Surveillance takes up a lot of some investigator's day, and it is a critical task and investigative component for us agents, but they really sucks. In this third blog on surveillance, I want to talk about some of the challenges and problems you will have to deal with during a surveillance.<\/p>\n
If you are doing this professionally, a lot of your work schedule will be spent on stakeouts or in surveillance.<\/p>\n
Let me tell you, conducting surveillance takes special skills and a certain type of person to do it.<\/p>\n
Surveillance may seem quite exciting when you are watching television or reading your favorite action novel, but there are the challenges and disadvantages.<\/p>\n\n
Imagine sitting in your car for literally hours on end, and you will find that it is one of the most tiring and boring jobs.<\/p>\n
One of the most grueling surveillance jobs I remember is when my Army CID unit was assigned to protect Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and had to spend the night just sitting in a car guarding his residence.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \t
When I was a special agent in Las Vegas for 10 years, many of the people we were protecting wanted to go to Vegas Shows. Well, while that might seem fun, I spent most of my time either surveying the entrance to the room or sitting in my car watching from the outside. Not fun!<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \t
Violence is a possibility, but the truth of the matter is that road accidents are the biggest concern. Once while performing an operation in Turkey, I was traveling in a follow vehicle that was heavily armored and it had a mirror that stuck far out.<\/p>\n
As we were driving, a guy standing on the road was smacked pretty hard with the mirror. I don\u2019t know what ever happened to this individual because unfortunately I was working with the Turkish National Police and they told us not to stop.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \t
This can cause back pain, weight gain, anxiety, depression, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and asthma. Also, agents on a stakeout have to control their bladder and bowel movements to an unhealthy degree, Whew! Trust me, this one is tough.<\/p>\n
We carried jars or pales sometimes. Think about it, even if you are with someone and can go to the bathroom, you cannot because if the subject leaves, you cannot wait for your partner to get back to the car.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
There are actually lots of challenges of running a stakeout, and it is indeed one of the most mentally challenging jobs you can have.<\/p>\n