Our main thrust is to teach you to be surveillance Aware such that you have the ability to spot untoward interest targeting you in many circumstances. In coming articles we will have much to say about creating Surveillance Detection Routes (SDR) as part of your Anti-Surveillance drills and even Counter Surveillance possibilities. We will talk about sharpening your Observation skills and improving your Situational Awareness (often neglected or under-served topics). And we will help you formulate Emergency Response Plans for when you do detect hostile surveillance. But for now, it is going to be immediately helpful to give you a list of tell tale signs that a surveillance team might be around.

We will start with the most worrisome scenario. An enemy already knows at least some of your pattern of life, in that they know one of the places you frequent often and are on "stakeout" outside the venue in Static Surveillance mode. This could be your home, your place of work, the kids' school or the bank where you take large cash deposits at the same time on the same day every week. They are there gathering additional Intelligence on your movements or acting as a trigger for the rest of the team for when you arrive (to attack you) or when you leave (to follow you as part of a Foot or Mobile Surveillance serial).

To spot such Static Surveillance you need to be paying attention to the environment and actively looking for possible indicators. Only the most egregious and outrageous errors by a bumbling surveillance team would be noticed by someone who was complacent about their location and distracted by whichever electronic device into which they were plugged. In essence, you need to intimately know your surroundings by having established a baseline normal level of what happens there. And then you need to be on the lookout for anything out of normal. Sounds simple enough but it is complicated by a number of factors: you do not necessarily want to tip you hand by obviously and openly studying the scene intently and repeatedly; you no doubt have plenty to be getting on with wherever it is you are at (making breakfast, picking up the kids, depositing money); and many, innocent people, are weird and do questionable things in the course of a normal day.

All of this needs to be juggled but the bottom line is that, if you are going to spot surveillance, you must actively dedicate some time and energy to looking for it as well as learn to filter out the noise. During the "DC Sniper" attacks in 2002 police were inundated with sightings of suspicious white vans across Virginia, Maryland and DC. Not a single one was related to the perpetrators because of bad Intelligence about what to be on the look out for. So what would be some good Intelligence on the behavior of Static Surveillance operations to which you can sensitize yourself?

- New face(s) in the neighborhood without any obvious explanation

- New vehicle(s) in the neighborhood without any obvious explanation

- Someone engaged in a questionable or unconvincing activity

- Someone engaged in a plausible activity which seems to take an inordinate amount of time to complete or is repeated over and over again

- Any form of loitering, staring and/or fixating on a potential target

- Any vehicle in which maps, radios, binoculars or cameras are visible

- Any vehicle with antennas

- Anyone using a camera, including a smart phone (under the guise of taking selfies), radio, binoculars, recording device

- Anyone writing notes or sketching diagrams while concentrating on a particular location

- Audible radio chatter coming from a vehicles

- Work vans, including those with roof racks for tools, equipment and supplies

- Anyone sitting or parking with a good vantage point

- Any person whose attention level and or actions correlates with the movement or change in security posture of a potential target

- Someone making a phone call in response to activity at a potential target

- Someone who avoids eye contact or appears nervous and worried about being observed

- Anyone sneaking looks at a potential target while ostensibly involved in some other activity

- Someone using a vehicle's mirrors, dashboard camera or reversing camera to view a potential target

- Seeing the same person and/or vehicle in multiple locations of a potential target or over multiple days or weeks at the same location

- A vehicle with misted up or covered windows overnight

- A vehicle with the engine running (in hot or cold weather) with no obvious occupants

- New neighbors who very much keep to themselves and have odd comings and goings at odd times of the day and night

- A newly occupied house or apartment with fresh curtains, net curtains or security camera systems

- A vehicle which seems to swap out with another at a shift change

- A public works maintenance project or survey which seems to use generic contractors in hard hats and hi-viz vests

- Homeless vagrants of any type who hang around and become part of the scenery. How clean are their hair and their nails?

- People whose demeanor, dress, stature, build, haircut and overall appearance do not fit with the local culture

- Anyone asking questions or trying to start conversations about a potential target around the neighborhood

- Anyone conducting excessive filming or photography around a potential target

Identifying just one or two of the above might not signify actual presence of surveillance but, at the very least, it should warrant further observation and a heightened sense of awareness. Do not ignore any sign until you have satisfied yourself with a confirmed, innocent explanation. Your "spidey" senses should be tingling and you should be motivated to resolve it one way or another.

Identifying a cluster of half a dozen or more of the above shifts the weight to possible or even probable surveillance. At this point there would decisions to be made over next steps. A good one could be to enact a Surveillance Detection Route (or a series of them) to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt. You would almost certainly want to alert members of your trusted circle and, perhaps, enlist their help. You could conduct Counter Surveillance to also confirm the threat and map out its strength. You could consider Technical Counter Surveillance measures to supplement this. Depending on the circumstances, you could report your concerns to an authority. And, once confirmed, you could invoke your Emergency Action Plan.

If you have not spotted Static Surveillance at one of your common locations, you will want to continue to look out for surveillance indicators whenever you are moving between them or elsewhere. You want to be in condition Yellow (per Colonel Cooper's color code of Situational Awareness) every time you leave your castle: switched on, paying attention, noticing what is going on all around you. When you are mobile (whether on foot, in a vehicle, on public transport or on a bicycle), a surveillance team can gather a lot of information about your routine, the people you meet, the places you go and what you do. Conversely, they have the challenge of following you closely enough to collect the Intelligence while remaining hidden and being safe. It is more stressful, mistakes get made (and can be forced) and the tell-tales tend to stand out:

- at the moment the target moves from being static to mobile, it can be like a light switch going on for the surveillance team

- mirroring the target's movement, starting/moving/stopping in sync

- driving or walking erratically while trying to maintain visual contact

- driving or walking while talking (on a phone or into a radio) while still paying close attention to a target

- someone with an odd, blank expression on their face as they wrestle with keeping an eye on the target, relaying updates to the rest of the team and receiving radio transmissions

- signaling to other members of the team using hand signals, gestures, eye contact, flashing headlights

- transitioning from vehicle to foot and vice versa is always a rush for surveillance operators as they are playing catch up with the target. Fast walking or running to/from a vehicle stands out

- a person or vehicle seen at multiple locations throughout a route pushes the statistics of coincidence

- someone using their vehicle mirrors excessively

- someone craning to see the target vehicle in a line of traffic at a stop light

- a person or a vehicle passing by a target multiple times who is paused on their route

- a person or vehicle who "concertinas" as the pace or speed is varied. The faster a person is moving, the closer the surveillance will need to be and vice versa

- the same is true on long straight roads in open areas versus winding roads with lots of junctions in built up areas: in the former surveillance can afford to hang back and be less conspicuous but in the latter they need to be much closer to maintain the follow

- two adult males in a vehicle. This is the standard for a basic surveillance team - one to drive, one to navigate and operate the radio as well as the option for putting the passenger out quickly should the follow transition to foot without having to find legal parking for the vehicle. "One-up" mobile surveillance is a mark of a more advanced team. A male/female combination "two-up" is more natural but some teams struggle to recruit sufficient females. Or the culture precludes this option.

- anyone continually touching their ear. Speaks to a new surveillance operator who fears their earpiece might fall out or is having trouble with their radio

- someone who looks away when you cross paths (the classic robber who shrinks into the car as the cops go by effect)

- someone who is just "hanging around" but moves awkwardly away when you approach them

- anyone who is trying to use the reflection in a store window to observe what is going on behind them

- anyone who is peeking around a corner or object

- anyone who is faking reading a newspaper or book but clearly more interested in something in the environment

- anyone who seems to be concealing something in their fist, possibly a "pressel" switch for a radio

- someone with a radio earpiece, rarely a clear tube over the ear (US Secret Service type) but rather an in ear small "hearing aid" type

- anyone going to a place you have just been (eg. ATM) and taking extreme interest in it

For homework, try to commit these indicators to memory and then use them as a mental checklist for checking out the areas around your static locations as well as any time you moving around. The more familiar you are with them, the more readily you will spot them. Put yourself in the shoes of a surveillance team tasked with observing your life. What is the baseline for your environment? How would they do it? Where would they stand out? What challenges would there be? How easy are you making it for them? What would be a dead giveaway? Play this game in your head for a while and you will have a good feel for what is involved. It will serve you well.