High-Tech Surveillance Comes to Small Towns

High-tech surveillance tools aren’t just for spies anymore. A new “off the shelf” surveillance industry is drawing interest from small-town law enforcement and less-developed countries, as well as from large Western agencies.

Attendance sheets from industry conferences offer a window into these secretive events, which are closed to the media and include training sessions such as “online social media and Internet investigations” and “exploiting computer and mobile vulnerabilities for electronic surveillance.” In November, the Journal’s Surveillance Catalog project looked at the companies that market their wares at these conferences. The organizations listed include plenty of federal agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.K.’s Serious Organised Crime Agency. But the training and trade shows, which are operated by U.S.-based TeleStrategies, also have attracted representatives from much smaller agencies – such as the police departments of Southmayd, Texas, and Bethany Beach, Del., both of which have populations of about 1,000 – according to the documents. Bethany Beach police did not respond to requests for comment.