This week we have had many incidents in the news that have all made us think about security and surveillance. Firstly we had the Russian Spying fiasco in the US, which culminated in the exchange between Russia and USA of each others captured spies. Then, more locally we have had the controversy in relation to the CCTV cameras being erected in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham.

I think that many cannot believe that in this day and age we have Russians living undercover in the USA. OK, it is understood that these were not really high profile spies, but still, even though their threat to national security may have been low, the ’sending home’ exchange of each others spies sends a message to the other side that the vigilance of their own security services has not slipped. As regards the cameras in the Muslim community. I wonder if there would have been a big outcry if these cameras had been erected in a community with another predominantly religious group. It is my belief that it would probably not have been newsworthy.

Overall, there has always been a mainly subdued opposition to the introduction of ‘Spy Cameras’ and CCTV in the community. Whilst I do believe that we have to be careful not to erect CCTV and spy cameras for the sake of it; most are put in place after much consultation. Most of us do not concern ourselves with CCTV cameras in our streets or in shops and businesses, because we are law-abiding citizens and their presence does not hold any fear for us.

One final thought on this subject. If there had been far more CCTV cameras in place in Rothbury, then there is a distinct possibility that Police would have cornered Raoul Moat far earlier rather than the fiasco running on for nearly a week. I guess that hindsight is a wonderful thing.

There has been a lot of press coverage recently about Local Councils conducting covert investigations into local residents in order to bring offences to court. Both Hull and East Riding councils have recently admitted carrying out the secret investigations over the past two years. These local authorities, however, rank low in the league table when compared with others councils.

Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), councils can carry out secret surveillance operations without anyone else knowing about it. Newcastle City Council topped the table with 231 secret
surveillance operations in the two year period. Hull City Council clocked up 85, while East Riding Council
carried out just 43.

The City Council’s secret surveillance operations covered issues ranging from the sale of alcohol to underage children to litter and fly-tipping through the use of publicly available Body-Worn & Out-Door camera systems. The council’s covert work also included taxi licensing, trading standards cases and anti-social behaviour through the use of various publicly available voice recorders and GSM listening devices.

In its reply, the East Riding Council gave a breakdown of the numbers of cases it had used RIPA powers. They included 17 cases involving antisocial behaviour, 12 benefit fraud investigations, two suspected thefts, one trading standards case involving the sale of meat products with false labelling and one private
hire vehicle being driven without a licence. By the City Council using the RIPA Act to deal with issues like this more time can be spared by the local Police Force to investigate more serious issues.

The new Tory-Lib Dem coalition Government has pledged to ban councils from using powers under the RIPA Act unless they are first signed off by a magistrate and are required for stopping serious crime.

Campaign group Big Brother Watch said many councils are misusing the powers to spy on residents over relatively trivial issues, including dog fouling and smoking in public places. Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch, said:

“Now the absurd and excessive use of RIPA surveillance has been revealed, these powers have to be taken away from councils.

“The coalition Government plan to force councils to get warrants before snooping on us is good, but doesn’t go far enough.

“If the offence is serious enough to merit covert surveillance, then it should be in the hands of the police.”

Spy Equipment UK are always looking to add new quality products to the range and certainly over the last six to twelve months there have been a number of bodyworn camera recording solutions that have come onto the market that provide simple and discreet recording solutions. Here at Spy Equipment UK we have been evaluating emerging product lines and as a result we have now launched a high quality simple and robust covert camera device called the USB Mini Recorder.

This device is made from high quality materials and manufactured to a superb standard. The unit can be clipped into a top pocket which is the ideal height to record a face to face meeting because it looks from the outside like the wearer is carrying a marker pen in the top pocket. The unit could also be clipped into the outside pocket of a bag and this means that the camera can face the recording subject, whilst the operator can be looking elsewhere. Of course placement of this device is not limited to these two scenarios because the device is small enough to be concealed in many everyday objects.

Built into the clip is a decent resolution CMOS camera system and an excellent microphone. There is a concealed Micro SD Card slot taking a maximum card size of 2GB. The USB Mini Recorder captures video/audio onto the inserted SD card, which can be played back and stored onto a computer. Of course not having to rely on a rewritable internal memory means that original evidence does not have to be deleted.

All in all, the USB Mini Recorder is very simple to use and will appeal to both the professional investigator or the amateur sleuth. Whatever your requirement, the USB Mini Recorder is competitively priced and is sure not to break the bank.

Here at Spy Equipment UK we have pretty much always had a range of Wireless Spy Cameras in our range of Spy Solutions. As the consumer demands more powerful and innovative solutions, so the wireless spy camera has been developed to accommodate at least some of those needs.

Lets make a number of things perfectly clear. In the UK, by law, wireless cameras are restricted in a number of ways. They have limitations on power output and frequency of transmission. In the USA these cameras are able to transmit on a number of frequencies around thew 1.2GHz range, whilst in the UK, we are restricted to a number frequencies on the 2.4GHz range. In the UK output power is kept to a maximum of 10 milliwatts in comparison to our US counterparts who not uncommonly are able to broadcast using transmitter output power of 1 Watt or above. The result is that in the UK transmission ranges have a claimed maximum of 100 metres. Let’s not forget that this distance can only be achieved under optimum conditions with line of site, so even this maximum figure is almost a dream. In the USA using a powerful 1.2GHz transmitter, broadcast distances of several miles are easily achievable. On top of these criteria, wireless cameras also need to be RoHS and CE approved.

RoHS Compliance - These Regulations implement EU Directive 2002/95 which bans the placing on the EU market of new electrical and electronic equipment containing more than agreed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants.

CE Approval - This determines the extent to which the product complies with the essential requirements for design and manufacturing in the applicable EU directive(s). The letters “CE” are the abbreviation of French phrase “”Conformité Européene” which literaturely means “European Conformity”. The term initially used was “EC Mark” and it was officially replaced by “CE Marking” in the Directive 93/68/EEC in 1993.

OK, so the wireless cameras have to comply with certain EU tests and directives, but some may ask, why the other restrictions. Well, in the UK certain radio transmission frequency ranges have been allotted for various needs. GSM frequencies in the UK ate 800MHz and 1800MHz, our FM radios transmit on a frequency range between 87KHz to 108KHz, then we have Police, Ambulance, Fire, Air, Nautical wavebands to name but a few. In short, the radio frequencies have been divided up this way to ensure that lawful one transmission is  not affected another lawful transmission. Pirate Radio Stations are a classic example that breach this legislation. Use of 1.2GHz Wireless Cameras with a high output power would breach this same legislation, which is policed and enforced by OFCOM (Office of Communications).

Beware. If caught selling, offering for sale or using illegal wireless cameras in the UK may mean a visit from OFCOM resulting in confiscation of the equipment in question and any other equipment that is reasonably suspected to breach any of the directives. If prosecuted then fines of several thousands of pounds plus court costs may be the eventual outcome.

Over the past 24 months Spy Equipment UK has welcomed a new addition to the Spy Camera family. 3G GSM Covert Cameras have added a new dimension the way that cameras can be used to remotely monitor targeted areas for any potential illegal or criminal activity.

Previously, there have only really two possible options for such remote covert camera monitoring. Firstly there are hard-wired board covert cameras can be connected to a network just in the same way that CCTV cameras can be monitored on remote sites, but this usually requires connection through a hard-drive recorder or a PC with specific PCI Card and supporting software. These system prove to be a relatively expensive option because of the cost of the hardware involved and expert installation fees. Secondly, there are wireless transmitting cameras, which in recent times have become more sophisticated with power saving and movement activation options. However, these cameras have restricted transmission range due to UK OFCOM restrictions and a further downfall is the fact that the transmission is not secure.

The 3G GSM cameras were first introduced into mobile phone technology, but now have been built into everyday objects including PIR’s and Smoke Detectors. The latest and most sophisticated addition to date has been SPY Equipment UK’s 3G Recording Clock Radio. This is specially designed for streaming real time audio and video footage back to your mobile phone or PDA from anywhere in the world where 3G coverage is supported. This stylish Sony DAB Radio operates as a fully functional digital clock to compliment any office or home environment and can be handled and displayed with complete confidence. Once set up, simply make a video call to the 3G SIM installed inside the radio (not included) and the connected call will display full-colour real-time footage with stereo audio directly on your handset. Should you wish, you can use your handset to remotely activate the recording function and store the evidential proof to a SD T-Flash Card within the clock radio.

So, if you are looking for a truly modern solution for remote camera site monitoring and recording, then the search is now over!

Since the 1970’s UK Police Services had increasingly relied upon new camera technology in their fight against crime. Initially still cameras were used by surveillance squads engaged in watching high level criminals, but throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s still cameras were utilised more frequently in the in the fight against crime and speed cameras were introduced to enforce motoring laws. By this stage video camera technology was introduced into evidence gathering and was of particular use monitoring potential public disorder situations including major sporting events.

During the last 10 years camera technology has been propelled forward by the digital age. CCTV has been intoduced on every high street and spy cameras have been enlisted in the fight against crime. Hidden cameras can now be incorporated into many everyday devices and the advent of 3G has seen the introduction of 3G Spy cameras that can be remotely viewed across the GSM network from the other side of the planet if necessary. Police have just put into action a number of Smart cars with in-built telescopic spy cameras to trap motorists using mobile phones on-the-move and eating at the wheel whilst driving erratically.

Spy Equipment UK’s spy camera range just keeps increasing. Intelligent wireless camera technology, innovative stand-alone units and outdoor cameras have all been added to the range over the last year. 3G covert cameras that 12 months ago were limited in use and very expensive have recently been updated to make them more sophisticated, whilst at the same time, making them more affordable. So, why not check out our entire updated range where we will surely have a camera solution to suit your needs.

Here at Spy Equipment UK we are continually evaluating our pricing structure. Customers sometimes consider that some items that we stock have a relatively high price compared to other similar products on the market and our products are invariably higher in price than everyday electronic products available at high street shops. So, why is this?

There are a number of things to consider here. The product range that is offered by Spy Equipment UK has been specifically chosen only after rigorous testing and evaluation to ensure that we can offer items of  quality with ease of use. This means that if you see a similar product to one on our site that is offered substantially cheaper elsewhere, then it will almost certainly be a lower quality item. You may find similar products for sale on auction sites, but it should be remembered that Spy Equipment UK offer a guarrantee, expertise and of course support over the telephone or via e-mail.

So why are Spy Shop products generally more highly-priced than other non-spy electronic products offered at high street stores? Well, you will not find products at the high street chains that can give the same facilities that specialised spy equipment items can. Generally available electronic goods are manufactured in the millions whereby the specialist-built spy equipment products are manufactured in the thousands so design and tooling costs over much smaller batch runs make the end product price much higher - so in summary what you are buying are a range of high quality specialist-built products that cannot be purchased at the high street electrical retailers.