Desperate to know the truth about their teen-agers' behavior, they are willing to cast aside privacy concerns and risk alienating their children if they are caught. And it has never been so easy to find the tools to carry out the surveillance. There are commercial sprays and wipes to turn up drug residue in cars and on desktops, and products to test a child's breath for alcohol. Home urinalysis kits were introduced two years ago and are selling briskly in stores. Miniature cameras can be hidden in radios, VCRs and clocks.
Private investigators say they increasingly receive requests to have children tailed.
And in the past 18 months, more than 130 suspicious parents have paid a Winchester, Va., company to bring in drug-sniffing dogs to scour their homes for drugs or weapons. Lee Chauncey is the owner of Fly On The Wall, a Fayetteville company specializing in survelliance equipment for the home and office. Chauncey said his equipment is sold or rented mostly to parents who want to check on their children's caregivers, but parents have used it to spy on their children. Some of the cameras are as small as a dime, Chauncey said. All you would see is the opening of the lens or aperature, which is no bigger than the head of a pin,'' he said.