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A quick and easy guide to surveillance, how to define it, and how to avoid it, from an unknown author.
Identification of external surveillance (ES) is carried out through a thorough study of the surrounding environment, with an emphasis on repeated encounters with the same persons (vehicles) at various points along the route.
You should strive to ensure that your perception of the surrounding environment gradually becomes automatic, automatically recording any suspicious fact: an unfamiliar car in a familiar alley, a person who seems to be reading a newspaper but does not pay any attention to it, a woman in a pay phone booth talking to someone without dialing a number and at the same time carefully watching the entrance opposite.
Very often, security surveillance is conducted not only behind the doors of your building or the entrance to the institution where you work, but also behind your windows, i.e. you are just starting to put on your coat, and the security team is already waiting for you to show up from the entrance.
The detection of ES can be "rough" and "soft". The "rough" style of detecting ES is characterized by regular "tying" of shoelaces, periodic inspection of what is happening behind the back by constantly looking around, as well as sudden contacts with persons conducting surveillance.
Persons conducting surveillance, especially if they are not professionals, are characterized by stiff movements, anxiety, a desire to avoid eye contact with the object of surveillance, the use of means of operational communication (radio stations, mobile phones), unnatural movements and attempts to hide behind cover or people.
When conducting ES, changing the lower part of clothing (for men - socks, boots, trousers, for women - tights, shoes, skirts) is significantly complicated, which also makes it possible to decipher a possible ES.
If people remain in a vehicle for an unjustified period of time without any apparent reason and violate traffic rules, this may also indicate that you are being monitored.
However, before you come to the firm conviction that you are being watched, you need to follow two simple rules.
First, it is necessary to realistically assess such a thing as the degree of probability of surveillance of you and try to analyze the purpose of its implementation and the probable customers.
Second, you will need to double-check your hypothesis about the surveillance being conducted on you. Only after comparing your hypothesis with the additional observations, facts, and tactics that you suspect and discover will you be able to say with some certainty that you are indeed being followed. Detecting ES while walking, like everything else related to ensuring your safety, requires a creative approach.
"Soft" detection of external surveillance
Detecting a ES while walking, like everything related to ensuring your safety, requires a creative approach. First of all, it is necessary to carefully develop a test route and a "legend" confirming its justification, i.e. each point of your route should be somehow tied to your official duties and business interests, personal needs and requirements. Any illogical deviations from your regular schedule (if you adhere to it) can cause certain suspicions in your pursuers and force them to act more subtly and carefully, which significantly complicates the task of detecting a ES. To prevent this from happening, try to avoid stereotypes in your behavior, vary the time you leave home, do not use the same road every day when going to and from work.
In order to check yourself thoroughly and at the same time make it difficult to track an ES, you need to develop several routes. It is quite difficult to detect an ES on a short route and in a short period of time. The optimal time for a quality check varies from an hour to an hour and a half. Walking along the chosen route should be combined with boarding public transport. The latter serves two purposes: firstly, you make your pursuers nervous because of the fear of losing you in the crush and, secondly, by developing a route, choosing streets with heavy traffic, you make it difficult for them to coordinate their actions.
In large cities with a subway, it is very effective to use it to escape surveillance. As a rule, the surveillance team is divided into two parts: one or two people accompany the surveillance object on foot, while others are in a vehicle and follow the object. The surveillance team members in the vehicle coordinate their actions with their colleagues via radio communication, trying to arrive at the designated point ahead of schedule. Therefore, the route for the subway should be chosen in such a way as to use the lines that pass under water, along streets and avenues with heavy traffic and frequent traffic jams. With the right choice of route, the surveillance team car is inferior to the subway trains in efficiency. The surveillance team ends up disunited and scattered throughout the city. At this point, you can use a pre-prepared "surprise" to escape surveillance.
It is also possible to cut off the vehicle of the ES team by using such a tactical method as walking on foot along a street with one-way oncoming traffic. While the vehicle with the ES team is looking for a detour, you are left alone with the observer, which significantly facilitates both the detection of the ES and the escape from under it.
A very effective technique is to cross to the opposite side of the street. This technique shows especially high results in places with a small number of passers-by.
The testing method is quite simple. Moving along a predetermined route, you approach the edge of the sidewalk that touches the roadway and turn towards the approaching traffic with the quite understandable goal of inspecting the roadway in order to make sure it is safe to cross the street. For three to five seconds, you can calmly examine the street, as well as the people who have fallen into your field of vision. It is recommended that you remember them all, so that when you next see them, you can judge their true interest in you by the frequency of repetition.
A method using a pay phone is widely used to detect ES. Walking down the street, you go into a phone booth and, dialing a number, casually glance at the path you have taken, remembering all the most significant things there. The most effective way to use pay phones is to locate them right around the corner of a building or inside its arch.
When planning your test route, choose several sections of the route where you would pass by shop windows and kiosks in such a way that they would mirror the direction of your movement. In this case, you can look at the contents of the shelves without arousing suspicion and simultaneously observe the actions of the people following you.
Often shops are located on some elevation and in order to get there you have to climb the steps directed in the opposite direction to your initial movement. Here you also have a lot of opportunities to check for a "tail".
The stores themselves also provide a great opportunity for surveillance detection. As you move from department to department, from counter to counter, or punching a check at the register, there are plenty of opportunities to change direction and visually assess people walking towards you.
Entrances to shops located in gateways or corners of buildings can be used with great effect. Your sudden disappearance there makes your pursuers nervous, and as a result, reveal themselves, for example, by quickening their pace, rushing about the street without reason, or unceremoniously looking at passers-by.
You, being in a shelter, through windows or glass doors have the opportunity to, of course, identify the surveillance being conducted on you.
I would like to specifically focus on identifying illegal activities in public transport.
It is recommended to enter public transport (tram, bus, trolleybus) from the rear platform, and it is also better to remain there during the entire subsequent trip, in order not only to visually control the entire interior of the vehicle, but also to have the opportunity to control the transport moving parallel to your route.
Typically, the person conducting surveillance will also enter from the rear platform and try to take a position behind you to eliminate the possibility of losing sight of you, especially when stopping.
While on public transport, without attracting attention to yourself, carefully assess the situation. Remember, when ensuring your own safety, there are no trifles, because as old Muller said, "a small lie gives rise to great suspicions".
Persons conducting surveillance, due to professional specifics, avoid not only direct glances, but also any visual contact with the object of surveillance. If someone fundamentally does not want to meet your gaze and hides their eyes whenever you turn in their direction, take note of this and, having double-checked the information received, act according to the developing situation.
Identifying possible external surveillance during counter-surveillance activities
Counter-surveillance is the most effective method of detecting "foreign" external surveillance. The meaning of counter-surveillance is to place visual surveillance control posts (VSC) at certain checkpoints along the route of the counter-surveillance object (CSO). The VSC post must be appropriately covered and disguised. The optimal cover for it is the entrances of nearby houses, shops, cafes, cars. Observers must take up their positions 30-40 minutes before the counter-surveillance object passes the designated checkpoint of the route and leave them 30-40 minutes after it passes. During counter-surveillance, all discrepancies in the appearance and behavior of people and vehicles in the visual control zone of the post, signs of surveillance from nearby buildings and structures, vehicles with one or more passengers leaving the visual control zone immediately after passing the CSO must be recorded.
When conducting counter-surveillance activities, for example, in order to control possible ES on the part of criminal structures against the management of a company, it is recommended to pay attention to the presence of a large number of hats, "extra" outerwear, thermoses and wide-necked vessels in parked vehicles. It is also necessary to carefully observe the curtained windows of nearby buildings in order to detect ES, photo and video filming being conducted from them.
WAYS TO EVENT OBSERVATION
1. Long winding in crowded places (metro, clothing markets, train stations...).
2. Using walk-through entrances, apartments or courtyards and all other “back” entrances.
3. Frequent change of transport.
4. Transfers in the metro from one line to another.
5. Use of labyrinth routes.
6. Sudden acceleration after turning a corner with the intention of going noticeably further than would be expected at normal driving speed.
7. Leaving a moving vehicle during short moments of its obvious loss of control.
8. Unexpectedly driving through a red light or under a lowering barrier.
9. Creating the impression among those accompanying you that you are moving in a well-known direction and then suddenly deviating from the intended route.
10. Entering and exiting public transport when its doors are closed.
11. Changes in appearance and gait during short periods of justified evasion from visual control (in the toilet, in the entrance, with friends...).
12. Obvious aggression towards an identified observer with the potential to spark a scandal.
Identification of external surveillance (ES) is carried out through a thorough study of the surrounding environment, with an emphasis on repeated encounters with the same persons (vehicles) at various points along the route.
You should strive to ensure that your perception of the surrounding environment gradually becomes automatic, automatically recording any suspicious fact: an unfamiliar car in a familiar alley, a person who seems to be reading a newspaper but does not pay any attention to it, a woman in a pay phone booth talking to someone without dialing a number and at the same time carefully watching the entrance opposite.
Very often, security surveillance is conducted not only behind the doors of your building or the entrance to the institution where you work, but also behind your windows, i.e. you are just starting to put on your coat, and the security team is already waiting for you to show up from the entrance.
The detection of ES can be "rough" and "soft". The "rough" style of detecting ES is characterized by regular "tying" of shoelaces, periodic inspection of what is happening behind the back by constantly looking around, as well as sudden contacts with persons conducting surveillance.
Persons conducting surveillance, especially if they are not professionals, are characterized by stiff movements, anxiety, a desire to avoid eye contact with the object of surveillance, the use of means of operational communication (radio stations, mobile phones), unnatural movements and attempts to hide behind cover or people.
When conducting ES, changing the lower part of clothing (for men - socks, boots, trousers, for women - tights, shoes, skirts) is significantly complicated, which also makes it possible to decipher a possible ES.
If people remain in a vehicle for an unjustified period of time without any apparent reason and violate traffic rules, this may also indicate that you are being monitored.
However, before you come to the firm conviction that you are being watched, you need to follow two simple rules.
First, it is necessary to realistically assess such a thing as the degree of probability of surveillance of you and try to analyze the purpose of its implementation and the probable customers.
Second, you will need to double-check your hypothesis about the surveillance being conducted on you. Only after comparing your hypothesis with the additional observations, facts, and tactics that you suspect and discover will you be able to say with some certainty that you are indeed being followed. Detecting ES while walking, like everything else related to ensuring your safety, requires a creative approach.
"Soft" detection of external surveillance
Detecting a ES while walking, like everything related to ensuring your safety, requires a creative approach. First of all, it is necessary to carefully develop a test route and a "legend" confirming its justification, i.e. each point of your route should be somehow tied to your official duties and business interests, personal needs and requirements. Any illogical deviations from your regular schedule (if you adhere to it) can cause certain suspicions in your pursuers and force them to act more subtly and carefully, which significantly complicates the task of detecting a ES. To prevent this from happening, try to avoid stereotypes in your behavior, vary the time you leave home, do not use the same road every day when going to and from work.
In order to check yourself thoroughly and at the same time make it difficult to track an ES, you need to develop several routes. It is quite difficult to detect an ES on a short route and in a short period of time. The optimal time for a quality check varies from an hour to an hour and a half. Walking along the chosen route should be combined with boarding public transport. The latter serves two purposes: firstly, you make your pursuers nervous because of the fear of losing you in the crush and, secondly, by developing a route, choosing streets with heavy traffic, you make it difficult for them to coordinate their actions.
In large cities with a subway, it is very effective to use it to escape surveillance. As a rule, the surveillance team is divided into two parts: one or two people accompany the surveillance object on foot, while others are in a vehicle and follow the object. The surveillance team members in the vehicle coordinate their actions with their colleagues via radio communication, trying to arrive at the designated point ahead of schedule. Therefore, the route for the subway should be chosen in such a way as to use the lines that pass under water, along streets and avenues with heavy traffic and frequent traffic jams. With the right choice of route, the surveillance team car is inferior to the subway trains in efficiency. The surveillance team ends up disunited and scattered throughout the city. At this point, you can use a pre-prepared "surprise" to escape surveillance.
It is also possible to cut off the vehicle of the ES team by using such a tactical method as walking on foot along a street with one-way oncoming traffic. While the vehicle with the ES team is looking for a detour, you are left alone with the observer, which significantly facilitates both the detection of the ES and the escape from under it.
A very effective technique is to cross to the opposite side of the street. This technique shows especially high results in places with a small number of passers-by.
The testing method is quite simple. Moving along a predetermined route, you approach the edge of the sidewalk that touches the roadway and turn towards the approaching traffic with the quite understandable goal of inspecting the roadway in order to make sure it is safe to cross the street. For three to five seconds, you can calmly examine the street, as well as the people who have fallen into your field of vision. It is recommended that you remember them all, so that when you next see them, you can judge their true interest in you by the frequency of repetition.
A method using a pay phone is widely used to detect ES. Walking down the street, you go into a phone booth and, dialing a number, casually glance at the path you have taken, remembering all the most significant things there. The most effective way to use pay phones is to locate them right around the corner of a building or inside its arch.
When planning your test route, choose several sections of the route where you would pass by shop windows and kiosks in such a way that they would mirror the direction of your movement. In this case, you can look at the contents of the shelves without arousing suspicion and simultaneously observe the actions of the people following you.
Often shops are located on some elevation and in order to get there you have to climb the steps directed in the opposite direction to your initial movement. Here you also have a lot of opportunities to check for a "tail".
The stores themselves also provide a great opportunity for surveillance detection. As you move from department to department, from counter to counter, or punching a check at the register, there are plenty of opportunities to change direction and visually assess people walking towards you.
Entrances to shops located in gateways or corners of buildings can be used with great effect. Your sudden disappearance there makes your pursuers nervous, and as a result, reveal themselves, for example, by quickening their pace, rushing about the street without reason, or unceremoniously looking at passers-by.
You, being in a shelter, through windows or glass doors have the opportunity to, of course, identify the surveillance being conducted on you.
I would like to specifically focus on identifying illegal activities in public transport.
It is recommended to enter public transport (tram, bus, trolleybus) from the rear platform, and it is also better to remain there during the entire subsequent trip, in order not only to visually control the entire interior of the vehicle, but also to have the opportunity to control the transport moving parallel to your route.
Typically, the person conducting surveillance will also enter from the rear platform and try to take a position behind you to eliminate the possibility of losing sight of you, especially when stopping.
While on public transport, without attracting attention to yourself, carefully assess the situation. Remember, when ensuring your own safety, there are no trifles, because as old Muller said, "a small lie gives rise to great suspicions".
Persons conducting surveillance, due to professional specifics, avoid not only direct glances, but also any visual contact with the object of surveillance. If someone fundamentally does not want to meet your gaze and hides their eyes whenever you turn in their direction, take note of this and, having double-checked the information received, act according to the developing situation.
Identifying possible external surveillance during counter-surveillance activities
Counter-surveillance is the most effective method of detecting "foreign" external surveillance. The meaning of counter-surveillance is to place visual surveillance control posts (VSC) at certain checkpoints along the route of the counter-surveillance object (CSO). The VSC post must be appropriately covered and disguised. The optimal cover for it is the entrances of nearby houses, shops, cafes, cars. Observers must take up their positions 30-40 minutes before the counter-surveillance object passes the designated checkpoint of the route and leave them 30-40 minutes after it passes. During counter-surveillance, all discrepancies in the appearance and behavior of people and vehicles in the visual control zone of the post, signs of surveillance from nearby buildings and structures, vehicles with one or more passengers leaving the visual control zone immediately after passing the CSO must be recorded.
When conducting counter-surveillance activities, for example, in order to control possible ES on the part of criminal structures against the management of a company, it is recommended to pay attention to the presence of a large number of hats, "extra" outerwear, thermoses and wide-necked vessels in parked vehicles. It is also necessary to carefully observe the curtained windows of nearby buildings in order to detect ES, photo and video filming being conducted from them.
WAYS TO EVENT OBSERVATION
1. Long winding in crowded places (metro, clothing markets, train stations...).
2. Using walk-through entrances, apartments or courtyards and all other “back” entrances.
3. Frequent change of transport.
4. Transfers in the metro from one line to another.
5. Use of labyrinth routes.
6. Sudden acceleration after turning a corner with the intention of going noticeably further than would be expected at normal driving speed.
7. Leaving a moving vehicle during short moments of its obvious loss of control.
8. Unexpectedly driving through a red light or under a lowering barrier.
9. Creating the impression among those accompanying you that you are moving in a well-known direction and then suddenly deviating from the intended route.
10. Entering and exiting public transport when its doors are closed.
11. Changes in appearance and gait during short periods of justified evasion from visual control (in the toilet, in the entrance, with friends...).
12. Obvious aggression towards an identified observer with the potential to spark a scandal.
