Office-Based Active Duty

An ominous voice crackled over the intercom - "Destroy the box."
"Can we do that?" Sarah asked, surprised. Alice laughed.
"I keep forgetting that you're new to this department. What we're about to do is known as "Office-Based Active Duty"."
"O. B. A. D.?"
"O-BAD. It's fun, believe me."
Alice pished off from the desk, rolling on her chair to where the room's third computer station sat. Sarah had always assumed it was there to cater for a possible third worker. But as Alice keyed in her password, the interface that loaded was very different to the one she was used to.
"This is the O-BAD interface," Alice explained, opening up Ernest Truffle's profile. "I haven't had a chance to use it since coming onto the Truffle Case, but they use it all the time on priority cases."A house floor plan appeared, and after a moment Sarah recognised it.
"That's Ernest's house."
"Bingo!"
Ernest had gone to bed but his box was still in the kitchen, so Alice chose to make a quick demonstration.
"We can turn the lights on and off, as well as any appliance in the room that's connected to power. We have remote devices to cater for anything more portable, but they're a little less reliable."
"That's insane," Sarah whispered. "That's absolutely unbelievable."
"Interns get a bit frisky with the O-BAD systems sometimes," Alice admitted, "Flicking lights on and off, that kinda thing. Making people think they're being haunt or going crazy or something."
"I don't blame them," Sarash admitted, "But-""But how do we destroy the box?"
Sarah nodded.
"I'm surprised you didn't think of it for yourself." She grinned as she tapped in a few commands, and then the fire-sprinkler switched on. It went to work, silently and without fuss, and before long the box was no more than a soggy heap. Alice chuckled to herself as she headed outside for a smoke, but Sarah felt bad. She knew what it felt like to be constantly under surveillance - besides Ernest, only those who worked for the Department really knew that feeling. So she did not blame him for wanting a little privacy. Taking that box away had been an act of spite.
She leaned back in her chair with a sigh. There had to be a way to do something nice for Ernest, without anybody actually finding out.