Covertly Recording Telephone Conversations

Covertly Recording Telephone Conversations
Compiled By Ralph Thomas

Review The Internet's Largest Collection Of Long Play Tape Recorders

The federal law makes it unlawful to record telephone conversations except in one party consent cases which permit one party consent recording by state law. What that means is a person can record their own telephone conversations without the knowledge or consent of the other party in those states that allow one party consent.

It's important to understand the difference between what has become known as one party consent and two party or all party consent. One party consent simply means that one party to the conversation must have knowledge and give consent to the recording. Two party or all party consent means that every party to the conversation must have knowledge and give consent to the recording.

There are twelve states that require all party consent. They are:

California Connecticut Delaware Florida Illinois Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Montana New Hampshire Pennsylvania Washington

There are 38 states that permit one party consent. They are:

Alaska Arkansas Colorado District of Columbia Georgia Hawaii Idaho Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Nebraska Nevada New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

In all 50 states and through federal law, it's considered illegal to record telephone conversations outside of one party consent. There are a couple of exceptions. In the state of California, one party consent can be applied only under circumstances in which one party is involved in criminal activity which would include extortion or blackmail. In the state of Arizona, the subscriber to a telephone service can record telephone conversations with no party consent when criminal activity is involved. Other than those two known exceptions, all other recordings outside of those states that permit one party consent are a violation of state and federal law. The question is often asked by clients if they can record the telephone conversations of their spouse in a domestic case or the conversations of their children concerning drug usage. In both of these cases, the answer is it's unlawful. Many clients will complain that they own the telephone and pay the telephone bill so they should therefore have a right to record what they want. However, the law doesn't address who owns the phone nor who pays the phone bill. It only addresses the use of one party and all party consent. Anything outside of that is a violation of state law and federal wiretapping law.

The Federal Communications Commission goes further into details on recording telephone conversations and states that the party recording must give verbal notification before the recording and that there must be a beep tone on the line to indicate that the line is being recorded.

Business Recordings
Federal law permits businesses to monitor phone calls that are business related when the monitoring is part or the ordinary course of business. When the content of the telephone conversation is of a personal nature, the monitoring must stop. In those cases of two party consent states, this exemption may be voided.

Calls Crossing State Lines
Calls that cross state lines become complicated legal issues especially when one state is a one party consent state and the other state is an all party consent state. What has happened is that you didn't violate the law in the one party consent state and violated the law in the all party consent state. Moreover, since the call went across a state line, the federal laws would certainly apply. The most famous case involving this type of issue is the Linda Trip case. You will recall that Linda Trip recorded the telephone conversations of Monica Lewinski concerning her relationship with President Clinton. Trip was in Maryland and Lewinski was in DC. Note that Maryland is an all party consent state while DC is a one party consent state. The law is actually quite fuzzy on these issues. The recorder is advised to assume that the sticker law would apply.

Cell Phones And Wireless Phones
Cell and wireless telephones transmit conversation through the air like a radio does. You hear old stories of spying using scanners locked onto a wireless telephone frequency with an attached voice activated tape recorder connected to it to eavesdrop on the conversation. Until certainly, the laws concerning this activity was fuzzy. However, federal law now makes it illegal to record both wireless and cell phone conversations outside of one party consent. You used to be able to go into places like Radio Shack and purchase scanners that would lock onto the frequencies needed to pick up wireless and cell phone conversations. These scanners are now illegal to sell or be in possession of.

STATE-BY-STATE ALPHABETICAL LIST Alabama - One Party Alaska - One Party Arkansas - One Party California - All Party Colorado - One Party Connecticut - All Party Delaware - All Party District of Columbia - One Party Florida - All Party Georgia - One Party Hawaii - One Party Idaho - One Party Illinois - All Party Indiana - One Party Iowa - One Party Kansas - One Party Kentucky - One Party Louisiana - One Party Maine - One Party Maryland - All Party Massachusetts - All Party Michigan - All Party Minnesota - One Party Mississippi - One Party Missouri - One Party Montana - All Party Nebraska - One Party Nevada - One Party New Hampshire - All Party New Jersey - One Party New Mexico - One Party New York - One Party North Carolina - One Party North Dakota - One Party Ohio - One Party Oklahoma - One Party Oregon - One Party Pennsylvania - All Party Rhode Island - One Party South Carolina - One Party South Dakota - One Party Tennessee - One Party Texas - One Party Utah - One Party Vermont - One Party Virginia - One Party Washington - All Party West Virginia - One Party Wisconsin - One Party Wyoming - One Party

Other Related Links:
A Practical Guide to Taping Phone Calls
and In-Person Conversations in the 50 States and D.C.
http://www.rcfp.org/taping/

18 USC 2510, et seq, The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986.
TITLE 18. CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I--CRIMES CHAPTER 119--WIRE AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS INTERCEPTION AND INTERCEPTION OF ORAL COMMUNICATIONS

New Generation StealthTek 2010! Audio Recorder Renders Other Recorders Obsolete! Smarter, Lighter, Cheaper, Better And With More Memory! Starting At Only $119.99 It's called SteakthTek Audio 2010 because it is very stealth and two years before it's time! Up To 365 Hours Of Recording Time! Automatic Telephone Recording, Cell Phone Recording,1 GB External Memory, Micro SD Card Slot Takes Up To 4 GB Micro SC Card For Expandable Memory. Recorder specifically designed for investigative use and investigative evidence gathering. Top quality high end recording results The Only Recorder You Will Ever Need. Renders like recorders in it's class a thing of the past. Starting at only $119.99

New! Shop By Tape Recorder Category!

Go To The Tape Recorder Shop Front Page

What's New In Audio Recorders	Combo Digital Audio Recorders
High Grade Micro Digital Recorders	Econo Digital Audio Recorders
Long Play Automatic Telephone Recorders	Analog Long Play Audio Recorders
Working Writing Pen Audio Recorders	Law Enforcement Grade Recorders
Watch Audio Recorders/MP3 Players	Tape Recorders Accessories
Countermeasures TSCM-Telephone Audio Recorder And Tape Recorder Detection
Antique And Vintage Tape Recorder Museum Presentation (Not For Sale)

New Generation! 71 Hour Covert Micro/ Keychain Recorder First there were Covert Pen recorders. Now there is a digital audio recorder built into a USB thumb drive for your keychain that features one button audio recording. This unit is very simple and easy to use! Just clip your keys to the Keychain USB recorder and you instantly have audio recording ability anytime you want it. The USB recorder can also be used as a digital storage devise to transfer or capture digital files when you need to by simply inputting the unit into a USB port on any computer. Special! $89.95

StealthTeK 2010 Smart Recorder

No Button 7 Hr. Stealth Pen $119.95

New! 36 Hour HotTeK Nano Only $119.95

120 Hr Stealth Pen Recorder $129.95

Tiny Microdot Squared Recorder

TinyTek Audio/Auto Telco Recorder $119.95

564 Hour One Button Black PI Notetaker $119.95

WatchTek Audio Recorder $159.95

New SharpTek Diasonic $159.95

Lady Diamond Detective Watch $139.95

Sony 12 Hour Workhorse

SportsWatch Audio $149.95

Telco Number Logger

The Amazing PI Recorder

MicroDot Round Recorder In Leather

Copyright: 2006, Ralph D. Thomas
All rights reserved.Note: Graphics contain copyright protection code that notify us if you steal them and use them on the Internet.

The Nixon White House Tape Recorders Now With Key Video Presentations Of The Watergate Story And Audio Presentations Of What Was On The White HouseTap

The Nixon White House Tape Recorders
Now With Key Video Presentations Of The Watergate Story
And Audio Presentations Of What Was On The White HouseTapes

In 1971 President Nixon installed secret audio recording systems in the Oval Office, his hide-out office in the Executive Office Building, the Cabinet Room and at Camp David . Conversations were recorded between February 16th, 1971 through July 18th, 1973. The recorders where installed and maintained by the US Secret Service. There were a total of seven hidden microphones in the Oval Office. Five where in the President's desk and one each on each side of the fireplace mantle. Two microphones were installed under the cabinet room table in front of the President's chair. These hidden mics ran to a place in the basement of the West Wing and connected to a voice activated tape recorder hidden in a locker. Four microphones where also placed in Nixon's Old Executive Office Building Office which connected to another tape recorder in another room. The desk phones in the Oval Office, The Executive Office Building Office and the one in the Lincoln Bedroom in the residence of the White House were connected to tape recording systems and telephone calls where automatically recorded. The recordings were tied to the US Secret Service Presidential Locator system. This was a system that knew where the President was at all times. The voice activated automatic tape recording system only worked when the President was in the room. However, it recorded automatically when Nixon was present. Nixon was not the first President to use a secret recording system. Both Kennedy and Johnson secretly recorded some meetings and phone calls. In fact, secret audio recording goes all the way back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Nixon tapes consist of 2,019 hours of audio recordings.

Oval Office/White House Recorder Sony TC-800B Audio Recorder The secret White House taping system used a Sony TC-800B audio recording machine like the one on the right. It was a simple machine that was not expensive and cheap tiny Lavalier mics were used that were hidden throughout the Oval office and Nixon's hideout office in the OEB. The recordings were made on thin 0.5-mm tape running at the unusual speed of 15é16 inch per second - half the speed of a cassette recorder. The slow tape speed degrades the recording's already poor signal-to-noise ratio.This accounts for the poor quality of the tapes.

Nixon's Uher 5000 Tape Recorder And The 18.5 Minute Gap While the recordings were recorded on the Sony TC-800B, Nixon played them back and reviewed them on a Uher 5000. The famous 18.5 minute gap was determined to be caused, not by Rosemary Woods in a transcribing accident, but caused by eight separate erasers.

The Watergate Tapes Audio Links From The Spy And Private-Eye Museum Discussion Of Bugs Tape Friday, September 15, 1972 White House Oval Office President Nixon, H.R.Haldeman, John W. Dean III About 34 Minutes Click Here To Play The Wave Recording A discussion of press treatment of the break-in and lawsuits; discovery of another bug in the DNC; bugs in other political campaigns; DNC lawsuits; Edward Bennett Williams; RNC countersuits; election law violations; Congress; the burglars' civil rights; the Washington Post's TV & Radio licenses; depositions on sex-lives of DNC members. The Smoking Gun Tape Friday, June 23, 1972 White House Oval Office President Nixon And H. R. Haleman About Eight Minutes Click Here To Play Wave File of Recording "The Smoking Gun" conversation: Haldeman and Nixon discuss the progress of the FBI's investigation especially the tracing of the source of money found on the burglars. They propose having the CIA ask the FBI to halt their investigation of the Watergate break-in by claiming that the break-in was a national security operation. This was the final tape release in the final days of the Nixon Presidency that triggered his resignation speech. After this type was released, almost all support for Nixon for an impeachment in the US Senate was gone. "Cancer on the Presidency" Tape Wednesday, March 21, 1973 White House Oval Office President Nixon. H.R.Haldeman. John W. Dean About 37 Minutes Click Here To Play Wave File Of Recording The "Cancer on the Presidency" conversation: Dean recaps the history of the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up for the President. They guess at who was responsible for setting the break-in in motion. Dean tells the President that the cover-up is "a cancer on the Presidency" that must be excised or his Presidency would be in danger. Also discussed: references to blackmail, perjury; discussion of paying the burglars off with one million dollars. This tape has John Dean talking about hush money paid to the Watergate burglars to keep them quite. Dean tells Nixon that there is a "cancer" growing around the his Presidency and that these people are going to want a lot more money to remain quite. Nixon asks how much Dean thinks it would cost and dean states that it could cost a million dollars. Nixon is recorded stating that he knew where a million dollars could be obtained. The Nixon Resignation Speech Listen to a complete Real Audio tape of Nixon's resignation speech. The FBI Investigation of Watergate This is a 126 page FBI report of the FBI Investigation of Watergate in a PDF file.

A Close-Up Of The Sony Recorder Model That Was Used To Record White House
Oval Office Conversations In A Locker Below The Oval Office. (See Map Below)

Above photo shows the location of the oval office and the Nixon hide out office where he bugged himself
and the residence where he sat in the Lincoln bedroom and listened to the tapes.

A Photo Of Rose Mary Woods shown how she might have erased the tapes.

A Close-Up Of The Model Of The Uhler Tape Recorder/ Player That Rose Mary Woods
Used That Produced the 18.5 Minute Gap. This Is Also The Same Model Rumored To
Be That Nixon Would Set Alone In The Lincoln Setting Room Upstairs In The White
House To Listen To The Evidence Of The Bugging He Did Of Himself And Others.

The 18 And 1/2 Minute Gap
On the first tape requested from Nixon's secret taping system

The 18 and 1/2 minute gap in the Nixon tapes occurs on tape 342, a meeting on June 20th, 1972 between H.R. Haldeman and President Nixon in the Executive Office Building. This is just three days after the Watergate break-in. As the two talk about assorted matters of concern to the President, there is suddenly an 18 and 1/2 minute gap on the tape. The White House claims the gaps was made accidentally by Rose Marry Woods when she answered the telephone during a period of time she was typing transcripts of the tape. It was later determined that the eraser was made by hitting the erase button nine times.

Watch the YouTube video of Alexander Butterfield
testifying before the senate committee

A Close-up of the Uher 500 Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder Opened.

Video Presentation By Alexander Butterfield
Alexander Butterfield was The White House assistant That Revealed The
Existence Of The White House Taping System To The Senate Committee
Gives A Presentation On His Events While Working For Nixon

Rose Mary Woods, President Nixon's secretary making the cover of
Time Magazine, Decemeber14, 1973 with a line drawing of the Uhler recorder.

Click Here To See The Watergate Bug Exhibit

Watch A Video Of The Richard Nixon Funeral

You Can Learn More About The Nixon Tape Recordings from:

The Nixon Presidential Materials Web Site

From The Ralph D. Thomas PI Vintage Collection
THOMAS INVESTIGATIE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INVESTIGATIVE SPECIALISTS, INC.
SPY EXCHANGE AND SECURITY CENTER
P O Box 82148, Austin, Texas 78708
Showroom: 9513 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas 78758
Phone 512.719.3595 Fax 512.719.3594
Email: RThomas007@aol.com

Review Current State-of-The-Art Investigative Audio Recorders

THE TAPE RECORDER SHOP!
LONG PLAY RECORDERS AND TELEPHONE RECORDERS

Telephone Tape Recorders, Long Play Recorders, Micro Recorders, Desktop Recorders,
Recorder Detection Digital Recorders, Body Audio Recorders, Long Play Recorders,
Dialed Number Loggers And Decoders, Lie Detection. Working Writing Pen Recorders,
Watch Recorders For Men And Ladies! Special Function Recorders!
Combo-Multifunctional Recorders With Digital Cameras And More!

Spy Exchange & Security Center
9513 Burnet Road Suite 101, Austin, Texas 78758
Phone 512-719-3595, Fax 512-719-3594
When In Austin, Texas--Stop By Our Huge Showroom

Writing a high tech surveillance report.

New Technology In Writing A High Tech Surveillance Report
Making Your Surveillance Reports Look Sharp With Google
Maps, Satellite Images And Street Views
By Ralph Thomas

The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words applies to the new online tools you can use when writing a surveillance report that will make you stand out. There is also the old saying that a bad surveillance can be saved with a good surveillance report but a good surveillance looks like a bad surveillance when the surveillance report is done poorly. There is good news because you have multimillion dollar technology you can use to jazz up your surveillance reports that will make them look very sharp! The above Satellite map was quickly done in Goggle maps. By using the new street view, you can add street view photos to many locations and add these to your surveillance report. You now have multimillion dollar technology to use for your own surveillance reports. By utilizing these online tools, you can now add:

• A Street Map
• A Satellite Map
• Various Street Views Of The Surveillance Location

Once you have done a few of these, you yourself will be simply amazed on how the graphical displays, maps and photographs can add a highly impressive and professional high tech look to any of your surveillance reports. Remember that your investigative report is the end work product of your job and it's the only physical thing, other than your video surveillance evidence, that your clients have. Reports done like this will not only highly impress your current client, you can make up some sample reports to show to potential clients who will be highly impressed when compared to the boring old standard investigative report with just words in it. Yes, a photo is worth a thousand words, everyone knows that and you can now easily provide your clients and potential clients with a striking visual presentation that makes you and your investigations stand out from the crowd!

What Is Street View
Street view is a new view you can obtain in Goggle maps. This is done with a special 3-D camera that is attached to the top of a vehicle which Goggle has driving around to take the 3-D photos. What is amazing is that when you click on street view (indicated by a little man when you are in Goggle satellite view) a widow pops up that will let you actually travel down a street and look to the left and look to the right.

Note the man in the satellite image. When you click on that, a window pops up and you can move
around the area is street view as well as look to the left and look to the right using your mouse.

Mapping The World In 3-D Street View To the left is a typical setup for a Goggle car with a 3-D street view camera on top of it. The 3-D camera takes 360 degree video images which will let you walk down amy street the Goggle street view car has mapped and they are mapping the world like this. Chances are good, there is a street view tool for the area of your next surveillance so check it out.

Watch The Video Of How Google Street View Works Click On The Graphics To The Right Or Just Click Here To Watch An Online Video Of How Google Street View Works So You Can Get An Idea Of How You can Take Freeze Frames Of This New Technology For Your Surveillance Investigative Reports.

On the above photo, note the arrows. By looking at the blue outline on the streets, one quickly determines that a street view can be obtained for both the front of the house and the back of the house since the back of the house is a vacant lot that can be viewed from the road behind the house.

How The Photo Display Is Done! Using An Apple Computer
You will need a full version of Photoshop and an Apple Computer with OSX.

1) Go to: http://maps.google.com.
2) Type in your address and click on Satellite View.
3) Using a little program called "Grab" which is part of the Apple OSX operation system Click Out The Satellite View And Save The Image.
4) Go Down To Street View And Repeat Step Three For Each Location.
5) Launch Photoshop And Open Each Of Three Images You Saved.
6) Scale And Crop The Satellite Image and place it in the middle of a blank window.
7) Using The Elliptical Marquee tool set to a feather of 20, crop each street view image and place on each side of the Satellite Image.
8) Each image is now it's own layer. Adjust the placement of images to how you want them.
8) Add arrows for each street view photo and you are done.
9) Flatten the images in the window.
10 ) Save image to import into your surveillance report.

This type of image can be done in a matter of just a few minutes with the right tools. You now have a very sharp image to import into your surveillance report that will impress your client. Note that the satellite view also reveals a pool in the back yard of this location. This could be of use to your client. Not only will this technology highly impress your client and help them understand the layout of the surveillance area, it also becomes a great aid for pre surveillance checks and helps you determine before hand where and when to start the stakeout.

Secrets To Learning Photoshop The Right Way! Is this confusing you? Not to worry! Photoshop is a software program that one might say does have a learning curve to use but once you know how to use it, it is a snap to use and this technique only takes a few minutes to do. You could purchase a book and spend hours, weeks and months trying to figure out what they are talking about or you could take an online course that will merely take you a few hours. One of the secrets to learning powerful software programs is a little company called VTC (http://www.vtc.com/). VTC has online tutorials for major software programs that you can either take online or purchase the training on DVD. By watching these programs, you can quickly learn programs such as Photoshop. VTC has a program in which for $30.00 a month, you can have online access to 70,000 different instant video tutorials and 650 different courses. I personally have used VTCto learn Photoshop, Dreamweaver and a host of other powerful software programs. Although this will be time consuming at first, once you learn how to do this sort of thing; you'll be light years ahead of your competition and your surveillance reports will look the very best they ever could! Try it you will like it! Not only that, you can go to this web site and take some free demo training right now on hundreds of programs.

You might also want to add a standard street map. In areas where there is terrain, hills and mountains, you can simple click on Terrain and obtain images that shows that. Below is a typical street map and a terrain view.

Map View from Google Maps

Terrain View From Google Maps

And Oh Yes! There's Even More And It's Photos!
Aside from Street View, Map View and Satellite view, Google Maps has come up with something else! They have linked photos to their maps! Below is a screen shot of Goggle maps using the address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20006, the White House. When you click on " MORE" then select "PHOTOS: , you can see photos taken all over the place. You simply click on any photo and it pops up in another window. In many locations there are hundreds of them as shown below.

How is this done? Google Maps IDs photo locations and addresses it can through the millions and millions of photos displayed on the web and then links it to it's mapping. What that means is that if anyone has taken a photo of a certain location, made it public on the web with it's location, chances are good that Google Maps will link it. At first, this might not seem like much to you. However, let us say as an example that you have a subject who traveled to the famous Willard Hotel in downtown Washington. Look at the graphics below you could add to your surveillance report!

You have a satellite view and map of the hotel location. You also have a photo of the front of the building, a photo of the outside entrance,
a photo of the front desk and a photo of the hallway to get to the rooms. All quickly done using online tools.

Check Out High Tech Covert Video Gear!

ISC West

SpyTek Wholesale Imports And Lawmate America!
"Where The Innovation In High Grade Covert Video Never Stops!"

We Are Happy To Announce That We Are Now The Official Exclusive US Representative for All Lawmate Products
In The United States, Mexico, South America And Canada As Well As Parts of Europe, Asia And Africa.

We Thank You For Coming By Our
Lawmate America Booth In Las Vegas ISC West!

Here's Some Photos From ISC West:

ISC West 2009 Was Huge! Hundreds Of Vendors That Would Take Several Days Just To See Them All!

Lawmate America Booth Setup! To The Right Is Our Own Ric Tamez Who Is In Charge Of Lawmate Mexico
And Our Exclusive Distributor Of Lawmate Products South Of The US Border. If you are in a South Of The USA Location And Need To Talk To Someone In Spanish, Call Ric Tamez at 956-971-USPY.

Lawmate's Darren Behind The New Innovative Key Chain Video Recorder DVR!
Darren Is The Man Behind The Magic That Helps Sabar (Pictured Below!) And Lawmate Develop The High Grade
Product Line Lawmate Has Become Known Around The World For!

Top Team! Cody, Sabar And Jamie!

LAW ENFORCEMENT GRADE DIGITIAL VIDEO RECORDERS
SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR COVERT VIDEO

PV-500 High Grade Tiny DVR	PV-800 SuperTek- High Resolution
PV-700	PV800

Packed Lawmate America Booth!

MORE LAWMATE HIGH GRADE COVERT VIDEO
PRODUCTS AND VIDEO DETECTION PRODUCTS

PV700 Wireless	Covert Key Chain Video Recorder DVR!
PV900 Invisible Secrets DVR/ Covert Video Camera!	Wireless Camera Hunter Now In Two Sizes
Ultra Advanced Laser Camera Power Finder

THE MAN BEHIND THE MAGIC!
Lawmate Founder Sabar! The Brainchild Behind Most Lawmate Law Enforcement Grade Innovative Products!
Besides Being Our Business Partner And Personal Friend, In Our Book Sabar Is A Super Hero Because
Of The High Grade Covert Video Equipment He Has Developed In His Factory.

LAWMATE HIGH GRADE COVERT VIDEO CAMERAS

High Resolution CCD Button Camera Kit
High Resolution CCD Baseball Cap Camera
High Resolution CCD Broach Camera
High Resolution Tie Camera
High Resolution CCD Unisex Bag Camera
High Resolution CCD Earphone MP3 Camera
New High Resolution Bullet Type Camera
The New Walk-Around Book Camera Hiding The DVR!
High Resolution Tactical Helmet CCD Camera
PV500 Attachable Camera Clip
High Resolution Mini Micro Camera
Wireless GunCam With Laser Sight/Wireless PV700/Armband
New! Podium Mic Cam -Hides PV500 In Base

Law Enforcement Grade Reverse Peephole Optical Viewer

Authorized Texas Lawmate Dealer Zeke From StarTech Outlet ,
Ralph And Super Wholesaler Jill From KJB Security

Lawmate America's Foxy Kelly Making Exclusive Deals With Forus Recorder!

Ralph, Cody, Sabar And Darren. The Lawmate America Team!

Authorized Arizona Lawmate Dealer Jon Marshall From Spygadgets And Cody.

Authorized Texas Lawmate Dealer Zeke From StarTech Outlet With Cody.

Jill And Brandon Johnston from KJB Security. Top Wholesalers Of Lawmate Products!
From Left To right: Ralph, Cody, Sabar, Jill, Brandon And Darren

Accessories!
We offer a huge assortment of accessories that go with our high end digital video recorders! These include extra batteries and battery chargers, an emergency DVR charger, sliders that extend the battery life of our digital video recorders and make them perform other functions as well as 2.4 Ghz long range camera senders and receivers. See individual digital video recorders for details!
Your Can Also Review Lawmate Accessories By Clicking Here!

Jamie, Ralph, Sabar And Cody Behind the Lawmate America Booth

Talking About Ego Maniacs, Lawmate Brought Bobbing Heads Of
Cody And Ralph At The Show And They Loved Them!

Covert Calculator Wireless Video Camera
High Resolution Cellular Type Wireless CCD Camera
Covert Cigarette Pack Wireless Color Video Camera
High Resolution Wireless CCD Pinhole Camera

Main Menus And Web Site Navigation

What's New!	Covert Video	GPS Tracking	Equipment	Books	Join NAIS
Audio Recorders	Countermeasures	Self Protection	Badges	Software	Find A PI
Sound Amp	Clothing	PC Monitoring	PI Newspaper	Join Forms	Download Catalog

Copyright: 2009, TIPI All Rights Reserved

To buy or not to buy.

PI GEAR: To Buy or Not to Buy, That Is The Question By Cody Woods - Email: cwnaisbiz@aol.com

Buying equipment is part of the job of private investigators. Knowing when and what to buy is one of the secrets of successful investigators.

How many times have you had to turn down a case because you didn’t have the right equipment to do the job?

How many times have you messed up a case because your equipment failed, or user error (I know you do not want to admit it, but it happens).

I bet most of you have come across one of these problems. Even the most successful investigators have these problems, but they have them a lot less frequently than most. And the reason for this is that they are prepared.

Let’s start with knowing when to buy equipment. Some of you will say “I only buy something if a case comes up that I need it”. Others buy when there is a sale, or when they have extra money. And still others just buy whatever is the latest and greatest.

The way I look at it is that anything you buy is an investment in your business. Anything you buy to work your cases, you can pass the cost onto your clients. A lot of times, the first case you use the equipment will pay for it, and after that, you still charge the clients for the equipment, and that part is all profit. Pretty much anything you buy can help you make more money in the long run. I know some of you will say that the 29.95 bug detector you bought to do a $3000.00 countermeasures sweep didn’t help me make any money when it didn’t work correctly and you lost the case. But I beg to differ. I say it probably helped you to make money in the future. You probably learned a lesson that will help you not to make the same mistake in the future, thereby making you money in the long run if you learned the lesson and where more prepared and informed in the future.

Every day, I talk to someone who needs a piece of equipment yesterday. If you know sometime in the future, you will work a case where you will need a video camera, or a digital camera, why not buy in advance. Doing so can save you a lot of time and aggravation.

A lot of the equipment that you might need in the future takes some time to learn. I talk to investigators everyday that get some new piece of equipment the day before they need to use it, and when they go out on a case, they do not know how to use it, and end up loosing the case. If they had bought the equipment ahead of time, and taken the time to learn how to use it, they probably wouldn’t have lost the case.

Another good reason to buy equipment ahead of time is to save money. Whether you are buying something on sale, or buying things for your company for tax purposes. A friend of mine from Alabama, who runs a successful investigative agency, has a room full of equipment that he has bought when his accountant told him he needed to spend some money on his business. Some of the equipment might sit around for a year before he uses it, but the key is he has it, and has had time to learn it when he needs it. Every few years, he comes to visit me and restocks with new and updated equipment.

Now a lot of you will say I do not want to have a lot of inventory sitting around wasting space. Well, there are a couple of solutions for you.

Sell your old equipment to your clients. You can make money above what you paid for the items. You can also charge a fee to train them in the use of the equipment. I know a lot of investigators who make a lot of extra income selling equipment on the side. Sell your unused equipment to another investigator. With all the investigative e-groups on Yahoo, there are plenty of forums to hawk some of your old or unwanted equipment. Rent out equipment to your clients, or to other investigators.

Now to move on to my second part of this article: Knowing what to buy. Countless times I have had investigators tell me that they bought a piece of equipment to do a job and it didn’t work. After talking with them a bit, I figured out that it wasn’t that the equipment didn’t work, but that it was the wrong piece of equipment for the job. There are many ways to find out what is the right piece of equipment for the job.

Talking to other investigators. Find out what they use. E-groups are a great place to post a question about equipment. Take advantage of the free resources out there. Going to Investigative seminars and conventions. A lot of the time, they will have people speaking on equipment. Also, you can talk to a lot of vendors, and manufacturers there. Find a knowledgeable and honest sales person. (I know many of you think we do not exist, but there are some of us.)

In every profession, generally the most successful are also the ones who are prepared. If you have the equipment, and know how to use it, you can honestly tell the client whether you are capable and equipped to handle the job. If you get the case and you keep the case and get referrals from the client you will make more money. That is why most are in the business, to make a living. If you are not prepared, and do not have the equipment you most likely will not get the job, or if you take a case and mess up because you do not have the equipment or the knowledge to use it correctly, you will not keep the client or get any positive referrals from them. So doesn’t it make sense to be prepared?

Cody Woods is a licensed private investigator in the state of Texas. He's general manager of Thomas Investigative Publications, Inc. and The Spy Exchange And Security Center. He has been around and used investigative equipment since a teenager and is one of the nation's leading authorities on investigative and security equipment. Mr. Woods is now one of the nation's leading developers and importers of investigative and security gear. Many leading professional security and investigative equipment shops use his wholesale service which is called SpyTek Wholesale. You can email him at: cwnaisbiz@aol.com

The Cutting Edge

TALKING ABOUT INNOVATION AT IT'S BEST -LOOK AT THIS!
Your On The Cutting Edge Now.............!

THE FUTURE GEAR CALLED FUTURETeK!
The Smartest Pen You'll Ever See--For A While Anyway..

YOU ONLY NEED ONE AND IT'S JUST AROUND THE CORNER!
Presented By Ralph Thomas And Cody Woods!
Photos from an egroup.

Yes, the projected computer screen and projected touch keyboard works!
Want a bigger screen? No problem! Just pull the projector lens back!
But a computer in a pen is just the start of this new wonder!

This is something Al Gore might have practically invented! It's a complete
computer, cell phone, GPS tracker, covert video camera, fax machine,
wireless internet browser, high resolution still camera, wireless email
checker and sender, roll-out iPod, MP3 and MP4 player, movie downloader
and player, TV receiver including cable and satellite TV, automatic telephone
audio recorder and any thing else you want it to be all rolled into one small unit.
Actually, right now, you will need the kit of just one to use as a computer as shown
above but look at this...

Rolled up, it can be used as a writing pen and take photos as well as
audio and video record. It has a built in GPS tracker so it can be tracked
anywhere and anytime.

Rolled out, it becomes a combination ipod and/or mini computer, Cell phone
and digital video recorder with a touch screen protection keypad and hand-held
Xerox machine. With it's new service you can instantly download and watch any
TV show ever made, any movie ever released and any song ever recorded!
But there is even more! It's also a contact list, digital note pad, calculator,
spell checker, game player, day timer, and card reader. You'll never
need one more pocket device! And oh, we forget to mention it can
Also be used as a radio, Walke Talkie (with two sets), magnifying glass,
hand warmer, flash light and alarm clock!

And oh yea, we forgot to mention. Look through the the center and you have
a 70X pair of micro binoculars. We also forgot to mention that the stick will vibrate
if you like and end users can use their own innovation to use it any way they like!

They will be, "cheaper, better, smarter and smaller!"
SAY TUNED TO THIS WEB SITE AS WE WILL BE MARKETING THEM!

Unit FUTURETeK comes out, take a look and see what's high tech,
state of the art and ready now!

What's New	Books	Equipment	Software	PI Kits
NAIS	Find A PI	Links	Resources	Clothing
Badges	ID Cards	Certifications	Digital Data	Our Staff
PI News	PI Daily	Cop Shop	Gift Ideas	Become A PI
Utrak Inc. - GPS Sign-On		PI Vintage- Spy & Private-Eye Museum

THOMAS INVESTIGATIE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INVESTIGATIVE SPECIALISTS, INC.
SPY EXCHANGE AND SECURITY CENTER
P O Box 82148, Austin, Texas 78708
Showroom: 9513 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas 78758
Phone 512.719.3595 Fax 512.719.3594

Copyright: 2007, Thomas Investigative Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
Thomas Investigative Publications, Trademark, 1981.
National Association Of Investigative Specialists, Inc, Trademark, 1986.
Spy Exchange, Trademark, 1999