What people actually plant
In a college athletic program, the realistic threats are consumer devices: a tracker in a car or a bag, a camera in a hotel room or an office, a phone left recording in a meeting room, a cheap transmitter in a power strip. They are bought online, planted by someone with access, and found by someone who knows where to look. Laboratory-grade devices exist, and they are not what a booster or a rival staffer uses.
What the equipment does
- A spectrum analyzer finds devices that are transmitting right now. It does not find a device that is switched off, or one that stores and sends later.
- A lens finder finds camera lenses by their reflection, whether or not the camera is on. It is cheap, and it is the single most useful tool for hotel rooms.
- A thermal camera finds powered electronics behind drywall, inside furniture, and in fixtures.
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth discovery finds the cameras and trackers that use those radios, which is most of them.
- A non-linear junction detector finds electronics whether they are on, off, or dead. This is the instrument that separates a real sweep from a walk-through, and it costs more than a car. A firm that does not have one, or a partner who does, cannot certify a room.
Questions to ask before you buy a sweep
- What equipment will you bring, by name? If the answer is "a detector," ask which one.
- Will you use a non-linear junction detector? If not, what will the report say about devices that are switched off?
- What will the report include? Photographs, the equipment used, and the rooms covered are the minimum.
- What happens if you find something? The right answer involves preserving it and calling the police, not pulling it out and handing it to the coach.
- Are you licensed for investigative work in this state, or working with someone who is?
When a sweep is the wrong purchase
A sweep tells you about one room on one day. If the staff carries the game plan into a different hotel every other week, the fix is a travel process, not a sweep. If the leak is a person with a phone, no instrument will find it. Most programs that ask for a sweep need an assessment first, and the assessment usually says which two rooms are worth instrumenting and which twenty are not.
Smilodon's own position is written on the services page: our field kit finds what people actually plant, we bring a partner for a sealed-room certification, and we never call a room clean on the strength of a walk-through.