Reverse the peephole

Binoculars and scopes alike take the distant and draw them near. Among their many uses, they fulfill their role for surveillance – keeping dangers at safe distance. What happens when the dangers are no longer remote but just beyond the few inches of a wooden door?

Back in 2000 Tav Tabacchi, president of Keycuff Products was approached with an answer; the reverse peephole viewer. Headquartered out of  Colorado, Keycuff Products is a division of Secure Concepts LTD and began marketing the Tactical Door Viewer as a precursor to the Tactico. Other products include KeyCuffs, Double KeyCuffs, a KeyCuff restraint system and Vizion 100 fiber scope.

At its core, both the Tactical Door Viewer and Tactico products were designed for the same issue: to allow qualified personnel view through a peephole. Eventually development progressed to include a highly requested optical focus adjustment as well as other tactical features the original product lacked – thus, the Tactico (a Spanish translation of “tactical”), officially launched March 2011.

A view inside

In an initial look, the concept seems simple enough. Get yourself a peephole, cut it open, spin the optics around, replace optics in a secure tube. Like the door to an apartment with an illegal growing operation, looks can be deceiving.

At around $80, the device doesn’t have iPad capability, nor is it HD. It cannot record to a DVR nor have facial recognition software programs been integrated.

Simply put, according to the Tactical & Rescue Gear web site (www.trgear.com), it “uses a modified reversed refracting telescope design with high quality glass multi-coated optical lenses and BAK-4 glass paired prism.”

Tabacchi offers some clarity: Just as binoculars take light coming in and magnify it over an optic, what Secure Concepts has done is took the magnification part and turned it around creating a narrow beam. “So you’re reversing the optics on it, like the opposite of a binocular,” he says.

However, hindsight is 20/20. “It all sounds simple once you figured it out,” mentions Tabacchi.

If the temptation to peer out your hotel door into the hallway ever got the best of your, you know that not all peepholes are made the same. “Some are cheap, they are not made really well,” says Tabacchi. As such, users of the original Tactical Door Viewer repeatedly requested for an adjustable focus. Responding, Tabacchi integrated this feature into the new product.

Break on through

According to Tabacchi, he’s sold his reverse peephole viewer all around the world, and for an array of customers.

One high-profile customer that seems to always draw a lot of surprise is the bodyguards of England’s Prince Andrew, he says. Other customers include law enforcement, bail bondsmen, private detectives, and property owners, among others.

While the design implies its purpose: to covertly allow the user to see inside; the intent changes per use. Law enforcement is able to utilize it while serving a warrant and tactically to check for booby traps. Tabacchi also mentions alternative uses include private detective investigations and personal protection.

In the larger picture though, he sees Tactico for anybody that goes through doors, like SWAT.

“They can look through the door and make sure there’s not a booby trap or somebody standing behind the door with a shotgun. We’ve had reports of where [users] have seen that kind of stuff and the beauty is they can challenge the guy and stand away from the door,” says Tabacchi.

However, with such a device privacy issues are always hiding in the dark. For instance, reverse peephole viewers are not allowed to be used to collect evidence – a warrant or reasonable cause is necessary.

Law enforcement are able to use these viewers as a protective measure for officer safety – checking for traps – but it isn’t intended for users to peer in hotel rooms door-to-door. It might be wise, however, to check with local privacy laws to ensure use is within legal permissions.

“There’s a lot of case history about some of these things, like peeking through windows … there’s all kinds of legal case on those kinds of issues,” says Tabacchi. “Initially people got a little worried … [the attorneys] said if you’re serving a warrant … and you’re going through the door there’s no issue.”

Editor’s Note: The Tactico is not sold to the public.