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Venue of Experience:
Michigan based L.P.C., Ltd. Investigators have conducted successful stationary and moving surveillance operations in such tough environments as Mexico City and Singapore as well as various border towns and clannish rural environments around the globe. Most of our experience, however, has been in North America, where mobile surveillance, in particular, can often prove to be a challenge.
Types of Surveillance--Stationary:
Surveillance of manufacturing plants, warehouses, retail stores and other businesses is a service frequently performed by L.P.C., Ltd. for a variety of reasons. Suspicions of theft or drug problems are often the factors which motivate clients to employ this investigative tool. In many cases investigators can conduct their observations from surveillance vans or autos. However, in other cases, we have had to be more creative. For instance, on one extended Central Mexico job, a multinational team of investigators took up a position in a mountaintop barrio to observe a manufacturing plant in a valley two miles away. Detailed observation of the relevant activity was possible using a telescope designed for star gazing. A radio-equipped backup team was stationed near the plant to follow suspect vehicles and otherwise respond to the observations of the primary team.
Types of Surveillance--Moving:
Moving surveillances are regularly conducted by L.P.C., Ltd. Investigators for a variety of reasons. Truck surveillances are usually undertaken at the request of a trucking company's management when there is a suspicion of theft or "theft of time." Additionally, truck surveillances are often conducted for a shipper or manufacturer when gray market activity is suspected. L.P.C., Ltd. Investigators regularly handle the surveillance of mobile individuals for a variety of reasons. These range from complicated counter industrial espionage and ethics cases to routine matters involving insurance claimants suspected of fraud and unsupervised field personnel thought to be abusing their positions or committing fraud.
Surveillance Equipment:
Typically, we need no equipment on a routine surveillance, other than a dependable auto, a good pair of binoculars, a notepad. And a video camera. Our 80X1 digital zoom provides documentation from long distances although images become somewhat pixelated above 50X . Surveillance vans are seldom warranted, but we do occasionally have the need for ours. Additionally, on rare occasions, we use our 28' Mobile Operations Center as a base during extended surveillance operations.
Surveillance Equipment We Avoid:
We are traditionalists and leave the trendy "Spy Shop" gadgets for the less competent amateur wannabes who have little regard for the exposure they create for their clients. For example, L.P.C., Ltd. has never placed clandestine tracking transmitters on the vehicles of subjects without the consent of the vehicle owner--and never will. While these devices may have validity--with the client's authorization--on long-term over the road truck surveillances, they have no legitimate application in most other cases. The intrusive use of these "bumper beepers" without the express consent of the vehicle owner is clearly illegal in many countries, states, provinces. In some cases, clients can be charged with conspiracy or other criminal acts when their investigators use such devices.
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