The target's vehicle is shown in blue. The vehicles of the surveillance team are depicted in gray. The image is not rendered to scale. Distances are much greater in the real world. Assignments Note how vehicles Alpha, Brava, Charlie, and Delta are prepositioned. They are pointed away from the parked target vehicle. Each of these four layup vehicles is ready to initiate a follow, no matter which direction the target takes. Trigger vehicle. The trigger vehicle is responsible for maintaining visual contact with the parked target vehicle. When the target vehicle begins to drive away, the agent in the trigger vehicle alerts the other members of the stakeout box. The agent is triggering the rest of the team into action- hence the name, trigger vehicle. Layup vehicle. After being alerted by the trigger vehicle, the appropriate layup vehicle- Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, or Delta- picks up the follow and becomes the command vehicle. The other vehicles assume roles as outriders and backup until the team can be augmented with other FBI vehicles being held in reserve. Picking up the follow. In a smoothly-run stakeout box, the layup vehicle that is initiating the follow will often pull out in front of the target vehcile as shown in the illustration above. The layup vehicle becomes the command vehicle, with command of the target. When the command vehicle is in front of the moving target vehicle, it is called cheating. A cheating command vehicle is more difficult to detect than a command vehicle that is following the target. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Command of the target... The phrase command of the target refers to visual contact with the target of the surveillance operation. The surveillance vehicle having command of the target is called command vehicle. The name is appropriate, for the command vehicle also has virtual command of the entire surveillance team. The agent in the command vehicle informs the rest of the team whenever the target vehicle changes direction, adjusts speed, or stops. The surveillance team follows the guidance of the command vehicle. The control and power that is provided by this approach is offset by the vulnerability of the command vehicle. In many surveillance operations, it is the command vehicle that is first detected by the target. In order to overcome this vulnerability, the FBI has developed a number of tactics to dupe the target of the surveillance operation. Hand-off. The image below provides an example of how the FBI often reacts to a turn by the vehicle. (original illustrations of next three diagrams missing temperarily-ed) next page |
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