As a military veteran, I can usually spot another member of the military a mile off. Likewise with members of the police and as such, we can usually spot other surveillance operatives too so I’m going to describe the typical surveillance guy. Sorry ladies, the industry is very heavy with males at the moment so there is no typical surveillance girl as yet that I have spotted..
The first thing that is a normal tell is the age range. I would have said that most surveillance guys are around 50 years old.
The main reason for this is that covert surveillance within the private sector is a second career following time served with the military or the police. This is where the necessary skills for private surveillance work are gained.
This isn’t to say all surveillance operatives are of that age however, a good majority are.
This one is included in this blog post as it is pertinent. Whilst social profiling is frowned upon, it is something that we need to take into consideration for the purposes of remaining covert. I’m a white guy so for me to carry out surveillance in a predominately Asian community such as parts of Birmingham or London, I would stick out like a sore thumb.
Here’s the issue, the majority of the private surveillance circuit is demographically white. So the typical surveillance guy is white. Which is not always the best when planning a surveillance job.
Here is where the typical surveillance guy will really stand out. We dress very similarly and it’s mostly because after life in a uniform people maintain a uniform later in life.
Usually we opt for sturdy footwear, sometimes walking shoes or running shoes as we can be on our feet a lot. Next is jeans or walking trousers most often as these blend in well in most areas and enable us to be dressed up enough to not be dressed up too much.
The typical surveillance guy will wear plain tops. Whether it be hoodies, tee shirts or jackets. They will usually be plain.
Thankfully now most supermarkets have clothing sections and those sections are fantastic for finding plain, cheap garments for us to use as our workwear. I favour Asda..
Now, up top I’m afraid to say we don’t wear the bowler hat. The best way to go with the weather. A hot day a baseball cap is ok and in winter a simple beanie but mostly it is best not to wear any head gear as it can be a feature of note to subjects.
This one may shock a lot of people but most of the guys I know and work with are in decent athletic shape despite the amount of hours we sit around waiting for a follow.
It simply boils down to needing to be physically quite fit, not marathon running level but enough to be comfortable doing up to 15,000 steps a day on a whim as we can end up doing all sorts behind a subject to maintain the surveillance.
It’s worth mentioning accessories and whilst I’m at it I’ll speak about haircuts.. or lack of!
We normally always have accessories to hand whilst on a job. Be it headphones/AirPods or a phone in hand constantly we will have something on us.
The main one to look for, especially in London is a bag of some style. The typical surveillance guy normally opts for a shoulder bag/satchel usually big enough for a laptop but no bigger so it’s not a heavy weight all day.
One other thing we wear a lot is sunglasses or even normal prescription glasses. This goes back to being a member of the police or military and old habits die hard.
To finish off this months blog for the typical surveillance guy, the easiest way to describe the bulk of guys is mid 40s, early 50s in decent shape wearing plain clothes to not be too dressy and not too shabby either.
Not a huge subject but one for consideration as being bland and blending in does end up becoming very uniformed.
Thanks for reading! Dan
