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Laurie Leiker: Undercover Reporter
Ok, this is definitely not a picture of me, nor did I ever wear anything resembling that, except I had a leather bomber jacket I’d wear on all our shoots.
While working for Tom, one of the most fun experiences I had was doing undercover stories. I loved dressing up, strapping on the camera, and going in to catch the bad guys. At times, it was a little nerve-racking, but in the end, we were able to catch them in the act and make things right for consumers in Denver.
Typically, I was dressed in an oversized men’s denim jacket. All along the inside back of the jacket were pockets to put battery packs (remember — this was way before micro-technology). I had a fanny pack that held the camera itself. Finally, the engineers at the station took out one of the breast pocket buttons and installed the lens of the camera. I was ready to go. I looked like someone experiencing homelessness.
One story I’m particularly proud of is when we saved Denver’s childcare facilities.
We came up with the story while we were on the air at the radio station. It took some planning, but we identified ten daycare facilities to run our test. Each day, I would don my undercover jacket and go into the chosen facility to see how far I could get before someone stopped me.
The results were astonishing. I was never stopped. I even got into the bathroom, where I found two boys. If I had been unscrupulous, I could’ve taken either or both, and no one would’ve known.
Before the story aired, we had each daycare center look at the raw tapes. They were appalled, as they should be. They even threatened to sue us if we ran the story, to which Tom said, “Bring it on.”
Of course, they never did sue, and the story ran. The result? Daycare centers around Colorado almost immediately put security locks on the doors, where only the parents or designated adults could get into the lobby.
That wasn’t the first or the last time I wore “The Jacket.” I even wore it one bright, sunny summer day when we went to the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur, Colorado, to investigate someone selling fake sterling silver jewelry. I was sweltering under that jacket. And I looked ridiculous (as always).
Just as I found the stall we were looking for, our photographer, Frank, got a call from the station saying a tornado had been seen in the area. They wanted us to chase it and get video.
We jumped into the satellite truck and headed off toward Denver. We had to stop about 20 minutes into the trip when we saw the tornado heading straight for us. We parked at a Village Inn restaurant, Frank set up his camera on the tripod, turned it on, and we high-tailed it into the restaurant.
I have to tell you — seeing a tornado up close and personal is something you never forget.
All in all, I’m proud of the undercover work we did back then. It was fun and rewarding because we were doing it to help consumers.
