A government caution that terrorists may pose as homeless people during surveillance to avoid attention (see related article) is a reminder that this same type of creativity can be very effective when used by the police.
“The key to good surveillance is positioning and blending,” says Pat McCarthy, a surveillance expert and producer of the Street Cop training programs. “You need to be able to get in close to your surveillance target, be that a person, a house, or a car, while staying virtually invisible. The more you blend in, the more you’ll see and the safer you’ll be.”
Whether you’re a plain clothes street officer or a specialized undercover agent, McCarthy strongly recommends using props. Over his 25 combined years as a
“A prop can be virtually anything,” he says. “They can be really simple and if they’re used right, they can fool the bad guys in a big way. They can get you into areas you could never penetrate without a prop.”
Some of the props McCarthy suggests:
1. A collapsible baby carriage.
“With the popularity of ‘Mr. Mom’, this can work for both male and female officers,” says McCarthy. Talking of a female plain clothes officer who carried a collapsible stroller and a baby doll in the trunk of her car, McCarthy recalls, “When she needed to get out and take a look around an area that bad guys might be watching, she would pop out that stroller, toss the baby doll in it, cover it up and no one would give her a second look.”
2. A clipboard and measuring tape.
McCarthy says these two things can get you just about anywhere on the street without catching even a glance. “You look like a building inspector or utility person who belongs there.”
3. A pizza box.
If you need to walk up to a building to take a look at the name on the mailbox, a pizza box will make you look like a delivery person and give those who might be watching you an explanation for your approach to the building and your interest in who lives there.
4. A dog.
“I used to throw my family dog in the car any time I went to check out a location,” says McCarthy. “ He was one of my best covers. While I was driving, he made me look like a regular Joe. Cops don’t drive around with regular-looking, everyday dogs, right? I could also pop him out of the car and take him for a walk and never draw attention to myself. I was just a guy walking his dog.”
5. A dog leash.
“This can sometimes be ever better than having a dog with you,” says McCarthy. “A dog leash can be your ticket to getting into people’s backyards, around houses and down gangways. Just hold the leash so anyone watching you can see it and begin calling out a dog’s name while you’re sniffing around the building. You look like somebody looking for a lost dog, not someone casing the place. This is very effective when you need to blueprint a location before a raid.”
6. A bottle of beer.
McCarthy suggests that this can serve you well both on the street and in a car. “A guy walking down the street with a bottle of beer in his hand does not look like the police,” he suggests. “That bottle will help deflect attention quickly.”
There may also be times when you’re tailing someone and you end up stuck right behind his car at a red light. “If that guy is surveillance conscious, he’ll be checking you out in his rear view mirror,” says McCarthy. “If you see him scoping you out in the mirror, pretend that you’re taking a swig of beer and watch how soon he relaxes his guard. No one is expecting a cop to be openly drinking a beer in his car while on duty.”
McCarthy continues, “Believe it or not, a crack pipe can also be a fantastic prop for your in-car surveillance work. If you’re parked outside a building and someone approaches or you’re stuck behind a target car at a red light, making it look like you’re sparking up a crack pipe will completely put them at ease. The bad guy or lookout will be thinking, ‘A cop hitting on a crack pipe in his car? No way. He couldn’t be a cop.’
7. A cardboard sign and a cup.
Making yourself appear homeless is a powerful way to also appear harmless. “I had an officer tell me in one of my classes that he stood on the street holding a cardboard sign and a cup while he was keeping an eye on a drug dealer. He said he made about $8 and some change, nailed a good surveillance, had a blast doing it and was never spotted or suspected by the bad guys.”
8. A folding chair, a newspaper and a sunny day.
“I had a partner once position himself in the grassy parkway right across from a house he was watching, pull out a folding lawn chair and a newspaper and sit there watching the comings and goings at the place without being spotted. He just looked like a regular guy catching some rays.”
9. A nearby service crew.
If there are utility people working in the area of your target, see if you can put on an extra hardhat and hang around with them for awhile, suggests McCarthy. They can be a highly effective cover.
10. A bag of groceries.
“Just carrying a simple grocery bag with a few things in it can be cover enough to divert attention away from you if you need to walk an area without being noticed. It’s small, easy to carry, highly portable and amazingly effective.
11. A tool belt, a rag and a bottle of cleaning fluid.
If you’re armed with these simple props, you can usually walk freely around any building without being noticed. “If you’re cleaning a window, tightening a screw, checking a hinge, or whatever, you can stand there all day long—even right outside the door of your target—and no one will take note of you,” McCarthy says.
12. A suitcase at the airport.
“This sounds obvious,” says McCarthy, “and it is, but you would be surprised how many officers dispatched to grab someone coming into an airport never think to carry the most obvious prop for that atmosphere.
“When I was sent to grab a suspect at the airport, I would always bring a small wheeled suitcase with me. With that, I could slide up right next to the guy and actually stand there listening in on his cell phone conversations. That suitcase I was holding made it seem like I wasn’t even there.”
The key to good surveillance is to look at yourself from the bad guy’s perspective, says McCarthy. “You’ve got to ask yourself, ‘What is he looking for? What will tip him off?’” Then you need to figure out what you can show him that lets him know you’re not someone he should be worried about. Even the smallest props can really fool the bad guys, and that’s the key to a good surveillance…really fooling them.”
For additional valuable strategies for finding, grooming and managing street sources and C/Is, conducting effective street interviews, surveillance tactics, courtroom survival strategies, interrogation tricks & tactics, ethical considerations for the street cop and finding hidden traps and secret compartments, consult the new “Street Cop” video training series produced by McCarthy in VHS and DVD formats. Call 800-275-4915 or visit www.streetcop.com. McCarthy also created the “Street Crimes” program. This very unique and informative 3-day training seminar is presented in over 100 cities across the
