Let me ask you this: how many times in your life have you seen a movie / TV drama in which a private investigator sits in his car outside the suspect’s house waiting for something to happen? A hundred times? A thousand times. Then before long the suspect appears looking this way and that, but incredibly cannot see the gumshoe just a short distance away in an untinted vehicle who by this time is using a camera with a long-distance lens to take shots of the action. Suddenly, the suspect has vanished and the scene ends with the P.I. driving off in hot pursuit with much screeching of tyres. Whoever wrote this scene never spent a single hour in the field as an investigator.

We were commissioned by one of the television networks to carry out covert investigations of a white-collar criminal who had defrauded many people, including some of their viewers. Having established where he was living, the plan was for the network’s reporter and camera crew to do a door-knock early one morning and ask some difficult questions. We were asked to be there in case our suspect did a runner. Around 6.30am we received a call from a very irate producer who demanded to know where the hell we were as they were all set to go, but of course we hadn’t bothered to turn up. I just said, “Are you in a blue Hyundai i30 registration CB-17-EL?” Silence from the client. Our position can’t be detected on first or even second glance, but we are there. Perhaps they were looking for someone sitting in the front seat of a car with a telephoto lens.

Covert investigations, when executed well, take place without anyone knowing their allegedly illicit / fraudulent / questionable activities are being filmed. It’s not easily done and of course sometimes things don’t go according to plan. But the evidence from covert investigations can be devastating – people tell you one thing and what’s going on is something else entirely. Many times I have met with a disbelieving client who simply cannot accept that their most trusted, most respected manager is ripping off the business. Francis Bacon, the English philosopher who was around at the time of Shakespeare famously said, “Knowledge is power.” To be in control of any situation, to minimise the financial risks faced by your firm or insurance company, you need to know what’s really going on.

Contact the Brosnans Investigations team Australia-wide on 1300 55 44 78 or click here now to book an investigation online.

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