As surveillance specialists we have often over the years come across certain situations that make it difficult for us to carry out certain tasks using conventional surveillance techniques. This could be for any number of reasons, such as a remote location making it difficult to put a person or vehicle near to the property we need to place under surveillance without being detected. Or a surveillance aware Subject who scrutinises all persons and vehicles in his street before setting off on a journey.
Private Investigators Get Tech Savvy
Over the last couple of years we have been slowly been building an arsenal of covert cameras to aid us with surveillance. We make our own bespoke cameras to suit various scenarios for either rural or urban environments. These are disguised as everyday things that you may see, such as foliage, rockery or street furniture and are so well made that they remain unseen by the general public or indeed our subjects of enquiry that we are investigating. If they are seen which they sometimes are, especially in urban situations where they are hidden in plain sight, it does not register with the person as they are disguised as common everyday items.
The covert cameras are also great for intelligence gathering prior to carrying out a physical surveillance but also good as an aid for physical surveillance allowing us to keep out of the eye of our subjects and use them instead of another man to give us a heads up of movement away from an address or location.
A few weeks ago we were tasked with proving that someone was working whilst off sick from his employers and claiming sick pay. The employer had received a tip off that the employee in question had been seen a couple of times in a red work van and believed to be working as a roofer on a building site, most probably being paid cash in hand. The investigation began and initial conventional mobile surveillance showed that the supposed sick employee was believed to be working at a rural site on the outskirts of Leamington Spa working on a large barn conversion, which was going to prove very difficult to obtain the required video evidence of him working without risking a compromise, as any strange vehicles would arouse suspicion.
The team discussed the situation and it was decided that we would use the covert cameras placed in strategic locations looking on to the site to obtain the footage required. The following morning in the early hours under the cover of darkness three cameras were installed, each covering the three entrances into the building site.
Let the surveillance begin.
The surveillance began with one operative at the home address and the other near to the work address to receive his arrival and obtain some initial footage of him arriving for work. The Subject was seen to come out of his house at 06:00 dressed in manual work attire. He was seen to stand and wait for a short while, coffee mug and sandwich box in hand, when eventually a red Ford Transit van arrived to pick him up and he was whisked away. Normally in conventional surveillance operations we would follow him to the work place in case he went elsewhere but we were confident that with this renovation of the barn being in the early stages, that he would return there.
He was seen to arrive by the other operative who took some initial footage and then it was over to the covert cameras to do their work. This procedure went on for a full week and the evidence was irrefutable and damning. The covert cameras caught him throughout the day going up ladders working on the roof. He was also seen to take coffee and dinner breaks which were mainly taken in the van and at the end of the day he could be seen assisting in a clean up operation and assisting in loading the van with tools for the other workers. Not bad going for a man who was signed off due to a back injury!
So what did we do whilst all this was going on? We pretty much chilled out really and monitored the activity on our ipads as these cameras are not only covert but WiFi IP capable enabling us to watch his every move whilst tucked up safely in our vehicles ready to react should the Subject leave early or visit another site. The cameras also record everything to SD card and the video evidence was presented to the employer on conclusion of the investigation.
This is a classic case of private investigators moving with the times and using technology to assist us with our work. We are under no illusions that had we not had the benefit of these devices, the end result would have not been as good. We feel that these devices give us an edge over other investigators in many similar situations.
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© M.R. Investigations August 2020.