A PAPER-CLIP CAN TELL YOU A LOT
Update July 22, 2011 There are some very simple tools that investigators use -- and that you can use
to gather information. For example, you want to know if someone has opened your office drawers? Of you want to
find out if someone entered your office when you're out on a sales call or away for the evening? Sure, you can have
high tech surveillance cameras record your office and have motion detectors trigger the cameras and recorders. You can
also have video surveillance systems that will link to your computer so that you can view your office from anywhere you have
computer access. But here is a simpler and easier idea that only costs a paper-clip -- so read on.
Before high tech security systems were developed, investigators and the suspicious would place a paperclip
at the top of desk drawer so that if the drawer were opened the paperclip would fall inside the drawer. If the paperclip
was still in the position it was placed in by the investigator, it was likely no one opened the drawer.
Another technique was to bend a paper-clip so that it formed a tent or triangle-- and this paper-clip
would be placed so it stood upright just behind an office door that was almost completely closed. If the investigator
found that the paper clip was not in the same position when he partially opens the door the next day or after a weekend he
would know someone went into the room.
Why a paper-clip for these exercises?
Because a paper-clip is not likely to be noticed and it's as simple as that. You can also put a paper-clip between pages
of a checkbook or a diary or a phone book. You can place it on top of a computer keyboard or on the seat of an office
chair. That paper-clip can tell you a lot.
