Surveillance In The Workplace

The other day while in a restaurant I was enjoying my meal with my spouse. After we had finished eating, we decided to relax at the bar and have a drink while we watched a local band play a set. As I looked over the small crowd of people that had gathered, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not the bar had a hidden surveillance camera. When you work around a lot of hidden cameras, you often tend to get a little paranoid about being watched. This time however my paranoia was justified. As I looked over the display of liquor bottles behind the bar, I found it. Within a dark bottle of wine a camera watched through a hole not much larger than that of a pencil eraser. I waved and made faces at the camera after discovering it's location.

After a few minutes of my behavior the manager approached where we sat and asked if I was ok. I explained to him that I was simply showing off for the camera, which he seemed clearly surprised that I knew was there. I explained how I found it and had been researching them recently. He nodded and asked me politely not to spread the location of the camera around to the rest of the people within the bar. He explained that the cameras were in place for security purposed. I agreed not to tell anyone else the location of the camera, but the free drinks he gave us sealed the deal. I wasn't going to spill the location of the camera to another sole within the structure. It is normal for most places such as bars or clubs to contain hidden cameras.

In the past it was a lot easier to spot hidden cameras. Twenty or thirty years ago hidden cameras were quite large and much harder to conceal then they are today. The cameras of today are many times smaller and use a fraction of the power that their older counterparts used. Because of this fact cameras can be installed in nearly any place you can imagine. In this day and age hidden cameras are easy to use, made readily available, and the dropping prices are making them affordable to the everyday man not just the ones that are well off. Hidden cameras are made to be easily hid because their basic unit is normally nothing more than a CCD "board camera". A board camera is a camera that is fully contained in a single circuit board which includes the cameras optics and all that is needed for generating a video signal.

Board cameras do range in size and vary from company to company, nut in general they run between 1 and 1 half inches by 1 and 1 half inches. This makes them easy to fit in places that someone normally wouldn't assume a camera to be placed in. Most of these cameras only require an opening of approximately 1mm in their hiding spot for complete surveillance on the room they are being hid within. From there, the video signal can be received by the receiver and either recorded for later documentation or watcher in real time, or even both. This makes it easier to keep an eye out on what you are surveying because you don't exactly need to be present to find the culprit when something bad happens within the recorded space.

Another type of camera that is currently being put on the market and made available to the general public is based on CMOS technology. CMOS camera are currently gaining ground with the consumer market by making different products. They have products available from handheld devices to photo capable cell phones and webcams. Miniature CMOS cameras normally come as modules packaged in small plastic containers. These cameras are also usually about half the price range of a CCD camera but have less sensitive electrical distortions and consume a lot less power. Remember when picking a camera be sure to choose one that is right for your needs. Surveillance is a valuable tool when used correctly.