Every P.I. is going to have his or her own preferences when it comes to gear when setting up your surveillance vehicle. I am just listing the basics in hopes of getting you motivated to take the extra steps to have a properly set surveillance vehicle.

RAIN GUARDS

Rain guards are important on hot summer days when your sitting in the back of your vehicle in your underwear and imagining that your in a sauna. You can crack all your windows open by 1″ and get a slight breeze going without anyone noticing that your windows are cracked open.

CURTAINS

Curtains on your windows will help keep the sun (heat) out and prevent you from being seen through your tint. All you need to do is buy some black bedsheets and cut them to your window sizes. Then you insert the curtains between the glass and rubber on your windows using a credit card as seen in the picture. This takes less then one minute to do all your windows and to take the curtains off for pursuit, you simply pull on the curtain and it will come out. I usually do this on all my windows that I don’t need to use for observing. The downside is that you don’t know what going on all around you, so this may not be a great tool in certain situations.

MESH WINDSHIELD

A black mesh windshield sun shade will allow you to watch the street without being seen. As you can see in the picture above, you can see through the mesh, however a person passing you by will not be able to see you through the mesh as long as there isn’t too much sun shinning through the side windows. This works best with curtains on your side windows.

BLACKED SUNVISOR

Ever put your sunvisor down so your subject doesn’t see you? Don’t you think the subject might get suspicious after seeing the same vehicle with a beige sunvisor down for the last 30 minutes? All you need to do is put some black dress socks over your sunvisor. This way, when the sunvisor is down, it won’t appear to be down. It will just seem like it is dark in your vehicle.

FAN

I’ve tested out various battery operated A/C units and other cooling gadgets and learned that a basic fan is the best tool. I carry two fans and extra batteries in my vehicle at all times. With the windows cracked open (with the rain guards) and two fans blowing, I can usually withstand any weather!

STICKY POD

This is a personal preference item, you may prefer a tripod. I find that the sticky pod is much more convenient in an SUV vs. a tripod. This will allow my to have my camera focused on the subjects door during the entire surveillance period. When you are parked 1/4 mile away from your subjects residence, it’s much easier to watch the camera LCD then it is to watch the door. This will also help you get a stable shot when your dealing with long distance surveillance. A sticky pod and/or tripod is a must for any surveillance investigator.

BEAN BAG

Another must for any surveillance investigator! A small bean bag will make all the difference in your video quality. My bean bag is always near my camera for use. This will get rid of ALL the camera vibrations that may be caused by a running motor or hand shaking. This will also allow you to always find that “sweet spot” when you want to put your camera down on something to free up your hands. Once you try using a bean bag, you’ll never put it down!

ANTENNA

If you need an antenna for your two-way or CB radio, I recommend mounting it on the inside in most circumstances. The ideal setup I found was to take a thin piece of metal, put it somewhere on your roof, and mount the antenna upside down. The metal will give a better signal and so will the antenna being closer to the roof. I only put my antenna outside my vehicle when my partner is setup over 2 miles away.

MAINTENANCE AND MODS

Keeping your vehicle in good condition is a must! This means having good tires, check ups, oil changes…. you don’t want your car breaking down when your on surveillance – the more time your car will spend in the shop, the more money your losing! Since your in your car with the engine off for 8-12 hours a day, you might be using your battery. You need to make sure you always have a good battery or dual batteries installed. Most investigators learn this the hard way – when the claimant comes out and your car doesn’t start! I recommend looking into deep cycle batteries, I personally use an Optima Yellow Top. While we’re on the subject, a good mod may be to put a toggle switch for your rear brake lights and reverse lights. When doing surveillance at night, you might not want to have your lights turn on when you hit the brakes or drive in reverse.


MORE

I’ll run through a list of what else I carry to give you some more idea’s.

Backup Camera – You always want to have a good quality backup camera. At any given time your primary camera can freeze or fail, you need to grab your backup camera and start rolling!

Indoor Camera – You might use your primary camera as an indoor camera, but I usually don’t advise taking that route unless your in a grocery store and plan to put your camera in the cart. I recommend looking for an easy to use indoor camera that looks like a cell phone or something similar. Preferably  something with an LCD screen and zoom to watch what you are getting on video. I prefer to use the old Sony Webbie.

Spy Cam – You want to have various “spy cams” or pinhole cams available as well. Nowadays investigators seem to like using car remote keychain cams, bluetooth headseat cams, pen cams, and watch cams. My personal preference is a backpack camera with the cam in the strap. This way I can control the video I am getting without showing suspicious signs or having too much useless video.I recommend getting creative and making your own spy cams, it is important to use something that you are comfortable with instead of using what the majority uses.

Cell phone and GPS – given.

Batteries – Carry a lot of extra batteries. I always have 4 fully charge cell phone batteries for my Droid phone. 3 extra large batteries for my primary camera, 3 batteries for my backup camera, 4 batteries for my indoor camera, 3 batteries for my spy cams… You cannot depend on using your car charger and having one battery – this is the easiest way to miss out on great footage!

Photo camera – you never know when you’ll be called to take some pictures of an accident scene or conduct a witness interview.

Binoculars – With the awesome zoom on my cameras, I don’t remember the last time I used them, but they are always in my SUV just in case.

Clothing – That black bag in the picture above is for my clothing. I always have workout clothes and sneakers to follow someone when they are working out. I always have slacks, a nice dress shirt, and shoes for restaurants, or following someone in an office setting. I always have swimming shorts, a towel, and sandals for the beach. And camouflage clothing might be a good idea if you work in forested areas often (I’ve used camo gear fairly often when working in Pennsylvania). Lastly, you always want to have 2-3 hats, several bandanas, fake eyeglasses, and sunglasses to change your appearance.

Bathroom – Your working on a surveillance case for 8-16 hours. Chances are that you’ll have to go! Either you get used to this or don’t even bother doing surveillance. Carry at least 2-3 bottles to go in. Try to find a plastic bottle with a large opening, they are more comfortable to use! We drink a lot of “Simply Orange” juice in my family as those large bottles are awesome, and I like to switch out my bottles often! Ladies – you might want to take a funnel that you can get at an auto parts store. And bring some toilet paper and a box as well – I’ve had cases that didn’t allow me to leave my vehicle for over 40 hours! Sorry, but this needed to be mentioned, if your uncomfortable, look for a new line of work! If you think that you’ll run to the nearest fast food joint if you need to go, I guarantee you that you won’t be working in this industry for long!

FOOD

Not much to say, bring a lot of food! I always bring at least 5 liters of water, 3-4 full meals, and some snacks. You never know when your 4 hour case will turn into a 16 hour day! You can always save the food for the next day if you don’t use it.

On a final note, I’d like to mention that ORGANIZATION IS KEY! The quicker you’ll learn to be organized, the better your chances will be of making it in this line of work. If your always missing the good shots because your looking for your camera, you’ll be working at Walmart soon!

If you have ANY comments, suggestions, or questions please e-mail us at support@oinvestigations.com