Invisible Man

We at [FIND] love the romantic (if cliched) image of the PI, the spy, the International Man of Mystery: he is a "he," he wears his fedora low over one eye and his trench coat collar buttoned high and vertically, and he smokes unfiltered Gauloises. Saxophones cry out at his every step (in shiny black wingtips), and the mean streets he treads glisten with ceaseless night rain and its bottomless reflections.

The myth of the PI (or spy) is a story of longing. The noir hero came of age in an era of financial collapse, Fascism, Communism, and world war. He was the hero we wanted then, willing to dirty his hands in the service of Good...and he dressed the part.

Who knows? He and his fedora might have melted perfectly into the murky night in occupied Paris or Cold-War-Era Warsaw. Or maybe even in 1950s Chinatown.

Today, he's as useless as a Crown Vic when it comes to surveillance.

[FIND] lexicon:

Cover for Status - an activity, outfit, and/or manner that provides a false pretext for being in a certain place, so that agent may conduct surveillance without arousing suspicion

Cover for Action - an activity, outfit, and/or manner that provides a false pretext for doing something, so that agent may conduct some type of covert activity without arousing suspicion

In the modern-day PI universe, a guy in a fedora and trench doesn't disappear into the scenery so well. The unsexy truth of it is this: to fade into the background, a PI's gotta set aside fashion and mystery and shoot for dull. To become invisible, or at least to seem so ordinary as to become de facto invisible, (s)he's gotta look like exactly what you'd expect to see in any given environment. A guy sitting in a car with tinted windows arouses suspicion. A guy standing by a work vehicle wearing a hard hat and manipulating some combination of survey tripod, orange cones, and clipboard does not warrant a second glance.

Creating a plausible cover for status means blending in seamlessly to a range of situations—wearing an outfit that makes people forget to see you, doing things that conform to people's idea of what a person in that outfit should be doing, and having a simple story or act ready to go when you're questioned. Magnetic vehicle signs with a fake company logo can complete the story, but make sure the phone number isn't a dead end...or your personal cell phone number.

Cover for action gets a little more complicated, but the same idea applies: have a good reason to be there. Need to get a quick look inside a new house without pulling a B&E (lawbreaking is NOT recommended)? Drop by and welcome the new neighbors to the 'hood with a lovely fruit basket from the local church or neighborhood association.

In the end, "cover" is the operative word: it's about camouflage, urban or otherwise. You can hide almost anywhere by looking as if you belonged there. Ghillie suit seldom, if ever, required.

Observation

Snapshot Demographics: the pursuit of real, street-level intelligence requires the art of patience.

Recently the [FIND] team found itself in Apalachicola, Florida. We were not working, just traveling from one job to the next. In our never-ending pursuit of excellence in dining, we strolled through the grid of streets that makes up downtown Apalach, a four or five block neighborhood with boutiques, restaurants, and antique shops.

We settled on Hole in the Wall Seafood and Raw Bar. It was the restaurant’s first night open, and we sidled up to a long high-top table to share a simply-prepared and delicious low-country shrimp boil and a bowl of homemade gumbo.

It quickly turned into one of those nights. Owners Jeff and Debi Fletcher–the kind of people whose warmth and openness immediately puts you completely at ease–poured us a couple of glasses of complimentary white wine as an anniversary gift. The next thing we knew, they closed the shop, pulled out guitars, and commenced with the serious fun. Before the night was over, we’d come to feel quite at home there, as if we were among old friends, and Debi had even wrapped up to-go dishes of seafood casserole for us, without being asked, in case we got hungry again.

Jeff, the brilliant 50/50 partner in the venture, and I had a long chat about opening restaurants. I asked him about the process…, site selection, figuring out what’s going to work. Jeff told me a story that, well…sure sounded a lot like surveillance.

Jeff sat across the street from the storefront, the one soon to be called Hole in the Wall, for several weeks before they settled on the spot. He simply sat and watched. See, they had already narrowed it down to a few sites, but liked this one best. They still weren’t certain their concept would work. So Jeff sat… and watched. He made note of how many people walked down the street. He kept a log of which nights were heavy with foot traffic. He observed the stores and bars on the street and realized that there was no where in the immediate area that served simple, family style food: a place where a guy returning from a day fly-fishing on the flats could sit and grab a snack while his wife ambles her way through the antique shops; a spot to grab a late night snack after the party down the street. He identified a gap in the market, a need. He was, by virtue of taking the time and patience to sit and watch, better informed than most new restaurateurs.

His willingness to set up surveillance, to document and make note, and to observe human behavior was the key to their making the final decision to dive into the restaurant business. The very backbone of the investigative process applied to a real-world situation.

I spoke a couple of months ago to a marketing guru here in Nashville. We discussed the idea of putting our investigative skills to work for someone looking to open a restaurant. The idea was simple: watch the competition, observe, document, and analyze their clientele. Identify gaps in the market, niches, and unfulfilled needs. Then we could take that information to the client and advise them of our findings. Sure, there are relatively inexpensive demographic profiles available to retail developers, broad-brush tools that offer a socioeconomic picture of a predefined area. Our approach to this type of analysis, however, is called snapshot demographics: a single, focused, clear picture of a specific situation, a more analytical and street-level demographic profile.

Turns out…our brilliant new idea had already been put into practice by an intelligent, well reasoned, restaurateur in Apalachicola.

Tradecraft Holiday Wish List IV

Communications

A vital component of intelligence-gathering and surveillance is maintaining open lines of effective communication. Cell phones (equipped with a headset for moving surveillance) set up to handle three-way calling can work for many situations, but other circumstances demand an excellent two-way radio. The difference between a kids' toy for paintball games and a professional communications device for investigators is vast, a lesson we had to learn the hard way. Here's the product we eventually chose:

Motorola PR400 handheld professional two way radio

($517 Retail)

When it comes to mission-critical communications, there’s no choice but to go with the best quality you can afford. We researched two-way communication options for 6 months. We consulted with friends in the FBI and the Nashville Police Department. In short…we looked high and low.

Finally, after trying consumer-grade hand-held radios bought at the local hunting mega-store, we contacted Stan Duke over at Wireless Solutions. Stan patiently considered our operational needs and led us to the Motorola PR 400. It’s a simple, easy-to-use hand-held and, best of all, we can use it over a community repeater employing itinerant frequencies, assuring relatively secure communication and coverage for the entire metro area. Throw in a set of covert surveillance headsets, and we’re ready to launch our three-man moving surveillance team into action, rotating the pursuit vehicle seamlessly via radio, our subject none the wiser.