March 21, 2025 • 20 mins
On this episode Phil talks about his life as a pi and some of the methods he uses on working cases and how he has helped others get started, by forming the West Coast Detective Academy in 1989, as Private Investigators. Phil says that you become a good pi with experience and common sense. For specialized areas there are courses or classes available. In this post Phil focuses on the Art OF Tailing or a moving surveillance. Phil shares some of the trade secrets that helped build West Coast Detectives International to be called The Little FBI. Please like, Share, and subscribe. Thank you so much,
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Hello, this is a PrivateInvestigator Experience podcast,
and I'm your host, Phil.
Little.
On this channel, I talk aboutthe cases in life of a PI and
look at events that happenednationally and internationally
that could affect us in ourcommunities around crime or
other security situations.
(00:25):
Today I want to share answers tosome of the questions I've been
getting.
This one I've gotten hundreds oftimes.
What's it really like to be aprivate investigator?
What do you do?
How do you operate?
I've gotten all these questionsover the last 50 years at least,
and I've I worked from mymilitary law enforcement,
(00:45):
intelligence service, and globalsecurity background.
But before I get to this post,I'd like to thank everyone who
has liked, shared and subscribedand help us grow the channel.
That really helped us a lot.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
In 1989.
I formed the West CoastDetectives Training Academy.
(01:06):
After we had run the West CoastDetective Agency for many years,
and we formed this to train menand women how to operate as a
pi.
Either open their own businessesor go to work for a government
or corporation in their securitydepartments.
I formed the academy afterreceiving numerous requests for
(01:29):
this much needed educationprogram that was lacking in the
investigative field.
We had so many people wanting tojoin West Coast detectives, but
they've lacked any experience orany kind of basic training.
When I transitioned from the lawenforcement to the private
sector, there wasn't anytraining available.
I had to rely on my.
(01:51):
Training I had and as I wentalong with the help of some
mentors, this process was slowand I learned from my mistakes
establishing the trainingacademy.
Was a solution to this hit andmiss on the job training, and I
wanted to give back.
I feel that any of us, whatevercareer we're in, if we have
information that will help thepublic good, we should be
(02:13):
sharing that with everyone thatwe can.
Our program was a 12 weekintensive training program.
We covered all aspects of thecase management techniques for
working on all types of cases.
Anything that the recruits wouldencounter in the field.
And then we combine thatclassroom lecture with experts
that specialize in those fieldson a day-to-day basis.
(02:36):
They had that practical trainingthey gave them.
Then they went in the field andgot in the field training on the
job in various types oftechniques.
One would be tailing with oneagent or multiple agents also
detecting when they were beingtailed.
Research and reporting.
Participated in surveillance andconducted pre-text home
(02:58):
interviews and much more.
In our business, it's like lawenforcement.
The phone rings and there's aperson with a problem on the
other side, and you never knowwhat it's going to be.
We emphasize to our recruits theimportance of how they look, how
they dress.
Appearance means so much in allof our fields, no matter what,
(03:18):
where we're working and whatwe're doing.
Trained our recruits onmaintaining an open and friendly
demeanor, earning trust byactively listening and being
discreet when asking questionsto obtain information.
Sometimes would the peopledidn't want to tell you that.
I've had so many stories thatwhen I've been at somebody's
(03:38):
door on other situations andI've just been talking to the
person, I felt they hadsomething that could help, and
they would be saying no, I don'treally know anything.
I can't really help you.
I don't know this person.
I would stand there talking andjust asking questions.
And overwhelmingly, they wouldopenly say, oh yeah.
And they, they would starttelling me what to do.
(04:00):
If I would've just take, took'emat face value turn and walked
away, I wouldn't been able tosolve those cases.
if you're a privateinvestigator, you have to dress
for each situation.
You might be in a formalsituation where you need a suit
and tie, you are up scalecasual, maybe just street
clothes jeans and a t-shirt orbeach scenes.
We work a lot of cases wherewe're on the beach, so you need
(04:23):
a bath suit handy and a.
A t-shirt or something.
And you have to be prepared.
Recruits were instructed to keepan emergency bag in their car
when they're out working casesin obtaining a change of
clothes, like a hat, a jacket,shorts shirts.
And then be ready to do a quickchange in your car if necessary.
(04:46):
If the situation changed on thiscase you were working prior to
the airport security checks.
This was back in the old days,we would have some surveillance
operations and tails beingconducted on a target who would
proceed to the airport and goingto border plane.
This was when you could walkinto the airport.
(05:06):
We had books with pre-boughttickets that all the person
needed to do was put their namein it and destination, and the
ticket agent then would wouldstamp it.
And time after time when thishappened, they would follow the
person into the airport listento them, be close enough to'em
where they could hear where theywere going, and then they would
buy that one-way ticket in caseswhere maybe they didn't have the
(05:30):
wriite in tickets.
They'd use cash or a creditcard, and our agents on
surveillance needed to beprepared for that.
And then after the airportsecurity measures were
implemented and the cash buyingone-way tickets became more
difficult at times.
Now it's not so bad, but we hadto plan for cases by assessing
(05:52):
did this target have thepossibility of traveling?
Was there anything in thebackground from client or.
Something that might give usdirection on that, then we
prepare for that accordingly.
During our initial interviewwith the recruit, the goal was
to identify their preferences,inners motivations for becoming
a private investigator whattheir passion was.
(06:14):
This was important to help therecruit.
Focus on an area ofinvestigation, what was suited
to their skills and interests,even though they might be doing
a lot of different things.
But I found in my area, when Ileft law enforcement and went
into private investigation, overtime my focus became much on our
international operation andcounter-terrorism.
(06:35):
And that was where my passionwas at.
So we looked for that to.
And find a mentor.
We did mentoring for ourstudents and private counseling
to help them go through thecourse and come out of it, A
productive private investigatorready to go to work tailing
(06:55):
which I'm gonna focus on in thisshort post requires quick
thinking, fast reactions.
And boldness little gutsy andnot all investigators are suited
for tail.
Each recruit progresses varyingabilities and it was necessary
to determine the strongest skillthey had.
(07:15):
Out of our hundreds of agents wehad working for the West Coast
detectives over the years I onlyremember one person that stands
out that was a one man.
Who could tell anybody LosAngeles and never lose all day.
This agent had almost 20 yearswith LASO, Los Angeles Sheriff's
Department, and he was in thedrug and organized crime area,
(07:39):
and he was following peoplearound all day.
He drove a big old four doorcaddy and he was always right
behind the target, no matter thetraffic.
He'd tell me stories that he'dbe over in the left lane of
traffic following this organizedcrime guy.
And suddenly he would cut acrossthree lanes and go off a off
ramp.
(07:59):
He would be right behind him.
And later on when we would talkto these subjects, they would
find that the guy had no ideathat somebody was following him,
even though somebody made thatbold move across the freeway.
And the problem is with tailingin the private sector, unlike
the public sector budgets are anissue.
(08:20):
And rarely do we have theopportunity to have multiple
agents as cities such as losan,Los Angeles has become busier.
There was the necessity that wehad to have at least two agents
for surveillance, and sometimesthree or four, depending on the
client's budget, in situationswhere it was essential to
maintain contact with thetarget, such as in a.
(08:43):
Child custody case where theparent that had maybe was
involved in some sort ofdependency or alcohol, drugs or
something, and the client said,don't lose them.
And they had the financialmeans.
We would've four agents on theground and A helicopter up for
support to assist the groundteams Recruits were trained in
(09:04):
tailoring of surveillance in theclassroom, the mechanics of it,
looking at diagrams, videos.
Blackboard presentations.
Then they would go in the fieldwith an agent, either on an
actual tail or do a trainingscenario that we'd set up.
So they had first firsthandknowledge of what it was really
like in the middle of a busytraffic day.
(09:26):
And then the first item on ourtraining check list when we had
a tail or surveillance comingup.
Would to the work on thelocation where the would begin,
and if from the client, anyplaces at the might be to visit
or might be going.
If a tail was to be commenced at7:00 AM the agents were required
(09:50):
to be on site and ready toproceed at least one hour.
Earlier they needed to bringwater, food, and any, all the
plans for bathroom situations ifthe tail ex extended over
several hours.
Next on the checklist was ensurethat.
Depending on the season and thetemperature agents were to wear
(10:10):
loose fitting and comfortableclothes and shoes where that
wouldn't be a uncomfortablething if they were sitting in a
car for a long period of time.
Following that, they wereinstructed to use a nondescript.
Gray or mute, muted powervehicle, not a new one,
preferably one a few years old.
That would not attract attentionin many instances.
(10:32):
We would rent cars just a normalstandard gray car, sedan of some
sort for a tale.
I remember when I started out inprivate investigation, at one
point I had this orangeCorvette.
It was not the card to dotailing with.
It was a little bit toonoticeable.
So we don't use cards like that.
(10:54):
Next on our checklist wascommunication.
if it was a single agent tail,they would have a radio and cell
phones.
And if there was a multipleteams, the lead agent would
handle communications with theheadquarters.
But each agent would have theradio and there would be radio
communications for instantcommunications.
And later on, of course, cellphones become a popular thing to
(11:15):
have also, but the radio wasmuch quicker to get response
from.
And then the tailing techniqueswhen traffic conditions allow
agents were advised to maintaina loose tail and driving the
lane adjacent to the target'scar, either to the left or
right, whichever might beappropriate.
(11:35):
And we try to avoid giving awaya full view of the vehicle.
Yeah, they might see the frontof a car, but it's more hard to
identify it.
We didn't want them to get afull look at our car, seeing
what type it was, color it was,and who was driving it.
Now, when traffic was congested.
(11:55):
We instructed our agents totighten the tail and if
necessary, stay direct behindthe target to avoid being boxed
in if the, target made a rightturn or a left turn, or whatever
they might be doing.
Now we, we train the agents toassume that, it, that it, in
(12:15):
rare cases, would a tail that wewere tailing be looking if
someone wants to follow itunless they were professional or
had some reason to expectsurveillance.
we have had cases that theclient.
Told the person in an emotionalexchange, oh, I'm gonna have you
follow it.
But they forgot to tell us thatearly in my career, I realized
(12:38):
that it was my own fear, makingme feel conspicuous.
I swore that car behind them,that person was looking through
the mirror and they saw me thereand they knew that I was
following them.
That's not the case.
And we would train our agents sothey didn't have to go through
what I went through early on.
And that they're not beingwatched, they're not being
(12:59):
alerted in any way.
And they stay on the targetstail.
Early in my career, I realizedthat my own fear made me feel
conspicuous.
I would be behind this car and Iwould swear they were looking in
the mirror right at me, and theyknew I was there.
But interviews with multiplesuspects later revealed they
didn't have any idea that theywere being tailed.
(13:21):
So we trained our recruits tofollow techniques for spotting a
tail if they were beingfollowed.
Also first make three rightturns back to where your
starting point was to see ifsomeone is following you.
Another method is pulling overand looking at the rear view
mirror to check for suspiciouscars.
Somebody that might swerve tothe curb real fast about a few
cars back and be there waiting.
(13:43):
And then sit there a few minutesand before driving off, observe
if there's any familiar vehiclesfollowing.
You.
Watch your rear view mirrormirrors you pull out and if you
see a car.
Three or four cars back parkedon the side of the street,
suddenly pull out and followyou.
And they pulled in there whenyou stopped.
Pretty good sign.
Somebody's trying to follow you.
Agents are taught to remaincalm, yet alert when, traffic
(14:08):
positions them beside thetarget.
They have no way to avoid it.
It just happened.
They shouldn't be looking overat the car or the target.
They just looked like they'reinterested in driving in traffic
and keep driving.
And if it's a multiple tail,then one of the other parallel
cars or car further back wouldpick up and do the tail.
(14:32):
If it was a situation where itwas a one person tail, the agent
should go on and then make aright and try to come back and
pick up the party if possible.
But in most cases, unless it wasjust something highly critical,
usually we would tell the agent,if you think you've been blown.
They have identified a tail dropoff, and then we'll pick it up
(14:54):
another day.
We won't blow it.
By having the person really knowand determine that they were
were being tailed.
We also tell the recruits andall of our agents, if you're
driving in a tail surveillancesituation, you are on the move.
You should be a block out infront of that car.
Watch it for that stoplightcoming up.
(15:16):
A lot of people will run yellowsThey're aggressive drivers.
Some drivers are aggressive andfast.
We usually know that before westart an assignment.
But if you have that situationyou need to be behind them.
In this case, not over to Theside and be watching for
something they might do.
'cause many times they won'tturn on signal.
But try to be anticipating ifthey're going to make a right
(15:39):
turn on you, you are ready toback off some, but also make a
right dislike and be a casualcar followed even if some,
another car or two had to get inbetween you and them.
And, but being aware, alert andyou've gotta be a quick thinker.
You've gotta be an aggressivedriver.
(15:59):
Now, I won't tell you all thesituations that I've been in and
some moves I made that wooprobably be kosher.
If I was still wearing auniform, I would probably give
myself a ticket.
And, but, make a move in a caron a surveillance that you're on
a tail that might cause a hazardthat might jeopardize on the
(16:21):
traffic.
If you have to lose the personin that kind of a situation,
then you just have to do it.
But then if that happens, try toswing around scan the areas,
drive around the areas, prenotice by the client, where the
person might be going.
Then don't give up justly andsay, oh I blew it.
(16:42):
I lost them.
Stay out there.
Keep looking.
And many times we'll find thatI've had this happen also.
And a lot of our agents, theywould pick the person back up
going by live on the side streetand they would be back on them
again on the tail.
Advanced work and comprehensiveclient information often help
(17:04):
helps us re locate and if,again, if that ha is temporarily
lost, don't give up and.
Keep searching that area beforeyou call and say, Hey I lost
them.
Be persistent.
Be aggressive.
Stay with it.
This might work out reallypositive for you.
Agents should recognize if theirtarget detects a tail by several
(17:27):
different things.
If you a target car, suddenlythat car turns down a side
street and pulls over and stops.
Just continue driving.
Let another agent take over ifwe were in a multiple agent.
Also be looking at your remirror if you can, to see if the
person's looking at you or maybethey're looking down at a map or
texting or something else.
(17:49):
Try to determine that if you'rea one person tail, and then if
you go up the street, find aplace that you could pull over
and park.
And be doing something in yourcar to see if the person comes
on by you and then doesn't pullup beside you and say, Hey, why
are you following me?
We have had that occuroccasionally, a time or two.
(18:11):
Then you can re pick up thetail, but if you think the
target the text, the tail, andthere isn't any way to.
Reinstate it and you're just aone agent tail like I said
before drop it off.
We'll pick it up another day.
Tailing is an art combined withexperience.
(18:31):
If the recruit likes afast-paced day and is ready for
the unexpected and has theskills they learned from their
training ready for use tailingwill define the recruit as ready
for the real world of a privateinvestigator because if you can
go out on a real tail and staywith the car around city
traffic, you're ready to do mostanything.
(18:55):
I appreciate your comments andquestions.
Please leave them on any of theplatforms or email me directly
at p little pi777@gmail.com.
Also, if you have a situation inyour family or business and you
wonder, could a privateinvestigator really help me?
I've had so many people tell meI wished I'd known you two or
(19:15):
three years ago when I had thisproblem.
I didn't know a private eyecould help.
So if you have that.
Send it to me in a summary to myemail, plittlepi777@gmail.com I
will review it and I will getback to you with possible
solutions.
Remember, you could make adifference in your community.
(19:37):
When you get proactive, find outwhat the problems are with crime
G, what's going on in yourstreets, like criminals being
let out by permissiveprosecutors.
Check it out.
Find it out.
Then let your voice be heard inwhatever form you have or can
communicate in.
Together we can make adifference.
Until next time, be safe.
(19:59):
May God bless you, your family,and may God bless America.
Hello, this is a PrivateInvestigator Experience podcast,
and I'm your host, Phil.
Little.
On this channel, I talk aboutthe cases in life of a PI and
look at events that happenednationally and internationally
that could affect us in ourcommunities around crime or
other security situations.
(00:25):
Today I want to share answers tosome of the questions I've been
getting.
This one I've gotten hundreds oftimes.
What's it really like to be aprivate investigator?
What do you do?
How do you operate?
I've gotten all these questionsover the last 50 years at least,
and I've I worked from mymilitary law enforcement,
(00:45):
intelligence service, and globalsecurity background.
But before I get to this post,I'd like to thank everyone who
has liked, shared and subscribedand help us grow the channel.
That really helped us a lot.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
In 1989.
I formed the West CoastDetectives Training Academy.
(01:06):
After we had run the West CoastDetective Agency for many years,
and we formed this to train menand women how to operate as a
pi.
Either open their own businessesor go to work for a government
or corporation in their securitydepartments.
I formed the academy afterreceiving numerous requests for
(01:29):
this much needed educationprogram that was lacking in the
investigative field.
We had so many people wanting tojoin West Coast detectives, but
they've lacked any experience orany kind of basic training.
When I transitioned from the lawenforcement to the private
sector, there wasn't anytraining available.
I had to rely on my.
(01:51):
Training I had and as I wentalong with the help of some
mentors, this process was slowand I learned from my mistakes
establishing the trainingacademy.
Was a solution to this hit andmiss on the job training, and I
wanted to give back.
I feel that any of us, whatevercareer we're in, if we have
information that will help thepublic good, we should be
(02:13):
sharing that with everyone thatwe can.
Our program was a 12 weekintensive training program.
We covered all aspects of thecase management techniques for
working on all types of cases.
Anything that the recruits wouldencounter in the field.
And then we combine thatclassroom lecture with experts
that specialize in those fieldson a day-to-day basis.
(02:36):
They had that practical trainingthey gave them.
Then they went in the field andgot in the field training on the
job in various types oftechniques.
One would be tailing with oneagent or multiple agents also
detecting when they were beingtailed.
Research and reporting.
Participated in surveillance andconducted pre-text home
(02:58):
interviews and much more.
In our business, it's like lawenforcement.
The phone rings and there's aperson with a problem on the
other side, and you never knowwhat it's going to be.
We emphasize to our recruits theimportance of how they look, how
they dress.
Appearance means so much in allof our fields, no matter what,
(03:18):
where we're working and whatwe're doing.
Trained our recruits onmaintaining an open and friendly
demeanor, earning trust byactively listening and being
discreet when asking questionsto obtain information.
Sometimes would the peopledidn't want to tell you that.
I've had so many stories thatwhen I've been at somebody's
(03:38):
door on other situations andI've just been talking to the
person, I felt they hadsomething that could help, and
they would be saying no, I don'treally know anything.
I can't really help you.
I don't know this person.
I would stand there talking andjust asking questions.
And overwhelmingly, they wouldopenly say, oh yeah.
And they, they would starttelling me what to do.
(04:00):
If I would've just take, took'emat face value turn and walked
away, I wouldn't been able tosolve those cases.
if you're a privateinvestigator, you have to dress
for each situation.
You might be in a formalsituation where you need a suit
and tie, you are up scalecasual, maybe just street
clothes jeans and a t-shirt orbeach scenes.
We work a lot of cases wherewe're on the beach, so you need
(04:23):
a bath suit handy and a.
A t-shirt or something.
And you have to be prepared.
Recruits were instructed to keepan emergency bag in their car
when they're out working casesin obtaining a change of
clothes, like a hat, a jacket,shorts shirts.
And then be ready to do a quickchange in your car if necessary.
(04:46):
If the situation changed on thiscase you were working prior to
the airport security checks.
This was back in the old days,we would have some surveillance
operations and tails beingconducted on a target who would
proceed to the airport and goingto border plane.
This was when you could walkinto the airport.
(05:06):
We had books with pre-boughttickets that all the person
needed to do was put their namein it and destination, and the
ticket agent then would wouldstamp it.
And time after time when thishappened, they would follow the
person into the airport listento them, be close enough to'em
where they could hear where theywere going, and then they would
buy that one-way ticket in caseswhere maybe they didn't have the
(05:30):
wriite in tickets.
They'd use cash or a creditcard, and our agents on
surveillance needed to beprepared for that.
And then after the airportsecurity measures were
implemented and the cash buyingone-way tickets became more
difficult at times.
Now it's not so bad, but we hadto plan for cases by assessing
(05:52):
did this target have thepossibility of traveling?
Was there anything in thebackground from client or.
Something that might give usdirection on that, then we
prepare for that accordingly.
During our initial interviewwith the recruit, the goal was
to identify their preferences,inners motivations for becoming
a private investigator whattheir passion was.
(06:14):
This was important to help therecruit.
Focus on an area ofinvestigation, what was suited
to their skills and interests,even though they might be doing
a lot of different things.
But I found in my area, when Ileft law enforcement and went
into private investigation, overtime my focus became much on our
international operation andcounter-terrorism.
(06:35):
And that was where my passionwas at.
So we looked for that to.
And find a mentor.
We did mentoring for ourstudents and private counseling
to help them go through thecourse and come out of it, A
productive private investigatorready to go to work tailing
(06:55):
which I'm gonna focus on in thisshort post requires quick
thinking, fast reactions.
And boldness little gutsy andnot all investigators are suited
for tail.
Each recruit progresses varyingabilities and it was necessary
to determine the strongest skillthey had.
(07:15):
Out of our hundreds of agents wehad working for the West Coast
detectives over the years I onlyremember one person that stands
out that was a one man.
Who could tell anybody LosAngeles and never lose all day.
This agent had almost 20 yearswith LASO, Los Angeles Sheriff's
Department, and he was in thedrug and organized crime area,
(07:39):
and he was following peoplearound all day.
He drove a big old four doorcaddy and he was always right
behind the target, no matter thetraffic.
He'd tell me stories that he'dbe over in the left lane of
traffic following this organizedcrime guy.
And suddenly he would cut acrossthree lanes and go off a off
ramp.
(07:59):
He would be right behind him.
And later on when we would talkto these subjects, they would
find that the guy had no ideathat somebody was following him,
even though somebody made thatbold move across the freeway.
And the problem is with tailingin the private sector, unlike
the public sector budgets are anissue.
(08:20):
And rarely do we have theopportunity to have multiple
agents as cities such as losan,Los Angeles has become busier.
There was the necessity that wehad to have at least two agents
for surveillance, and sometimesthree or four, depending on the
client's budget, in situationswhere it was essential to
maintain contact with thetarget, such as in a.
(08:43):
Child custody case where theparent that had maybe was
involved in some sort ofdependency or alcohol, drugs or
something, and the client said,don't lose them.
And they had the financialmeans.
We would've four agents on theground and A helicopter up for
support to assist the groundteams Recruits were trained in
(09:04):
tailoring of surveillance in theclassroom, the mechanics of it,
looking at diagrams, videos.
Blackboard presentations.
Then they would go in the fieldwith an agent, either on an
actual tail or do a trainingscenario that we'd set up.
So they had first firsthandknowledge of what it was really
like in the middle of a busytraffic day.
(09:26):
And then the first item on ourtraining check list when we had
a tail or surveillance comingup.
Would to the work on thelocation where the would begin,
and if from the client, anyplaces at the might be to visit
or might be going.
If a tail was to be commenced at7:00 AM the agents were required
(09:50):
to be on site and ready toproceed at least one hour.
Earlier they needed to bringwater, food, and any, all the
plans for bathroom situations ifthe tail ex extended over
several hours.
Next on the checklist was ensurethat.
Depending on the season and thetemperature agents were to wear
(10:10):
loose fitting and comfortableclothes and shoes where that
wouldn't be a uncomfortablething if they were sitting in a
car for a long period of time.
Following that, they wereinstructed to use a nondescript.
Gray or mute, muted powervehicle, not a new one,
preferably one a few years old.
That would not attract attentionin many instances.
(10:32):
We would rent cars just a normalstandard gray car, sedan of some
sort for a tale.
I remember when I started out inprivate investigation, at one
point I had this orangeCorvette.
It was not the card to dotailing with.
It was a little bit toonoticeable.
So we don't use cards like that.
(10:54):
Next on our checklist wascommunication.
if it was a single agent tail,they would have a radio and cell
phones.
And if there was a multipleteams, the lead agent would
handle communications with theheadquarters.
But each agent would have theradio and there would be radio
communications for instantcommunications.
And later on, of course, cellphones become a popular thing to
(11:15):
have also, but the radio wasmuch quicker to get response
from.
And then the tailing techniqueswhen traffic conditions allow
agents were advised to maintaina loose tail and driving the
lane adjacent to the target'scar, either to the left or
right, whichever might beappropriate.
(11:35):
And we try to avoid giving awaya full view of the vehicle.
Yeah, they might see the frontof a car, but it's more hard to
identify it.
We didn't want them to get afull look at our car, seeing
what type it was, color it was,and who was driving it.
Now, when traffic was congested.
(11:55):
We instructed our agents totighten the tail and if
necessary, stay direct behindthe target to avoid being boxed
in if the, target made a rightturn or a left turn, or whatever
they might be doing.
Now we, we train the agents toassume that, it, that it, in
(12:15):
rare cases, would a tail that wewere tailing be looking if
someone wants to follow itunless they were professional or
had some reason to expectsurveillance.
we have had cases that theclient.
Told the person in an emotionalexchange, oh, I'm gonna have you
follow it.
But they forgot to tell us thatearly in my career, I realized
(12:38):
that it was my own fear, makingme feel conspicuous.
I swore that car behind them,that person was looking through
the mirror and they saw me thereand they knew that I was
following them.
That's not the case.
And we would train our agents sothey didn't have to go through
what I went through early on.
And that they're not beingwatched, they're not being
(12:59):
alerted in any way.
And they stay on the targetstail.
Early in my career, I realizedthat my own fear made me feel
conspicuous.
I would be behind this car and Iwould swear they were looking in
the mirror right at me, and theyknew I was there.
But interviews with multiplesuspects later revealed they
didn't have any idea that theywere being tailed.
(13:21):
So we trained our recruits tofollow techniques for spotting a
tail if they were beingfollowed.
Also first make three rightturns back to where your
starting point was to see ifsomeone is following you.
Another method is pulling overand looking at the rear view
mirror to check for suspiciouscars.
Somebody that might swerve tothe curb real fast about a few
cars back and be there waiting.
(13:43):
And then sit there a few minutesand before driving off, observe
if there's any familiar vehiclesfollowing.
You.
Watch your rear view mirrormirrors you pull out and if you
see a car.
Three or four cars back parkedon the side of the street,
suddenly pull out and followyou.
And they pulled in there whenyou stopped.
Pretty good sign.
Somebody's trying to follow you.
Agents are taught to remaincalm, yet alert when, traffic
(14:08):
positions them beside thetarget.
They have no way to avoid it.
It just happened.
They shouldn't be looking overat the car or the target.
They just looked like they'reinterested in driving in traffic
and keep driving.
And if it's a multiple tail,then one of the other parallel
cars or car further back wouldpick up and do the tail.
(14:32):
If it was a situation where itwas a one person tail, the agent
should go on and then make aright and try to come back and
pick up the party if possible.
But in most cases, unless it wasjust something highly critical,
usually we would tell the agent,if you think you've been blown.
They have identified a tail dropoff, and then we'll pick it up
(14:54):
another day.
We won't blow it.
By having the person really knowand determine that they were
were being tailed.
We also tell the recruits andall of our agents, if you're
driving in a tail surveillancesituation, you are on the move.
You should be a block out infront of that car.
Watch it for that stoplightcoming up.
(15:16):
A lot of people will run yellowsThey're aggressive drivers.
Some drivers are aggressive andfast.
We usually know that before westart an assignment.
But if you have that situationyou need to be behind them.
In this case, not over to Theside and be watching for
something they might do.
'cause many times they won'tturn on signal.
But try to be anticipating ifthey're going to make a right
(15:39):
turn on you, you are ready toback off some, but also make a
right dislike and be a casualcar followed even if some,
another car or two had to get inbetween you and them.
And, but being aware, alert andyou've gotta be a quick thinker.
You've gotta be an aggressivedriver.
(15:59):
Now, I won't tell you all thesituations that I've been in and
some moves I made that wooprobably be kosher.
If I was still wearing auniform, I would probably give
myself a ticket.
And, but, make a move in a caron a surveillance that you're on
a tail that might cause a hazardthat might jeopardize on the
(16:21):
traffic.
If you have to lose the personin that kind of a situation,
then you just have to do it.
But then if that happens, try toswing around scan the areas,
drive around the areas, prenotice by the client, where the
person might be going.
Then don't give up justly andsay, oh I blew it.
(16:42):
I lost them.
Stay out there.
Keep looking.
And many times we'll find thatI've had this happen also.
And a lot of our agents, theywould pick the person back up
going by live on the side streetand they would be back on them
again on the tail.
Advanced work and comprehensiveclient information often help
(17:04):
helps us re locate and if,again, if that ha is temporarily
lost, don't give up and.
Keep searching that area beforeyou call and say, Hey I lost
them.
Be persistent.
Be aggressive.
Stay with it.
This might work out reallypositive for you.
Agents should recognize if theirtarget detects a tail by several
(17:27):
different things.
If you a target car, suddenlythat car turns down a side
street and pulls over and stops.
Just continue driving.
Let another agent take over ifwe were in a multiple agent.
Also be looking at your remirror if you can, to see if the
person's looking at you or maybethey're looking down at a map or
texting or something else.
(17:49):
Try to determine that if you'rea one person tail, and then if
you go up the street, find aplace that you could pull over
and park.
And be doing something in yourcar to see if the person comes
on by you and then doesn't pullup beside you and say, Hey, why
are you following me?
We have had that occuroccasionally, a time or two.
(18:11):
Then you can re pick up thetail, but if you think the
target the text, the tail, andthere isn't any way to.
Reinstate it and you're just aone agent tail like I said
before drop it off.
We'll pick it up another day.
Tailing is an art combined withexperience.
(18:31):
If the recruit likes afast-paced day and is ready for
the unexpected and has theskills they learned from their
training ready for use tailingwill define the recruit as ready
for the real world of a privateinvestigator because if you can
go out on a real tail and staywith the car around city
traffic, you're ready to do mostanything.
(18:55):
I appreciate your comments andquestions.
Please leave them on any of theplatforms or email me directly
at p little pi777@gmail.com.
Also, if you have a situation inyour family or business and you
wonder, could a privateinvestigator really help me?
I've had so many people tell meI wished I'd known you two or
(19:15):
three years ago when I had thisproblem.
I didn't know a private eyecould help.
So if you have that.
Send it to me in a summary to myemail, plittlepi777@gmail.com I
will review it and I will getback to you with possible
solutions.
Remember, you could make adifference in your community.
(19:37):
When you get proactive, find outwhat the problems are with crime
G, what's going on in yourstreets, like criminals being
let out by permissiveprosecutors.
Check it out.
Find it out.
Then let your voice be heard inwhatever form you have or can
communicate in.
Together we can make adifference.
Until next time, be safe.
(19:59):
May God bless you, your family,and may God bless America.
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