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Your Downtown & All Around Community Newspaper |
If you have ever wondered what it would be like to be a successful business entrepreneur, the Mayor of a small town, or a Fire Chief, here is the place to look to find a profile of the jobs that we find interesting and rewarding.
Each month we will highlight
a local government official, a person with an unusual occupation, or
someone just like you!
by Tiffany Carboni
Terry Finn, Man of Mystery—It might make an interesting movie title, but this modest private investigator and owner of Incognito Services finds the shows about his work to be more amusing than realistic. "Who's going to do a surveillance in a red Ferrari?" Finn snickers, referring to the world's most popular Hawaiian P.I.
Finn's specialty is electronic countermeasures, which he describes as "the science of detecting, locating, and neutralizing telephone taps or any other surreptitious eavesdropping device."
Cameras are hidden throughout the areas surrounding the office, assuring the staff of who's coming and going. However, detecting these covert, miniaturized cameras disguised within a teddy bear, a clock, or even a tie, is impossible unless you know what you're looking for. In fact, many of the disguised cameras are no larger than the tip of a chopstick.
Fortunately the Incognito's highly classified clientele, Finn knows exactly what to look for and how to defuse any spy tactic. Many local corporations (as well as individuals) have, or feel they have, great need to "sweep" a room for hidden recording and listening devices.
He and his staff also design and manufacture covert video systems. Let's say you don't trust someone. Perhaps it's your baby-sitter. Finn will install a camera to fit right into your VCR. Once the baby-sitter and your child are in the appropriate room, the VCR will record, within itself, everything in view.
Finn was a police officer for many years before he returned to school and graduated from San Jose State University and the University of Southern California. Rather than returning to law enforcement, he took his knowledge of the streets and human nature, and decided to open his own investigation agency called Incognito Services in 1980. He began by doing the "typical" private investigating, such as interviewing witnesses and finding missing people.
Now, he mainly sticks with what he calls a "professional technical service." And with Silicon Valley constantly changing, Finn has to keep up with the advancing technology.
As far as job satisfaction, he says, leaning back in his chair with a suave air about him, "I'm very comfortable with what I do. There's no stress [for me]."
If you are in need of Terry Finn and Incognito Services' help, you may reach him at (650) 363-9100, or visit him on the web at www.incognitoservices.com.