About Physical Surveillance 

Silhouetted figures walking on a sunlit tiled sidewalk, one carrying a bag.

Few people have experience with highly professional and large-scale surveillance. Keep in mind, the more you spend, the better your odds. Like all investigations, surveillance is a gamble. But unlike gambling, the more you spend, the better your odds will be of getting what you want.


Blue 6® physical surveillance can be a highly effective investigative tool when done correctly. But to do it effectively and efficiently, it cannot be done cheaply. It also has inherent dangers for the investigators, which most forms of investigation do not. For most situations, the idea of one or two people sitting in a car nearby and following someone around is usually not how we operate. An effective operation requires a team of highly trained specialists with the right equipment. That technique is our standard operating procedure, and it is expensive. The primary variables we can control are the number of operators and the length of time. By cutting down either variable, you diminish effectiveness.


It is recommended that for highly professional physical surveillance, you plan to spend at least $700 per hour plus expenses such as vehicle costs, entry into events, or meals to watch meetings in restaurants, and post-operation reports. Team expenses tend to be at least $500 per day, such as fuel and tolls. Our teams are set up and work the same as top government operations such as the FBI on counter-terrorism operations, illegal drug interdictions, and organized crime disruption operations. We have similar sophisticated equipment for team communications, use the same techniques, and use similar reporting procedures. They are skills perfected over the past century by thousands of professionals.


Physical surveillance is one element within an intelligence cycle (see our "How Investigation Works" page). Other elements include human sources, databases, financial transaction documentation, and analysis. Each element feeds the others.


For instance, if someone tells you when your subject will make key moves (an informant), then you can use less surveillance. A well-placed favor or a little cash outlay can save you surveillance costs. For instance, an investigation could take either of two paths. You could pay $1,000 to an informant to discover key information and pay $2,400 for a surveillance team to cover it for five (5) hours (for a total of $3,400). Alternatively, you could pay a much cheaper team $5,000 for 20 hours of work and still risk missing the key meeting because the scheduled surveillance did not cover the right time for that meeting. Going cheap often does not pay. Pay more upfront to get people who work smart and who give you better odds to get what you want.


A successful surveillance needs planning and reconnaisance before an actual operation. We don't like jumping into a situation as it is about to unfold. That is a recipe for failure and you have waited too late if that is your situation. Anticipate ahead of time that you may need it. Hire us to conduct background and preparation. We require our own background regardless of what workup you already have. Then plans must be made. All of that costs money before the team deploys. Then we prefer to work the location and subject for at least a couple of days before trying to operationally cover an event. That experience will arm us better for success. 


So, if your goal is to launch a 6-hour operation to cover a 1-hour event, it will work best with several hours of prep, plan, and background, at least two 10-hour days of reconnaissance on subject-active days, and then the targeted 6-hour event day. The team should be hired at least two weeks previous to the event day, more if possible. That's how you set up a successful operation. It would likely cost about $25,000 to do it the right way, and would have to be prepaid with a $30,000 advance payment.


For 6 hours per day (including commute time), you can roughly estimate about $5,000 per day. Some of our clients have spent $20,000 per day over many days to get the information they want. You can get surveillance for a fraction of that amount from those who have a fraction of the ability. Many good private investigators will not conduct surveillance at all, because they are professional enough to recognize how much goes into it to do it right. We can do it on a cheaper budget if you want, but we don't recommend it.


Dedicate the resources necessary to gather effective intelligence, like a Blue 6® full surveillance team of trained specialists. We have a long line of highly satisfied clients.
Silhouetted figures walking on a sunlit tiled sidewalk, one carrying a bag.

Thank you for considering Blue 6 for your needs. Here is some helpful information on highly professional and large-scale surveillance. Keep in mind, the more you spend, the better your odds. Like all investigation, surveillance is a gamble. But unlike gambling, the more you spend, the better your odds will be of getting what you want.


Physical surveillance can be a highly effective investigative tool, when done correctly. But to do it effectively and efficiently it cannot be done cheaply. It also has inherent dangers for the investigators which most forms of investigation do not. For most situations, the idea of one or two people sitting in a car nearby and following someone around is usually not how we operate. An effective operation requires a team of highly trained specialists with the right equipment. That technique is our standard operating procedure and it is expensive. The primary variables we can control are the number of operators and the length of time. By cutting down either variable, you diminish effectiveness.


It is recommended that for highly professional physical surveillance you plan to spend at least $500 per hour plus expenses such as vehicle costs, entry into events, or meals to watch meetings in restaurants, and post-operation reports. Team expenses tend to be at least $400 per day. Our teams are set up and work the same as top government operations such as the FBI on counter-terrorism operations, illegal drug interdictions, and organized crime disruption operations. We have similar sophisticated equipment for team communications, use similar techniques, and use similar reporting procedures. They are skills perfected over the past century by thousands of professionals.


For 6 hours per day, you can figure on about $3,500 per day. A twelve-hour day is probably $7,000 or more. Some of our clients have spent $20,000 per day over many days to get the information they want. You can get surveillance for a fraction of that amount from those who have a fraction of the ability. Many private investigators will not do it at all. They recognize how much goes into it to do it right.


Physical surveillance is one element within an intelligence cycle made up of many parts, such as human sources, databases, financial transaction documentation, and analysis. Each element feeds the others. Any element used by itself is less effective than using elements together.


For instance, if someone tells you when your subject will make key moves (an informant), then you can use less surveillance. A well-placed favor or a little cash outlay can save you surveillance costs. Would you rather pay $1,000 to know key information and pay $2,400 for a surveillance team to cover it (for a total $3,400); or pay a much cheaper team $5,000 for 20 hours of work and still risk missing the key meeting because the schedule did not cover the time of that meeting? Going cheap often does not pay. Pay more up front to get people who work smart and who give you better odds to get what you want.


Using the full intelligence cycle is invaluable. And so is the ability to dedicate the resources necessary to gather effective intelligence, like a full surveillance team of trained specialists.