Covert Busts By Hidden Cameras

In our previously published article called Is There A Hidden Spy Camera In Your Future we discuss the top uses of hidden cameras. In that article, we actually make the point that more than likely you can use a hidden spy camera in your home, office or business but you may not realize their capabilities.

As we discussed in that article, the major uses for hidden spy cameras are as a nanny camera, for home security, business security to catch employees stealing from you, to catch acts of marital infidelity, catch acts of elder abuse-a rapidly growing crime-and other uses where documenting illegal acts may be difficult, if not impossible, to prove.

In today’s article, we will give you several examples of how hidden spy cameras were actually used in the real world to catch criminals in the act.

In this story from the Ottawa Sun, where a loss prevention officer from a big-box retailer uses hidden cameras to catch employee theft. The loss prevention officer says that the employees know who he is, so he has to use hidden cameras in an undercover sting to catch them. He is also responsible for catching customer shoplifting which proves to be a more difficult task because only one out of 10 shoplifters gets caught. He pointed out that as recently as five years ago two-thirds of store loss was external from shoplifters and only 19% was employee theft. Now with more surveillance cameras and one-way mirrors, shoplifting is down to 43% of losses but internal theft from employees is up to one third. Employee thefts are hard to prove so a hidden camera can provide that documentation.

In a story from the NBC news affiliate in Washington two men who share an apartment had been broken into repeatedly so they installed hidden cameras in their apartment. Sure enough, they caught three men in an Apartment Burglary where the suspects stole computer gear, electronics, and watches. One of the pieces of gear that were stolen was an iPad mini that had a feature called “find my iPad” from Apple. The victim was able to track three locations where the burglars spent an extended amount of time which proved to be helpful in tracking down the bad guys.

Another use of hidden cameras is to help police catch home burglars. In this case, there was a Police Sting where law enforcement officials set up hidden cameras in a staged “home” to catch burglars in the city. In this particular case, a bike and smartphone were stolen but they were fitted with tracking devices so they were recovered by police. The suspects were caught. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies have been using hidden cameras to catch criminals for decades. They were perhaps the pioneers in using hidden cameras to catch the bad guys.

In a fourth example, homeowners used hidden cameras to catch a home burglar in the act. It was 11 o’clock in the morning when the burglar knocked on the front door to see if anyone was home and looked in through the front window. When he couldn’t see anybody he went to the back door and kicked his way in. The homeowner got an alert on her iPhone. The burglar was in and out in just under 70 seconds but stole several Kindle books and other personal mementos.

In a case that just concluded recently, a county circuit court judge said that clips from a hidden video camera convinced her that a caregiver for a 92-year-old woman was guilty of Elder Abuse. The victim who was experiencing dementia would not have been able to report the abuse or help in any kind of a prosecution of the case. The hidden camera was placed in the room by the victim’s daughter after she became suspicious of how her mother was being treated. In so many cases of elder abuse, the victim has Alzheimer’s or dementia and cannot remember what happened and/or cannot verbalize what happened, making prosecution against the perpetrator nearly impossible.

In another case in Texas, teachers who were upset about someone stealing money from their purses installed a hidden camera to catch the thief. Instead, they caught two teacher’s aides using illegal restraints on a child with special needs. This case of Child Abuse would never have come to trial if it hadn’t been for the secret video.

These are just some examples of how crimes such as elder abuse and child abuse, especially, would not only go undetected but also go without prosecution because of the lack of evidence.

When you are suspicious of any situation and suspect that a crime is being committed whether it is home burglary, employee theft, elder abuse or child abuse a hidden spy camera may be the only way to gather enough evidence, evidence that is strong enough to stand up in court, to catch the crooks and prosecute the case.

We have hidden spy cameras in ten categories available to choose from in our store-the largest selection online in the country. Many of them have WiFi connectivity giving the user the ability to use remote viewing from anywhere on virtually any device and all of them are at extremely competitive, most below competition prices.

This DIY hidden spy camera kit is a great example. The WiFi module camera kit comes pre-assembled, but without housing, so the location and home for this spy cam are completely up to you. Simply go through the basic setup using a high-speed internet connection and wireless router and you are ready to install in any location you desire.

Feedback on these posts is appreciated. Have you ever used a hidden camera? What did you use it for? Please share your experience.