Practice area 06
TSCM — Bug Sweeps
Technical inspection of a room, vehicle or building for eavesdropping devices — and an honest account of what a sweep can and cannot establish.
Licensed Illinois private detective agency · Established 1991 · 35+ years
A technical surveillance counter-measures sweep is a physical and electronic examination of a defined space: radio-frequency spectrum analysis, physical inspection of fixtures, furniture, wiring and telephony, and examination of the structure for anything that does not belong.
It is worth being plain about the result. Most sweeps find nothing. That is not a wasted engagement — a documented clear finding is exactly what somebody needs before a sensitive negotiation, a board meeting or a deposition. But anyone promising to find something is selling you a story.
A sweep is also a snapshot, not a shield. It establishes the state of a room at the moment it was examined. It cannot tell you what was there last month, and it cannot stop something being introduced next week — which is why sensitive spaces are swept before the thing that matters, rather than afterwards.
What this covers
Included in an engagement.
- Radio-frequency spectrum analysis across the relevant bands
- Physical inspection of fixtures, furnishings, wiring and telephony
- Vehicle, residential, boardroom and aircraft-cabin sweeps
- A written finding, whether that finding is a detection or a clear
- Advice on practical measures for the space afterwards
Said plainly
What this service cannot do.
Worth reading before you instruct anybody in this profession, including us.
- A sweep establishes the state of a space at the time of the examination. It is not ongoing protection.
- If something is found, a sweep cannot tell you who placed it or when. That is a separate investigation.
- We are not medical professionals and we make no medical claims of any kind.
Related
Often instructed alongside this.
TSCM — Bug Sweeps
Tell us what has happened.
The first conversation costs nothing, goes no further, and you will get an honest view of whether this is something we can help with — including when the answer is that it is not.