigation combined with clear video material assures solid evidence, as long as the correct procedures were adhered to within the specific parameters of the Law.

And thanks to microminiaturisation and phenomenal video-camera technology, there is hardly a situation or circumstance in which round-the-clock, accurate, dependable surveillance cannot be achieved in the fight to reduce the real levels of crime, reported or not.