| gets out and rummages through his trunk. Yeah, right. You get the picture. Diversion #3- Confused drivers. They take forever to make a left turn. Or they straddle lanes. Or they start to make a turn, then change their minds and continue on. All of this happens directly in front of you, of course. It's and effective distraction. It's also an effective way to delay you while the rest of the surveillance team gets back into postion after a mistake. Diversion #4- Sloppy drivers. This is the same maneuver as above, except the FBI agent pretnds to be a reckless driver. He might drive over the curb. He might speed and careen recklessly. Anything to get your mind off the situation and allow the other members of the surveillance team to escape detection. Diversion #5- Honey pots. The FBI will use pedestrians (attractive agents of the opposite gender) to distract you while you're driving. They use this ruse a lot more than most people realize. It's an incredibly effective way to divert the attention of the target. They'll also use customized cars and other eye-catching items or behavior to capture your attention. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Supporting the foot surveillance team... FBI surveillance vehicles often contain one or two additional FBI agents besides the driver. This is a good cover. Most targets don't suspect a car containing a group of people. This is not the reason, however, that the FBI uses groups. The extra people in the surveillance vehicle are there for a reason. They are important assets in the FBI's arsenal of surveillance tricks. Foot surveillance. When the target parks his vehicle and sets off on foot, the vehicle surveillance team switches modes. The wheel artists immediately begin dropping off the pavement artists who will form a floating box around the walking target. The vehicle surveillance team then assumes a support role, assisting the foot surveillance team. In particular, an FBI vehicle surveillance team will support the foot surveillance team in five ways. Support Role #1-Transition. The wheel artists drop off the foot agents in a floating box around a target who has just left his/her vehicle. Support Role #2- Leapfrogging. During the foot follow, the wheel artists will pick up, carry and drop off FBI pavement artists at locations ahead of the walking target. This makes it easier to maintain a secure floating box around the target by leapfrogging members of the FBI team to locations where they are needed. Support Role #3- Communications. The vehicle surveillance team will provide reception and rebroadcast of a low-range body equipmentof the FBI foot surveillance agents.This is important in locations where radio reception can be difficult, such as high-density urban situations with concrete and steel buildings. ANTISURVEILLANCE TIP- Look for a vehicle with a lone occupant at high elevation- atop a parkade, for example. During a foot surveillance operation in difficult terrian (downtown, for example), this FBI agent is positioned to receive weak transmisions from a pavement artist and rebroadcast them to the team. Support Role #4- Orientation. The wheel artists will provide map and direction-finding support to the pavement artists. This is particularly helpful during a lost-command drill, where the foot surveillance team has temporarily lost sight of the target. Map support also helps the foot surveillance team anticipate upcoming obstacles. Support Role #5- Transportation. After the target returns to his/her vehicle, the vehicle surveillance team picks up the foot operators and carries them to the next location. Conclusion. When implemented properly, the FBI's floating-box system is an effective vehicle surveillance system that gets results. Most targets never realize they're being watched. Those targets who manage to detect a command vehicle or layup vehicle are likely to be lulled into a false sense of safety by the cheating command vehicles and cheating intersection maneuvers. The mix of agent silhouettes and vehicles used by the surveillance team makes detection extrewmely difficult for the untrained target. End. Back to What is "Street Theater"? |