Act as if you belong in the neighborhood of the surveillance.
Your manner
should be casual. Your interest should be centered on matters other than the
subject.
Prepare a plausible story in advance which can be supported with
documents and knowledge. Do this in case of a possible confrontation with the
subject.
During the surveillance, plan for and make minor changes in your appearance.
Changes in outer clothing or hand-carried items will alter your overall
appearance.
For instance, remove or replace hats or glasses.
Such changes
help prevent recognition by the subject. As a surveillant, you should not have
any unusual physical characteristics.
These might attract attention.
Moreover, you should not reflect by your appearance or habits that you are a
law enforcement officer.
Ideally, in surveillance work, you should be of
average size and build. You should not have any noticeable peculiarities in
appearance or mannerisms; there should be nothing about you to attract
attention or fix you in the mind of anyone seeing you. You have to persevere.
You must be able to wait for long periods of time without showing signs of
impatience or irritation. You should be a good talker, resourceful and quick-
witted. By doing so you can readily justify your presence in any area.
If
need be, you can talk your way out of embarrassing situations without causing
suspicion.
c. Planning.
When planning a surveillance, one or more persons can be
used as needed (this is explained in paragraphs 7 through 9). However, when
two or more surveillants are to be used, a complete understanding between them
must be assured. All must understand the surveillance techniques to be used,
and when.
Discreet signals should be arranged.
Such will enable each
surveillant to understand exactly what a given situation is. They will then
proceed with earlier plans laid to cover them. While planning is important and
essential, it must take second place to the adaptability and ingenuity of the
surveillants.
These persons should be chosen for their aptitude and
resourcefulness.
d. Equipment. As part of the preparation and planning, it may be well to
consider the use of electronic equipment. For foot surveillance, transmitting
and receiving devices can be easily hidden on the person without causing
suspicion.
Transmitters can be concealed in packages, briefcases, or on the
person. For vehicular surveillance, miniaturized battery-operated transmitters
are available. These can be used as "homing devices" by planting them in or on
a subject's vehicle. Best results are obtained with these transmitters if they
can be connected to the vehicle's radio antenna. However, various adapters are
available for the most sophisticated installations. The device might be taped
to the chassis of the vehicle, or under the dash.
Consideration should be
given to the importance of the case; these transmitters are expensive and may
be lost. For a stationary or fixed surveillance, photographic equipment should
be used to document the activity observed. A standing camera for surveillance
work is the 35-mm, with a telephoto lens. At night, an infrared light source
and film load can be used. A telescope or pair of binoculars is also useful.
MP0100
3-4
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