Why Surveillance Service cannot be cheap?

When someone wants to order surveillance service, usually the first thing they ask is: Why surveillance is so expensive?

It might seem at a first glance that surveillance is a very simple job that requires some basic skills and can be executed by only one investigator. We have heard this opinion many times, so here are some insights on tactics and principles used by reputable detective agencies. Why do we want to make accent on reputable detective agencies? Simply because someone who works alone may indeed try to do all the job by himself, but in such case results will surely be unsatisfactory. Let’s cover just some basics of surveillance work in this article.

At the core base of all surveillance techniques lies a healthy dose of discretion. No matter how advanced surveillance methods can be on collecting information or spying on others, if detective is doing things in an obvious fashion, he is not likely to uncover the evidence he was paid to collect. Every possible effort should be done to not draw unnecessary attention. The only way that can be done is to eliminate any suspicion by working with partners in a team, sometimes even with ones of the opposite sex. Easy to understand that no matter how discreet someone may appear, a man or woman hovering around an area for too long will draw suspicion. Sometimes it might be wise even to deploy a couple which makes loitering more palatable to onlookers. Changing shifts of surveillance teams once in a few hours is also a good idea not to draw unnecessary suspicions.

Any surveillance job requires preparation a hell lot of preparation! Very often embodying a character to get closer to subject is a necessity. Every member of surveillance team must have a backstory in case they are drawn in deeper than they had planned on. For example, if we are at the park as a dog walker and subject approaches us and asks about what we are doing – we must know enough about our line of work to carry on a conversation. It’s important that detective can always blend in if the heat gets turned up.

In addition to that, we never want to be in a position where we are lost in the area we are operating in. Consequently, one of the key surveillance techniques in our back pocket as a private investigator is to be able to quickly familiarize ourselves with local roads, landmarks and neighborhood. Knowing our way around an area means being able to get out of a tricky situation fast. It also means being able to tail subjects without getting lost.

A well informed and planned investigation in 95% cases leads to a success! In order to track somebody, we must know them. We should know subject’s habits, daily schedule, tendencies and more. To acquire this information it is wise to do a simple background check by ourselves in addition to gathering initial information from our client. This also helps to know whether or not the subject may be violent. Sometimes we must check several sources to compile as much additional information as possible.

If we are investigating women, many private detectives will often start their surveillance by creating a social media account and following their subject through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. In some cases it is very difficult to find such information as subject may use an alias on Instagram or Twitter. However, if it does not take too much time to locate subject on social meadia networks – paying attention to that information and carefully studying it is always crucial for any surveillance job.

Also, one of the things that many good detectives should consider is getting dirty. In many places when people put their garbage out it’s no longer considered their property. Sometimes it is wise to dig up a lot of knowledge on a person by going through their trash. However, such things should be done late at night and very quietly as it will almost certainly draw confrontation from our subject or her/his neighbors during the day.

These are just some of basic principles each detective agency goes through before or while conducting surveillance. Once again, as we have said written earlier, any detective job and especially surveillance job requires a lot of preparation! Since a surveillance team usually consists minimum of 3-4 detectives and a vehicle, sometimes 2 teams are required to do successful surveillance job. Taking all that into account, work of minimum 4 experienced detectives and hours of preparation before the actual job usually costs a bit more than someone might expect at first. Here we should also note that once subject sees our detective more than twice in one or more places, or talks to our detective only once – such detective cannot be in a surveillance team any longer and must be replaced immediately.

We at Odessa 007 Detective Agency will be happy to carefully examine your particular case and advice if surveillance is needed in your case or suggest professionally solution to your problem. Feel free to contact us anytime with your inquiries.