Sometimes people watch an old movie and they wonder if some of the old detective stuff works.

Here are some of them that do:

Rubbing the notepad with pencil lead sideways. Yes boys and girls this old "movie trick" really works on notepads. Of course a real detective may also process the paper with Ninhydrin Spray for fingerprints.

Redial on the phone - duh of course it works, but be ready to say something besides wrong number.

Burned coffee grounds to kill the smell of a dead body. (Ok this may be from a book and not a movie) Yes, I have been there and done that - and it works!

Wax or clay imprint of a key - works on some keys to make a copy.

Yes, you can hide in plain site by becoming a janitor, maid, room service guy, window washer, etc.


I will do more old movie tricks in a later post. Let me know yours!

Be safe!

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One of the most expensive options to watch a place or someone is surveillance. Surveillance is expensive as it takes a lot of man hours. So unless you have lots of free time, or lots of money, you may need to find alternatives.

I spoke about GPS Tracking before, which can tell you where someone has been. What I am talking about is surveillance with pictures, and/or video. Now there is a lot of cool surveillance kinds of cameras at Spy Gear-4-U there is an ad over there you can click on -->>>>

Or you can get a little less expensive option, but you have to get creative on how you place this slightly Lower-Tech Device. I am not pushing a particular camera at a particular store. I am just telling you a low-budget way to conduct surveillance.

First get a “Scout” camera that utilizes infrared flash. A scout camera is the kind used to take photos of wild-life in their natural habitat. Some of these are not small cameras, as they are designed to go several days at a time. Make sure you get one that takes SD memory cards for capacity. There are some that take two SD Cards and that can be a read advantage as I will explain later. There are several “scout” cameras on the market that can be bought at Wal-Mart, Bass Pro Shops or other similar stores.

One example is: Wildview STC-TGL3IR 3.0 Megapixel Digital Scouting Camera it claims to be the easiest-to-use digital scouting camera is now infrared-enabled! 24 quality Infrared emitters illuminate a 30' area to give you crisp day/night images or 10-second day/night videos. 3.0 MP resolution; simple toggle switch setup with test mode; wide-ang Part #: STCTGL3IR / STC-TGL3IR Lowest Price: $119.95

How they work, is that they have a motion sensor that automatically takes a photo when something sets the sensor off. You normally mount these on a tree or post and leave them for several days then retrieve the SD card or the whole camera and download the photos.
Once you get the camera you need to find a place to set it up un-noticed. This may be difficult, as some are a bit bulky. If you have a car you can park and leave in place there are many options – like hiding it behind the grill, placing it in the trunk, or mounting it underneath the car (watch out for speed bumps). The sensor and flash area must be clear and of course the lens. Most of these cameras have a limited sensor range. Keep that in mind when placing the camera. You may be able to disguise the camera in a bush, and in some cases on your own property, simply mount it someplace not real obvious. It may take some practice to set this up.

I didn’t say it would be easy – just less expensive.

Whatever you do - Stay Safe!

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