Real Life Spy Gadgets That Anyone Can Buy

Ant writes "Here is a collection of "spy equipment" found for sale around the Internet. Everything listed is completely real, is sold at online stores, and almost any item listed here costs less than $500, and often times can be bought for less than $200. Seen on Compfused."

What the hell is wrong with this article

[timecop]

What do we have at http://darkcreek.com/detective_equipment/notebook. htm [darkcreek.com]? A few pages with obvious products listed, but without any actual product names, links, or anything except for some google ads, in the hope that whoever reads this trash will be clicking them. What is that page trying to achieve other than ad views? Nothing. Now let's look at this 'ant' (http://aqfl.net/) guy who submits this story. His 'site' is another collection of pagerank inflating spam links. Of course by getting it on slashdot, he's going to make another few hundred $ in ad views. Is it a slow news day that you have to post trash like this to front page? Shame, taco

Con Air Reference Time!

[Kamineko]

"... my first thought would be, 'a lot'".

Proposed new tags

[empaler]

'getagrip', 'rtfa'

Interestingly, 'slownewsday' was apparently removed - it was there five minutes ago...

Re:Proposed new tags---try "adwhore"

[Deviant Q]

OMFSM, did Slashdot just add a checkbox to my read posts? That is seriously cool.

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[Odiumjunkie]

What google ads?

I don't know if it's because of my HOSTS file or because of FF + Adblock, but I get nada.

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[nacturation]

Not on the first page, but click the first link on the right for example.
 

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[Odiumjunkie]

Nope, still nothing. No ads on my box.

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[rednip]

getting it on slashdot, he's going to make another few hundred $ in ad views.

Personally I found that site to be interesting, and was a little disappointed that the peep-hole reverser was linked to a 'buy-it-now' button. Guess that I'll actually have to search for it independently (the horror!!).

True, it is kind annoying when some dumb amateur writes a decent article, manages to catch the editor's interest on a slow-news-day, and ACTUALLY PROFITS from it, SHOCKING!! A website which profits from the plac

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[rivetgeek]

Considering the title itself implies the purchase of said things, one might conceivably think the page would have the links to purchase them.
And instead of actually doing any real research the poster simply ganked a bunch of product shots from the spy shop online, I'd say on a scale of one to awesome, this rates: toast.

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[Reziac]

Maybe it's collecting IP addresses of people interested in spy gadgets... after all, if you're interested in spy gadgets, you must be a terrorist!!

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[alexandreracine]

Well... it has been posted by CmdrTaco...

Agreed! Remove this spam article

[KFury]

This is just a cheap shot by someone hoping to use the slashdot effect to make himself some quick bucks.

make Windows more secure than Linux

[nacturation]

Yes, it's lame. And I'll attempt to hijack this article by posting something actually useful which was rejected as a story in favor of this bullshit.

Core Force [coresecurity.com] is a free (as in beer) application which provides inbound and outbound stateful packet filtering for TCP/IP protocols using a Windows port of OpenBSD's PF firewall, granular file system and registry access control and programs' integrity validation. These capabilities can be configured and enforced system-wide or on a per-application basis for speci

Re:make Windows more secure than Linux

[deander2]

so you're going to hijack a lame ad with yet another lame ad?
thank /god we have people like you here to protect us! :)

Re:make Windows more secure than Linux

[AnyoneEB]

Wow, that looks nice. I currently use Kerio Personal Firewall which is free for personal use and I believe is similar to Zone Alarm. It has some problems with responsiveness and generally slows my computer down more than I think it should. The fine-tuned file system access control sounds very useful, but I have to wonder about its effect on the speed of my system? I refuse to run active virus scanning because it kills performance. This is not the same, but it is still doing something on every filesystem acc

Re:make Windows more secure than Linux

[nacturation]

Keep in mind that Windows itself performs numerous permission checks for each file access that goes on. I haven't noticed a really sizeable performance difference myself (on an AMD64 3500+). The exception to this is its learning mode, where it actively scans and logs everything the application does and constructs a set of rules to permit those activities -- that can make it dog slow. Generally, apps such as Windows Explorer you'd grant normal permission to the filesystem anyways as that's not something w

Re:make Windows more secure than Linux

[MustardMan]

This is EXACTLY what I want....

except I want it on my mac. Detailed network control PLUS filesystem control. Anyone know of an app that can do this? Preferrably one that is, or will be, universal binary.

pf

[Beryllium Sphere(tm)]

A Windows port of pf is a big deal. If they're running one of the more recent versions, load balancing and failover management are core features. And of course the robustness is what you'd expect from the OpenBSD team.

Ads?

[antdude]

My site doesn't have any ads. Show me ads in the sources to prove it.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[willCode4Beer.com]

Even more interesting is that it worked.

We should be talking about this as a little tutorial on SEO.
Look at the Source of the pages. They are very short.
The Meta description, page title, and headline tags (H1) all have the exact same text.
Using Google link search, it appears he/she used blog spamming to create lots of links to the site.
The biggest negative I see is, the pages do fail XHTML 1.0 Transitional even though they are marked as such.

Just think, $20 + a few hours. I wonder how much this site is real

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[Ucklak]

Hobbiest is not a word.

Google isn't a word either according to Merriam-Webster.
It does appear here and is obviously a branding reference.

Anchor tags don't seem to work today. References:
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/google [m-w.com]
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=google [reference.com]

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[Ucklak]

Google is a name because of a website. Period. It wouldn't exist otherwise. It isn't a series of reference books or directories.
Hobbiest is a name most likely because of it's website. http://hobbiest.com/ [hobbiest.com]. I'm sure the name wouldn't exist otherwise.

I fail to see you you can say that Google is a name and hobbiest isn't a name when both are names and URI's of websites.

Just beacause Google has more money doesn't invalidate what hobbiest is trying to do.

Zillow isn't a word either but it is the name of a pop

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[Ucklak]

I think you're giving a bad rap to a name because it sounds like a real word but is not spelled correctly.

Your argument against "Hobbiest" would work with "Flickr"
Both are real sounding words but are misspelled when used in context of the internet.

Postnuke isn't a word either yet is was a popular CMS at one time.

My point always has been that google, hobbiest, flickr, and postnuke are names and are words that don't exist outside of the context of the internet.
Lilakatorunib isn't a word either but if I brand

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[Walt Dismal]

'hobbiest' is an illiteracy, and should be avoided. But then, too many lazy techies use stupid illiteracies unquestioningly, like saying "the media" to refer to a single object, when 'media' is plural. And then these illiteracies propagate unstoppably. For example, back in the Amiga days, the computer used a custom chip codenamed "Agnes" after somebody's girlfriend. Except some brainless frickmonkey misspelled it "Agnus" in a magazine article, which then viruslike took over usage as other brainless frickm

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[silverkniveshotmail.]

someone misspelled a word; big fucking deal.

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[Walt Dismal]

Certainly, one case of misspelling is not a really big thing. Everybody misspells once in awhile. That's not what this is all about, for me anyway. What it's all about is people who don't get things right that others do, and that is what bothers me. There is no way in hell I want to inherit code written by someone who doesn't care about details. I don't want eye surgery from someone who is sloppy. And I don't like to knowing that millions of TV-watching voters are too lazy to check the details, so they vot

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[silverkniveshotmail.]

Certainly, one case of misspelling is not a really big thing. Everybody misspells once in awhile. That's not what this is all about, for me anyway. What it's all about is people who don't get things right that others do, and that is what bothers me. There is no way in hell I want to inherit code written by someone who doesn't care about details. I don't want eye surgery from someone who is sloppy. And I don't like to knowing that millions of TV-watching voters are too lazy to check the details, so they vote

Re:What the hell is wrong with this article

[Walt Dismal]

All valid. However, typos from being in too much of a hurry are quite different from being lazy or not knowing correct spelling and grammar. I don't believe the 'hobbiest' guy knew the distinctions, and I still stand by my comments about continual misspellers who ignore correctness. Is it the school system? iPods? Aspartame? Cell phone radiation? I 'dunno'.

Lets Hope Al-Queda Doesnt Get Their Hands On This

[Anonymous Coward]

These spy gadgets could be dangerous in the wrong hands, such as evildoers like terrorists, and others. It could enable these groups to murder more innocent people.

Lets hope these gadget sales are being closely monitored by the authorities. I would hate to see these things in the wrong hands.

Re:Lets Hope Al-Queda Doesnt Get Their Hands On Th

[tindur]

Let's hope Al-Queda uses them to make the US into a police state.

Re:Lets Hope Al-Queda Doesnt Get Their Hands On Th

[anagama]

Plainly, the US needs no assistance from Al-Queda to achieve police state status.

Re:Lets Hope Al-Queda Doesnt Get Their Hands On Th

[Karma Farmer]

Plainly, the US needs no assistance from Al-Queda to achieve police state status.

No, we definitely need al-Qaeda if we're ever going to achieve our goal of becoming a police state. In fact, if al-Qaeda didn't exist we would have to invent it.

(Note: the inept criminals and thugs who use terrorism to kill fewer people every year than falling coconuts are obviously real. A vast shadow network of islamofascist co-conspirators is imaginary.)

Re:Lets Hope Al-Queda Doesnt Get Their Hands On Th

[Karma Farmer]

What scares me more than terrorists, is the incompetences of our government. One more attack and they will have every exscuse to take more rights away...

This is true. One day, you wake up and realize that the government is so incompetent they can't even arrange and attack on their own soil. It's like the day you realized that Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, and Jesus are all just fairytales for children.

Even a few more attacks in the west would give American politicians power they can hardly dream of tod

Re:Lets Hope Al-Queda Doesnt Get Their Hands On Th

[wjsteele]

How can these gadget's possibly be dangerous? From the article, you can't even find them. I actually think they're all just Duke Nukem Forwever ware. There are stories about them, but no actual links or pictures. Man, I also wish I could stick a Google Ad right in my comment. I'd like, make a killing, wouldn't I?

Bill

Re:Lets Hope Al-Queda Doesnt Get Their Hands On Th

[Stealth Potato]

Yes, god forbid Al Qaeda get their hands on fart powder [darkcreek.com]. Not even George W. "Cowboy" Bush could save us then! :-O

Re:Lets Hope Al-Queda Doesnt Get Their Hands On Th

[empaler]

No, seriously.
We would be powerless to stop an army of one with these babies [darkcreek.com].

Luckily, the damned site is a complete waste of time and carries no links to any of the items listed.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Peephole Reverser!

[kenthorvath]

Actually a peephole reverser is quite easy to make. In most hotels, for instance, the peephole to your door is made of two tubes that thread together. Simply unscrewing the hole from one end allows you to remove it, and when placed head to head with another peephole will allow you to see inside unobstructed. I discovered this once at a hotel that I stayed at when the construction crew had dropped one in the hallway. It's pretty nifty, but the field of view is only a few degrees, so unless the object of interest is standing directly in front of the door, you are not going to see much of the inside.

Re:Peephole Reverser!

[rednip]

Pee-hole reverser?
I can imagine a million uses for such device...

Pesonally, I could only imagine one, but at a million places.

Re:Peephole Reverser!

[identity0]

Um, this is for looking inside. You get ambushed by the people you visit? What kind of Girl Scout/Mormon/Scientologist/Vaccum Salesman are you? You're supposed to ambush *them*, silly!

lame

[johnny cashed]

Less info than a normal Slashdot summary, lame article, lame in general. What the hell is with the compfused link?

Re:lame

[antdude]

It's funny. CmrdTaco just copied and pasted my submission. He didn't even tweak my submission to fit in /. post. In the past, others and him just change words, etc. I think they got lazy!

The reason why I put sources is because people think I am stealing links, so I have to give credits to whoever posted it where I found it.

Re:lame

[antdude]

No big deal. It happens. If this was Digg, then my story wouldn't be up. ;)

Adsense made the internet retarded.

[rivetgeek]

This needs to be renamed to "Real Life spy gadgets that anyone (who has google and a lot of time to find them by themselves) can buy" Worst slashdot, ever.

Re:Adsense made the internet retarded.

[mad flyer]

Worst Slashdot ever ? You guys forgot the day where a Goatse link made it to the front page...

That was a bad day...

Re:Adsense made the internet retarded.

[rivetgeek]

that would at least be amusing. This is just spam.

Re:Adsense made the internet retarded.

[pyrrhonist]

that would at least be amusing. This is just spam.

You must be using a new form of, "amusing", that I was previously unaware of.

Re:Adsense made the internet retarded.

[PhxBlue]

Worst slashdot, ever.

You think it's bad now, wait until you see it again in a few hours.

SPAM

[Lord Bitman]

Please remove this article.

Re:SPAM

[hackstraw]

Yes, this does appear to be SPAM for Ant or compfused or something. But I will say that the http://darkcreek.com/ [darkcreek.com] site does have cool stuff on it. The little cube guys, and the 100 years ago thing, the stacking pennies, etc. The little notebook thing with no information though is pretty lame.

Clue spray?

[Falkkin]

This "article" is mostly a waste of space, but the clue spray http://darkcreek.com/detective_equipment/clue_spra y.htm [darkcreek.com] made me chuckle. Favorite equipment of BOFHs everywhere?

Nothing new here...

[Wdomburg]

I used to see surveillance and security equipment, and glancing through I didn't many products that weren't available when I quit the business years ago, and certainly nothing that isn't available on any of the "spy" stores on the internet (or from a variety of electronics dealers in south east asia, if you're willing to buy in lots. :)

Heh.. Vomit Agent

[technoextreme]

Reminds me of the time Peter bought that stuff from the pharmacy. You know the hillarious results that ensued afterwords.

slow news day?

[MBuhrow]

this is not news.
it's not interesting.
there are no links to where I can buy this stuff.
this is a sorry excuse for a website.
I'm sure this has been suggested before but articles should be modded just like comments.

Re:slow news day?

[irtza]

This may sound offtopic, but seriously, isn't the topic of this discussion lame/spam submissions? This site was hardly comprehensive giving only a bried description of each type of device with no list of manufacturers or even their workings. It gave no information about the effectiveness of each device, whether the detail of a "spy cam" could be used to recognize someones face or only that someone has broken into your office? I think most people here already knew you could get this stuff and its not like

This reminds me of a Discovery Channel show I saw.

[rob_squared]

It dealt with spy satellites. The narrator mentioned that the video surveillance they showed in the program was from the 1960s and 70s and said that the actual resolution and what it could detect nowadays was classified. I'm pretty sure the 1970s shots could identify cars.

Has to make you wonder, if this is what we can buy, what can the government make today?

Re:This reminds me of a Discovery Channel show I s

[MickLinux]

Well, the resolution isn't all that much better, since it's limited by the optical radius of the lens, and NASA hasn't figured out how to launch a larger satellite in 35 years.

However, as the digital technology advanced, they have much improved the filters for detecting and tracking tinfoil hats.

Re:This reminds me of a Discovery Channel show I s

[cgenman]

But since then the ability to extract additional information through software interpolation of multiple images has increased tremendously. With multiple cameras pointed at the same area, or multiple shots from a single camera, you should be able to get enough raw data to create very high resolution images indeed, even if the individual images themselves aren't that great. Use cameras at very different geographical locations, and a full 3d image should be possible.

You can also use more of the spectrum, com

Re:This reminds me of a Discovery Channel show I s

[imsabbel]

Well, thankfully, even military spysats STILL have to acknowledge the diffraction limit, so no face recoginition form orbit, ever (at least without a 10+m mirrror.

Re:This reminds me of a Discovery Channel show I s

[Dominic_Mazzoni]

Government satellites regularly capture images at 1-meter resolution (I've seen many such images) and I think as high as 0.25-meter resolution is possible. (Any higher-resolution images you see online, like on Google Maps, were usually acquired by an airplane, not a satellite.)

Keep in mind, though, that the satellites with this kind of resolution are in fast-moving low Earth orbit and can only capture high-resolution images at near-nadir angles. So it's not possible to capture, for example, continuous vid

Re:This reminds me of a Discovery Channel show I s

[techno-vampire]

I know somebody who had access to those photos in the late '60s. He could recognize his own car in the parking lot. In shots of Soviet tanks, he could even tell which tank commanders had shaved that morning.

Private Eye

[ettlz]

There used to be loads of adverts for bugs and so-forth in the classified sections of UK satirical mag Private Eye... haven't been any for a while now, though.

Re:Private Eye

[mikesd81]

Used to be a bunch in the Pop Sci magazine too. Well at least how to's. They ranged from spying to phreaking to using a pay phone for nothing.

It's a neat little hobby I guess. Personally, I'd rather collect bladed weapons over stuff like this.

Re:Private Eye

[ettlz]

Personally, I'd rather collect bladed weapons over stuff like this.

You weren't the dude who surrendered that bloody great bat'leth [thesun.co.uk] to the Police in the recent knife amnesty, were you?

Re:Private Eye

[mikesd81]

Only if I swam over the pond

Re:Private Eye

[ettlz]

Only if I swam over the pond

Ah, they don't allow them on transatlantic flights, then?

Re:Private Eye

[A beautiful mind]

I don't get why would people surrender knives instead of like..._selling_ them?

Even though I'm not from the Uk, I don't think it is illegal to own knives.

After reading up on the article it seems that it is illegal to carry them around in public places, but why would people surrender them for that?

Re:Private Eye

[Builder]

UK Knife law is odd to say the least. I grew up carrying a knife. At first a swiss army knife, then later a leatherman. At various times I've carried a puma or a Spyderco folding blade. None of these had a blade length over 3 inches, they were all for utilitarian purposes not combat :)

When I moved to the UK, I was astonished to find that carrying these items may be illegal, but even after asking police officers and checking local knife sites, I've never been able to get a clear answer.

Re:Private Eye

[ElephanTS]

Strangely enough I am reminded of going out with a girl in 1991 that was PA in a private shop that sold spy gadgets all over the world. I used to go round there sometimes and the stuff they had was fairly incredible. They made a fortune selling this stuff particularly to the Middle East and America (it was based in London W2 btw). Anyway I made friends with the guy that owned it, really decent bloke actually (weird that he made a living selling these things - some of them were weapons as opposed to spy gadg

Am I on Slashdot?

[q3ctf4]

This was the gayest thing ever.

Re:Am I on Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

This was the gayest thing ever.

Okay, you're in the right place, then.

What Cold War spies might have killed for ...

[timothy]

Well, OK, so Cold War spies killed for plenty of reasons, but what I'm thinking of is the general advances in electronic miniaturization that can put a tiny audio recorder, camera, heat sensor, pressure sensor, etc., in spaces far smaller than the equivalent device of just a few decades ago.

Looking through my copy of The Ultimate Spy Book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789404435/ref=n osim/102-3417579-5590511?n=283155) -- the affilliate link is for LibraryThing, because that was the easiest way to grab

Flatulence Agent

[wkitchen]

A bit of this [darkcreek.com] would be great at one of those thousand-dollars-a-plate political fundraising dinners.

Update the Definition

[simrook]

Step One: Hundreds of Thousands of nerds wake up Sunday morning and click on your slashdot story. While discovering your site is bogus, a secret Firefox flaw is exploited and a (AT - Really? AT? Who the fuck uses AT anymore?) keystroke logger is installed on your computer.

Step Two: ???.. no wait.. Step two is to check your email for CC numbers as they go an order something from a real spy site to make themselves feel better.

Step Three: Profit.

Ummm... I think I'm going to go scan my computer for viruses.

www.supercircuits.com

[solitas]

This isn't a plug for the company - but you can see there all the kinds of cameras mentioned in the article.

My constant question: where's the digital Minox?

[timothy]

In other words, WW007D?

I want a Minox B. No, I don't want to pay for an *actual* Minox; don't have enough banks robbed yet. Also, tiny film cassettes, finicky jewel-like mechanisms, etc.

What I want is a modern, digital, Minox-alike that is:

a) The size of a fat thumb or however you'd describe one of these: http://www.kameramuseum.de/1minox/minox-b.html [kameramuseum.de]

b) Not notably ugly and lo-res like this: http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/1/prweb195 316.htm [emediawire.com]

(The size of that thing is OK, though, but it's ugly in colors and shape; I could overlook those things, or cover all the but lens with a paper bag, if the resolution wasn't so poor.)

c) more brick-like than some of Sony's smallest, which otherwise are quite nice; I don't like the roundedness of some of the U-Series, but the the U50 (swivel and all) is close to a digital Minox. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Sony/sony_ds cu50.asp [dpreview.com] I like that it uses AAA batteries, too; a single AA would be even better than 2 AAAs, but life isn't perfect. Maybe I'll find a good deal from eBay on a U50 ...

timothy

Re:My constant question: where's the digital Minox

[morcheeba]

qualia 016? [dpreview.com]... but, going along with zlogic, a cell phone would be much easier to hide in plain site.

Re:My constant question: where's the digital Minox

[Sam Nitzberg]

http://minoxusa.xxs3.de/minox2002usa/shop/ [xxs3.de]

New look, new article submission policy?

[gavhall]

If this is the new type of article that's going to be posted after the new look /. I'd rather we all go back to the old look. That having been said I'm sure this is just a glitch in the system. The average standard for articles here is too high to get too mad and not forgive one mistake but please, please don't do it again.

Shame on slashdot...

[Anonymous Coward]

Shame on slashdot... :(

Please remove this ad.

Webcams for Security

[pipingguy]

Maybe this is a good opportunity to ask about motion detection and webcams. For those of you that have this working already, what advice can you give to someone trying to set up such a system?

Re:Webcams for Security

[Professr3]

There are already freeware programs out there that will monitor a webcam, and sound an alarm/start recording when they detect movement.

Not /. Worthy

[Dj-Zer0]

But after little bit of googling i found a place where you can get some of these suckers.

http://www.spytekmiami.com/index.php [spytekmiami.com]
(enjoy)

Envelope X-Ray

[GigsVT]

That envelope X-ray spray is just dust off. Hold the can of dust-off upside down and spray the envelope.

Doesn't work well with security envelopes, but works fine with normal ones.

Besides the utter lameness of the article...

[edunbar93]

Um, what the fuck? There's a place down the street from me called "The Spy Store" where you can buy all this and body armour too.

This is lameness beyond compare.

Re:Besides the utter lameness of the article...

[slashflood]

There's a place down the street from me called "The Spy Store"

Sunset Plaza?

Re:Besides the utter lameness of the article...

[edunbar93]

Sunset Plaza?

No, Broadway St.

Wow old Ads, great addition to /.

[Jack9]

Welcome to 1990 when I ordered mailers to check out pricing on most of these gadgets. /. Article link.
Site links to ads.
Profit!

Haha!... HA! Clue Spray

[sl4shd0rk]

Perfect for carrying around with the PEBKAC mallet!!

Links?

[cgenman]

Lame article, yadda yadda.

Anyone have a link to the lockpicking kit in a working pen? That sounds actually useful.

And cheap to boot.

[kunwon1]

Your cheapo image shack hosting has turned over and died. Might be time to change the water for those JPGs.

Some useful ones

[Beryllium Sphere(tm)]

I don't think anyone outside the porn industry needs the "hidden screw camera", but haven't you ever wished you could flood a meeting with that substance listed under "chemical aids", namely the Clue Spray?

Where to get this kind of stuff from...

[meridian]

www.spycatcheronline.co.uk [spycatcheronline.co.uk] My favorite is the bullet proof denim jacket

Not cut out to be a spy

[mikefe]

I don't know about you, but if I used that fart elixer on someone, I'd be the first one to burst out laughing.

Spy gadgets? No.

These are for practical jokes!

Re:Blatant advertisement

[jsharkey]

Thanks to the Firefox Adblock plug-in [mozilla.org], I never saw any ads on the site. :)

Re:report it to adsense...

[Quinn]

There's no legitimate reason to pull this guy's ads. I enjoyed the article. Links would have been informative, but I appreciate being denied the temptation to buy any of the items featured. Congratulations to the publisher -- I hope he rakes in a lot of cash for the feature.

Re:Stun Pen?

[dbIII]

Does anyone know if there is a reputable and inexpensive (hard to find that combo) place to buy a working stun pen?

Near the start of the novel "Snow Crash" there is a portion about the foolishness of having high tech weapons that few people can recognise - eventually you have to use them because you certainly can't tell them to keep away or you'll hit them with a bleedingly obvious axe handle.

Re:Stun Pen?

[Coeurderoy]

So would you recommend a chocolate kalacksnikov (obviously non threatening to the drunked batchelors when the board the bus in broad daylight, but could look convincing in a dark alley :-)

Personally I belive that the only thing the parent need is a quiet chat with the owner of the locale that his clients patronize.
I guess any street punk knows better than to anger the local night club owner, or is so far gone that even a bazooka might not convince him/her/it of the wisdom of leaving a bus driver to his/her