A surveillance investigator may observe a person seeking compensation for an injury.
Private investigation often requires a subject to be constantly watched by a surveillance investigator. If you want to become a surveillance investigator, you’ll need to know the tricks of the trade and acquire a license. There are four main functions that investigators conducting surveillance must master, including surveillance, interviewing, reporting, and testimony. With that, you can go out and get a variety of interesting jobs and work on cases like divorce and insurance fraud.
One of the duties of a surveillance investigator is to testify in court.
Education and licensing should be the first step if you want to become a surveillance investigator. Many countries offer classes to teach you the best aspects of being a private investigator. If school isn’t for you, ask a private investigator if they’ll help you learn the trade. Once you are comfortable with all the techniques, you should have a private investigator license, because without it you could be considered a stalker of a target. Each country has different regulations for this license, but it usually involves an ethics test and procedure.
If you want to be successful after becoming a surveillance investigator, you need to be untraceable. Tracking a subject on foot or in a car is critical, and you need to do it in a way that doesn’t attract attention. Typically, you will need documentation of the topic through photos, video, or audio evidence. You need to have a lot of patience for surveillance research because it usually means sitting in one place and waiting for many hours at a time.
The interview is another technique that you must master to become a surveillance investigator. An investigator will not generally interview the subject to maintain anonymity, but will ask questions of neighbors and associates. She must know how to deal with different personality types and ask questions to make sure she gets the answers.
Your typing skills also need to be sharpened to become a surveillance investigator. Almost all assignments will conclude with some type of written report detailing the subject’s actions and transgressions, if any. You must present a concise document that clients can understand and use in court if necessary.
If you become a surveillance investigator, you will often be called to testify in court. His job makes him a witness and therefore he can speak in court about surveillance of him. He must be comfortable talking to attorneys, and he must think quickly and have a good memory to answer questions about what he witnessed.