THE SIMPLE TECHNIQUES OF SURVEILLANCE
(aka Where'd I lose that guy?)
By R.T. Lawton

At this point, R.T. related the story about an undercover buy gone wrong in a Kansas City Safeway store parking lot in which R.T. conducted surveillance from inside the front of the store. After 20 minutes the manager approached R.T. and asked if he could help. R.T. replied that he was merely waiting for his wife to show up so they could buy groceries. The manager seemed satisfied and walked away. Two minutes later, the crooks tried to rob the undercover agents and a gun battle broke out. The shooting results were: one bad guy, four cars, two store windows and a can of tomatoes. When R.T. dropped into the store a week later to actually buy groceries, the store manager wouldn't believe a word he now said.

The Why: What Do You Want To Learn Or Verify
a. If your character is working on a divorce, then he is looking for something large, like the subject meeting a person, presumably of the opposite sex.
b. If he's watching a stereo thief, then it's something of a medium size.
c. If it's a spy story, then the focus of attention may be something small like a computer disk or hollowed out coin.

Stationary Surveillance
This is usually from a building or vehicle across the street, normally used when the activity you're watching is centralized or happens mainly in one spot.

DEA and the local narcs in Rapid City once setup a T-shirt shop where a microphone was planted in the wall near the cash register and a video camera was hidden in a wall-hanging behind the counter. Every time the informant running the store bought drugs from dealers, the cops recorded the incident from a monitor in an undercover house across the street. And, since the shop allegedly had a weekly drawing for free hats and t-shirts, each drug dealer was encouraged to put his name and phone number on a slip of paper that went into a small box. Naturally, the drug dealer won the drawing that week, picked up his free gift and posed for his photo which was placed on the winner's wall next to the cash register.

One Man Foot Surveillance
This is tough because you're generally on the same side of the street and close to the subject in order not to lose him when he makes a sudden turn into a store or building. Easy to get burned.

Team Foot Surveillance-A B C Method
a) A is right behind the subject
b) B is behind A and keys off of A
c) C is across the street and can observe both A and the subject.
Constantly rotate positions to avoid being burned by the subject.

One Vehicle Surveillance
Like One Man Foot, this is very difficult, so use a vehicle that doesn't stand out. If it's a night surveillance then disable the dome light. Use two people in the vehicle: one to drive & one to watch the subject, observer can then be used for foot surveillance if necessary. While following, try to keep one car between you, which means you may not make the next yellow light. Plus, rather than stop directly behind the subject at a red light, see if there is a parking lot to pull into until the light changes.

Team Vehicle Surveillance
a) lead vehicle is the eyeball and gives a constant flow of the subject's position and direction so rear cars can follow at a distance.
b) allows surveillance cars to travel in adjacent lanes so as not to be in the subject's rearview mirror.
c) allows other surveillance vehicles to run on parallel streets to take the eyeball if subject turns left or right.
d) normally, the #2 vehicle becomes the eyeball when the subject turns and the #1 vehicle goes straight thru the intersection and then runs parallel or falls in to the rear.

Other Types of Surveillance
a) Aircraft-planes & helicopters
b) Birddog-under the rear bumper or in a container
c) Hidden camera-install on a utility pole and camouflage it to look like something else; hunters can buy them from sporting goods supply magazines for $100 to photograph deer, camera is activated by a motion detector.
d) Last Point Surveillance- Follow subject until you lose him, then start at that point the next surveillance and follow until you lose him again. Now start at that point.

Communications
a) radios
b) cell phones
c) hand signals - For this one, R.T. talked about ensuring that the signals are very clear to everyone involved. He told a story about an undercover agent setting up a bust signal in a motel parking lot where he would scratch his head when he saw the drugs. As the agent stood by the doper's car, talking to the driver, he inadvertently took off his hat and scratched his head. This immediately put six surveillance agents into action. It was only when the undercover agent looked over the top of the car at the approaching cops that he realized what he had done. He then had to wave off the surveillance agents without the dopers becoming aware. Six cops then stopped in mid-stride and walked off as if nothing had happened.

Keep A Surveillance Log
a) the time of any action by the subject
b) record what the subject does
c) addresses where subject goes
d) description of people meeting with the subject, to include vehicles and license plates.

How The Other Side Tries To Detect Surveillance
a) stopping abruptly and looking to the rear
b) casually looking around for no obvious reason
c) suddenly reversing course
d) stopping abruptly after turning a corner
e) watching reflections in shop windows
f) entering a building and leaving immediately by another exit
g) moving slowly, then rapidly or vice versa
h) stopping to tie shoestrings while looking around
i) using an associate as counter-surveillance
j) going around the same block several times to see who follows
k) starting to leave a building then suddenly stopping to see who follows
l) go down an alley
m) they look for eye contact, so avoid it.

R.T. then gave us the task of a self-test: "Sometime this week end, I want you to go downtown or to a large shopping mall. You can go by yourself or you can take one or more partners. Believe me, you'll have a better experience, more adrenaline and something to talk about later, if you do it as a team. Pick out a solitary subject on foot and follow them for at least two hours if you can. Use all the information that I've given you, plus anything you invent on your own. You'll soon find out there's nothing more exciting than hunting a human being, but since you can't legally shoot this subject and bring him or her home as a trophy, you should bring along a camera, for instance a disposable camera, and take various photos of your subject going into or out of a place of business and/or meeting with other people. Keep a time log while you do this. And, you have to do all this without being caught and without drawing any attention to yourself. And, if you want, I will be more than pleased to look at your photos and listen to your surveillance stories at the next meeting."

The fact is, R.T.'s program was such a sucess that MWA is looking to conduct a hands-on workshop in April. Teams of MWA members will be stalking their local malls. Watch for details and come join us.