You arrive home. You open your mailbox, reach inside and remove a mishmash of envelopes, fliers and periodicals. After turning the key to your front door, you walk inside your house, sifting through the mail as you do so. There is a letter from your aunt Gertrude in Saskatchewan. There is a newsletter from your Book-of-the-Month Club. There is also an ad for a hybrid espresso machine-vacuum cleaner appliance. Suddenly, one of the envelopes - from the local county council - catches your eye. Using a letter opener, you slice open the envelope and remove the paper contained inside. You read it, and then gasp in amazement. You are to pay a fine of $2,000 U.S. dollars! Your crime: putting out your garbage bin at the wrong time. Does this sound impossible?

Not at all. Today, a local government in England is using a special hidden spy camera to catch offenders of the new garbage collection rule.

Seeing-eye Bags

An interesting development in the realm of hidden spy cameras has sprung up in the U.K. In one county, local councils are using the cameras to control when and where people put their garbage outside, for collection. One county has purchased a hidden spy camera costing thousands of U.S. dollars. This hidden spy camera can be placed in a garbage bag sitting in an alley. The camera will then spot homeowners who put out their garbage too late or too early. It will also catch residents who place their garbage in a nearby alley, instead of alongside the street in front of their homes. The main concern is that uncollected garbage will attract all kinds of annoying bugs. Local officials also hope that the hidden spy cameras will not only catch "envirocrime" culprits, but also drug dealers, graffiti artists, and illegal garbage dumpers--referred to as fly-tippers.

Copters for Coppers

Not to be outdone by county councilmen, the British police have a new weapon to fight crime. Meet the Microdrone! Measuring just two feet from rotor blade to rotor blade, this remote-controlled helicopter contains a hidden spy camera. How does it work? Along with two landing skis and the rotors, four short, thick arms carry a hidden spy camera. After flying above crime scenes, the Microdrone transmits its recordings to bobbies, or police officers, on land.

Some citizens are already uneasy about the prevalence of hidden spy cameras in the U.K. However, local U.K police authorities argue that the public generally supports the cameras, as these provide them a "feeling of safety." They hope that the new machine will complement their CCTV patrol vans and manned helicopters.

Be Like Bobby

According to a 1998-2000 United Nations study, the U.K. ranked sixth in the world in terms of least crimes per 1,000 people. Such outstanding results show that using hidden spy cameras in your own home could help in your personal mission of crime prevention. The first step in preventing a burglary in your home is to secure all entry points with locks, and preferably, deadbolts. Entry points to consider include the:

* front door

* garage door

* gate

* guest house door

* patio door

* rear door

* service door

* sliding glass door

* swimming pool gate

While the costs alone would make it difficult to place a hidden spy camera at every entry point, it would certainly be wise to place one at the front and back doors.

In countries such as the U.K, the hidden spy camera has changed the way law enforcement is done. Though your occupation might not put you on "the beat," using such cameras can help to keep dodgy blokes off the streets and behind bars!