Infrared Light, Night Criminals New Tool

You may or may not know that CCTV camera systems have been maturing over the years. The US is somewhat slow to adopt, unlike some European countries that have thousands of cameras on their roadways and in public areas, we have very few in public domain. The private sector, however, has been taking advantage of some of the newest tech that CCTV manufacturers can dish out.

One thing that is becoming very common is to install a camera with an array of infrared LEDs attached. What this accomplishes is that it will illuminate the area that the camera is monitoring during low light and no light situations. This Infrared light illuminates the area for the camera without actually turning any visible lights on. So cameras are sensitive to Infrared light….

What some people have figured out is that you can use the technology for a reverse purpose. Here is a quick visual of the effect.

Instead of a face, you get a ball of light on the screen. Here is another illustration…

As you can see, the persons face is blocked by the gleaming ball of light. What’s crazy is that the big ball of light is not visible to the human eye. So the guy walking in front of the "bad guy" is unaware that his walking pal is covert. What does it take to pull of this kind of trickery?

NOT MUCH…

Yep, a goofy headband, some wire, a few batteries, and a ring of infrared LEDs.

This is an incredibly smart idea, my only fear is that it has almost no use to someone that isn’t doing anything wrong. So I guess you should take mental note of the guys face that accompanies a goofy looking headband with a ring of "un-lit" LEDs on it.

-Kamen