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Home Surveillance Cameras or "Nannycams"

Families around the nation increasingly are using hidden home surveillance cameras to monitor their in-home caregivers.

"The use of home surveillance cameras wasn't even discussed three years ago," said Wendy Sachs, president of the International Nanny Association, a trade group. "Now, it's talked about more and more."

A growing number of two-income families, most of them baby boomers, are turning to relatively expensive in-home child care. And these well-educated parents want to make sure they get what they're paying for: conscientious, high-quality child care. Hence the proliferation of home surveillance cameras.

Hundreds of firms specializing in home surveillance cameras and surveillance equipment have sprung up in the last three years. One of the first, Babywatch Corp. in Spring Valley, N.Y., started in 1992. The company, which rents out equipment, got so busy last year that officials decided to wholesale equipment to people who wanted to start their own rental businesses.

Even high-tech spy equipment stores are cashing in on the home surveillance camera bonanza.

" `Nanny cams' are the hottest item we've got, and we've got a lot of serious equipment," said Marsha Pearl of Counter Spy Shop, a New York City-based chain of six stores. "We got into retailing these home surveillance cameras just because we had so many people requesting them."

Typically, a wide-angle home surveillance camera is installed in a home without drilling or wires. Home surveillance cameras can be hidden in lamps, clock radios, VCRs or stereo equipment, even inside a child's teddy bear. These home surveillance cameras can record for up to eight hours and sometimes transmit to a VCR elsewhere.

Industry officials emphasize that most baby-sitters are good at their jobs. They say the home surveillance cameras are best used to ensure parents' peace of mind. But many people, including some nannies, consider the use of home surveillance cameras an invasion of privacy. The American Civil Liberties Union said it may even be illegal.

"It's not morally right to spy on people behind their backs, especially when you have no reason to be suspicious," said Lewis Maltby of the ACLU.

A Babywatch survey found that 70 percent of those who used its system ended up firing their nannies, usually for neglect. Only a tiny percentage of cases involve actual abuse, officials say.

Paul and Katrina Bassel, a pediatrician and a gastroenterologist who live in Dallas, have been screening nanny candidates for 3-week-old Emily. They've been warning applicants that they may use a secret home surveillance camera, and most haven't objected, the Bassels say.

Still, there are concerns that the home surveillance cameras could be misused.

Jeff and Carol Jones, owners of Elite Alternatives in Dallas, insist homeowners such as the Bassels sign a pledge to use the home surveillance cameras only for authorized purposes and only in common living areas. But that may not be enough.

"If the (homeowners) were to warn the nanny, they'd be wholly within their rights," said Alan Westin, a Columbia University professor and leading authority on privacy issues. "But if you don't give notice, then I think you have a gray area. . . . I can see courts going both ways on that."

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