"Surveillance" is both watching at a fixed location (can include snapshots or video) and also following someone -- "foot surveillance" or "vehicle surveillance". Most vehicle surveillance is done by motorcycle with a foot surveillance lady agent on back, though a car or taxi may be utilized in some cases (especially as regards expressway).
We do surveillance only in public areas, and never inside an apartment/condo/house nor a hotel room.
For surveillance to be discreet, it requires Thai people because foreigners stand out and get noticed in Thai society such as around the Thai lady's apartment building. The only exception is inside a bar oriented to tourists and expats, particularly go-go bars where only foreign men are allowed in. Even in freelancer bars and other general nightclubs, a Thai lady will be less noticed and "off the radar".
We use very ordinary looking and dressed down Thai ladies for all surveillance which requires following people, except in nightclubs where they must be dressed up a little. It also helps to rotate agents in case one may have been noticed, or in-between locations.
To be effective, we use a team, not just one person. This is because it is too easy to "lose" a subject in transit between two locations unless there is a team. Our agents have good training in professional surveillance methods.
The most common case is the guy who wants to know where his girlfriend goes and what she does, and whether it correlates with what she is telling him.
We have many cases in which we have found:
- The lady does not work where she says she works (and in these cases usually doesn't work at all!)
- The lady has a dependent Thai boyfriend at her apartment, and he does not work, just lives on her money
- The lady flirts or sees other customers
- The lady is actually doing what she says she is doing, more or less (i.e., good result)
Our top priority is to remain discreet. We achieve this by careful professional methods using very experienced surveillance agents to lead the work. (Every agent undergoes training before being put into a secondary role.) It is important for protecting your relationship, for not scaring the subject, and also to not make our job difficult for us because if surveillance is ever suspected then it gets more difficult. Normally, people don't look over their shoulder or pay much notice to ordinary details around them, but if an agent follows too closely or does anything that isn't ordinary, then they can get noticed, and then they must leave the case to the remaining agents.
We don't do fancy disguises which can get attention, but we have been known to do a few things with wigs (ordinary looking hair but different length, color and style), hats (especially during fixed surveillance), glasses, and switched shirts. However, this can't be pushed too much, and it doesn't work on all face and body types.
