Subscribe to FeedWatch Thy Neighbor!
Thanks to Aaron Fulkerson for permission to use this Photograph.
As a private investigator, I am usually subjected to quite a bit of tedium either on long surveillance or digging in civic and criminal files. However, I’ve now had a first: surveillance on my own neighbor! I knew already that there were serious problems with the couple there. Likely using/dealing drugs as the signs were all there. Definitely one person who is bipolar and untreated with meds, too. Her frequent rages attest to that. Yes, the police do know about the drugs and seem to do nothing, but I digress.
I received a call from a US Marshall who found out through public records that a PI lived right next door to someone he had a warrant for and he asked me to perform the surveillance! A visitor (family member) had come to stay about two weeks before and that person was wanted on kidnapping and vehicle theft charges in another city. He apparently made out the Marshall’s surveillance and was not showing himself, therefore, the Marshall could not be sure the person was still there. Nothing would be thought of me coming or going and my neighbor had no clue what I did for a living.
The Marshall sat about a block away waiting for my call to affirm the man was there. I finally saw him and called back. They arranged a SWAT team, but in a neighborhood full of children on the last day of school, this isn’t good; especially when the man may be armed and dangerous. I convinced the Marshall to hold until the man moved and to follow him out of the area before making the arrest.
When the man left the home with his cousin, I went out on an “errand” to get a good look at the man. I called back to the Marshall to go ahead and follow them out of the area. The arrest was made when they stopped for gas. Nice, clean, no one hurt, no excitement to scare people in the neighborhood. By working together, we made this happen. If you are on such a surveillance, remember to consider all of the outcomes of actions you or others on the team may take. Try to go for the best possible outcome, if you can make it happen! Also, this way, my neighbor never knew I had anything to do with it. I was out of sight when they were arrested. Always consider this when working in your “turf”.
Terry Cochran, CPP, CAS
Security Management Instructor
Ashworth University School Of Legal Studies
