Professional private investigators conduct surveillance every day. It is one of the most common services requested and yet TV shows and movies often depict it wrong. When a client requests surveillance, the true professional investigator will go through the following steps before accepting the case:

Surveillance is an invasive activity for the subject being watched. Investigators have access to their personal information including vehicle records, driver’s records, identities of relatives and associates, addresses, emails, phone numbers, and a variety of other personal data. 

Our private investigation agency receives inquiries from a wide variety of prospective clients. Most of these people just need help. However, some of them have ulterior motives and seek an investigator to help them stalk someone or carry out other illegal or unethical activities. Therefore, we vet prospective clients and assess whether they have a legal and ethical need for their request. We often conduct a minimal background check on our prospective clients to make sure they don’t have a history of stalking, domestic violence, or other violent behavior. This can be challenging because prospective clients may be deceptive or represent themselves as the victim.

We also consider the attainability of our prospective client’s objective. This includes identifying if the client’s objective is realistic, and whether we can resolve the matter successfully. Ultimately, after screening prospective clients and considering their objective, we accept approximately 60% of people who seek our services.

  

This step is straightforward. However, if it is not done properly, the case can become unnecessarily difficult and waste time. During this phase, we obtain the subject’s information from the client. The information includes:

These questions may seem tedious to clients, but they greatly increase our case success rate. Sometimes, a small piece of information makes a big difference. It is vital for clients to understand the importance of them being completely open and honest. We, as professional investigators, have a strict requirement to maintain confidentiality which allows clients to rest assured the information they provide will be kept private. 

Clients usually approach this step in one of two ways. Either, they tell us to do it how we want or, they micromanage the hours and days worked to the point that very little useful evidence is obtained. It is important for us to work with our client to determine the days and times surveillance should be conducted. This cooperation also saves the client money in the long run.

This step takes place after the pre-surveillance research has been conducted, the surveillance schedule has been agreed on, and the client has paid the investigator's retainer fee. Now, it is time to get out there and see what the subject is up to. It doesn't matter if the case is for marital infidelity, criminal defense investigation, employment verification, or a potentially fraudulent insurance claim. An experienced private investigator will approach every surveillance case uniquely. An insurance fraud case may require the investigator to get video of the subject lifting heavy objects with a "bad back". A marital infidelity case may require the investigator to just follow the subject and identify the people with whom the subject comes in contact.

Private investigators typically work from a vehicle. Sometimes while following a subject, investigators will lose the subject in traffic. Private investigators can't run red lights or break laws, so losing a subject happens from time to time. We often use two investigators in different cars to maximize the chance of staying on a subject in traffic. 

Whatever your reason for wanting to have someone followed, please keep in mind it's a highly invasive activity. You want to be sure it's something you really want done. If so, let us know how we can help.