Private Investigator Surveillance Techniques: Top 10 Tips

I am a part-time private investigator and have been for several years. A great deal of what I do involves surveillance from my vehicle. The cases I generally work involve insurance claims for injuries and infidelity issues.

Concerning the insurance claims, there is rarely a case where I don't find dirt on someone. I just worked a case where a young man went out with a back injury after 4 days on the job. On the 2nd day of surveillance, I found him skateboarding.

I would like to share 10 surveillance/investigation techniques that I picked up along the way and from other private investigators.

1) Mini-vans are best for surveillance. Get tinted glass so you can sit in the back, virtually unnoticed, most anywhere. I like the older mini-vans, like the Caravans, as they are more nimble and blend in better (they're everywhere) than newer ones. Once you've worked out of a van you'll never go back to a car.

2) Stay on the vehicle's bumper when tailing in the city, and allow a car between you as a buffer in slower areas. There are too many stoplights, stop signs and traffic in the city, making it easy lose the tail.

3) Lack of dew on a vehicle during morning hours could indicate it was moved sometime that night.

4) Verify address by looking at the mailbox for a name or peeking at the mail if it's sticking out.

5) Determine whether residence is a single or multi-family home by counting # of electric meters.

6) While tailing someone, you notice the person stopping i.e. in front of a house- you (as cover) continue past, turn into an empty driveway as if you belong there. Don't lose sight of person.

7) Take detailed notes via pen & paper or voice recorder. Write date/times, make & plate of any vehicles there, any vehicle movement, anyone showing up, etc. Good notes are crucial for yourself and for the report you give to the client. You, as a private investigator, may be asked to testify so accuracy is critical.

8) Accurately estimating the height of an individual can be difficult (that's why those height charts are on doors of convenience stores). You can get a good idea by comparing the individual's height to that of any vehicle that they get into or out of. This will become easier with practice.

9) When running video, there will be lots of stop starting of the camera - create definite borders between clips by placing hand over camera at the end of each segment. Make sure a time & date stamp appears on tape (setting on camera). Aways obtain a panoramic video shot of location and vehicle for video verification thatthe person was there.

10) Stake-outs can run several hours and occur in non-optimal situations i.e.no convenience store nearby, so keep a roll of toilet paper in your vehicle at all times.

Surveillance involves hours of nothing followed by minutes or even seconds of intense excitement. Make those small parcels of excitement pay off well by following proper investigative techniques.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_C

Reasons to Hire a Detective Agency

People hire detective agencies for various reasons. The primary reason why one would hire a detective agency is because one feels the police is not conducting an adequate investigation for a case. Another reason why one might hire a detective agency is to investigate someone's whereabouts. Clearly, there are quite a few reasons why one would make the decision to hire a detective agency.

One of the reasons why one would employ an investigative group is because they don't believe that the police force is not doing their job well enough. Perhaps the police is slacking off for any reason, but the case desperately needs to be solved. In this scenario, hiring an investigative society would most likely be wise. If one feels that his or her case is being compromised by lack of attention or effort it is only natural to hire someone who can do a better job. In known cases like these the investigative groups usually are able to locate enough evidence to solve the case. Therefore, when the police force's effort is questionable many hire an investigative society.

Another chief reason why one would choose to hire an investigative organization is to try to look into someone's location or activities. When one of someone's friends or family members goes missing they usually hire an investigative group to locate the missing person. Whether or not the missing person was abducted or ran away, the investigative society will conduct a nonstop search for the individual. The organization will put out flyers and conduct extensive investigation to try to track down the runaway or victim. Another reason why one would hire an investigative organization is to try to locate a family member. Many adopted children employ investigative groups in order to find their biological parents.

Others may be searching for a parent who left the family or is just long gone. Some people will hire an investigative organization so they can learn the whereabouts of someone. For example, spouses or partners who believe that their spouse or partner is having an affair will hire an organization to follow the suspect. If one has noticed that his or her partner has been lying about work or lying about where he or she is going or receiving phone calls from unknown people or charging unusual things on the credit cards then one might be motivated to hire an investigative organization. The investigative group will collect information on what the adultery suspect is doing and find out if the suspect is truly guilty of adultery.

Clearly, there are numerous reasons why one would want to or feel the need to hire an investigative group. The chief reasons to hire an investigative organization remain lack of police effort, the location of a missing person, the location of a departed family member, and adultery suspicions. In many cases hiring one of these organizations is advantageous to the determination of the solution for the case. This is why people turn to investigative groups to try to solve their cases.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chuck_R_Stewart