Undercover investigations are very difficult and need planning to be successful. The undercover agent is under a lot of stress, and being undercover is not for everyone. The possibility of discovery may place the operative in danger, if nothing else it will compromise the investigation.
Undercover Corporate Investigations & Employee Surveillance
Depending on information leakage, even the local management may not even be aware of the investigation. A lot of industrial, corporate and business undercover operations are related to theft, either internal or external. Some are counter-intelligence operations to secure proprietary information or intellectual property rights. Sabotage during union or employee bargaining is sometime encountered. There are many gangs, mostly Asian on the west coast, that specialize in internal theft of computer and electronics related industries. Low incident of capture and low court reprisal; so organized theft does pay. Many of these items are taken in dock operations where the items are most vulnerable to intervention. Another area is administrative embezzlement or other embezzlement opportunities. This may require investigative intervention in the financial section, and employ undercover operations involving some a person trained in accounting or bookkeeping.
Drugs in the Workplace? Undercover Investigations to Determine Substance Abusers
Another problem, a growing problem being encountered in the private sector is substance abuse. Most businesses have prohibitions against substance abuse while working. Warehouse, dock loading, and heavy equipment operations become extremely hazardous if a person(s) are abusing alcohol, prescription pain relievers or controlled substances. All create hazardous conditions around heavy equipment or lighter machinery like fork lifts. Lack of action on the part of the employer opens them to high liability and massive litigation if something should go wrong. So, the employer must route out substance abusers, and in most cases, call for an undercover investigative operation.
Surveillance Techniques Used By Private Investigators
In most cases you will want to introduce two undercover personnel. One conducts the investigation and the other is for support purposes. If the cover of the primary is ‘blown’ the secondary can sometimes pick up the pieces and proceed as the primary investigator. However, if the primary is discovered the investigation is in peril. Heightened perception and distrust will make any subsequent investigation difficult if not impossible.
Guidelines for Undercover Operations
Then there is security. Most security personnel are not paid very well, even at the supervisory level. So security personnel sometimes have there integrity compromised. Any undercover operation has to be aware of this possibility, therefore the security may have to be ignorant of any undercover operation. Indeed, the operation may have to be directed at the security personnel. The fewer people who know the better. Ben Franklin is quoted “three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead”. In this case many in management may have to be ‘kept in dark’ of any undercover operation. Discovery of the undercover agent may send ripples of distrust and anger through a whole businesses structure. The pressure and stress of the agent is high, even if there is little chance of physical repercussions, the fear of failure and loss of prestige in letting the organization down produces high psychological stress for the operative. Weeks or months of expensive investigative effort is lost on an unplanned discovery of the operative, with little chance due to heightened awareness of not only the person being investigated but by all his fellow employees and perhaps elements of the administration as well.
Private Investigator & Security Services in Greater Miami, Sunny Isles, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Weston, Plantation City & Miami Gardens Florida
Undercover operations are not for the ‘faint of heart’ and have an element of danger as well as potential compromise of the investigation. In many industrial environments the employees armed with a plethora of tools, that easily translate into weapons. Discovery of an undercover operative in their midst can elicit an aggressive emotional response. Advanced Private Investigator & Security of Fort Lauderdale Florida offers professional undercover and other private investigations. Contact us today!
