"I Shadowed the Domestic Intelligence Service for a Week" – Investigator from Kurtz Investigations Berlin as Surveillance Coach for VICE

"Someone has to do it."

The Berlin-born investigator Christian from Kurtz Detective Agency Berlin coaches Martern Boeselager from the VICE magazine Germany regarding surveillance tactics. In the form of a humorous social project under the motto "Civic Courage", Martern Boeselager approaches real surveillance practices in his extensive article and takes a satirical look at the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

 

An excerpt with the passages involving our Berlin private detective Christian:

The Preparation – Practical Part

But enough studying! Now it is time for me to acquire in practice the skills that I would need for this assignment. To learn how to shadow real intelligence service employees without them immediately noticing me and stabbing me with their poisoned umbrellas, I need help from a professional.

GPS tracker; detective agency Berlin, detective Berlin, private investigator Berlin, Kurtz Investigations Berlin

A modern GPS tracker including magnetic box and battery module, presumably currently the most common model among German detectives.

Surveillance Tips from an Old Hand among Berlin Detectives: Inconspicuousness on Every Level

"The most important thing is not to be recognised," Christian from Kurtz Detective Agency Berlin explains to me. "They can see you, but they must not recognise you." Christian is a professional: the 49-year-old has been a private investigator for more than ten years; before that he worked as an undercover investigator with the police. He has agreed to explain shadowing to me – under real conditions.

 

For this purpose, I am simply supposed to visit him during an ongoing surveillance operation. And so it happens that on a rainy morning I am sitting with Christian in his black Audi at a street corner in Berlin-Schöneberg, waiting for an ex-convict to appear who may be holding his girlfriend captive (although she may also simply have moved in with him and her family does not like it – one cannot know for certain).

The Basics of Surveillance: Blending in with the Surroundings

While we wait, I ask Christian whether he considers it reckless that I want to shadow professional observers. "First of all, of course they do not expect that someone is on their tail," he says. "But I believe that through this work you develop a different view of your surroundings. For example, I am actually always scanning the people around me."

 

For that reason, it is particularly important always to adapt to the surroundings. "On Kurfürstendamm I am a tourist, in Grunewald I have a dog with me for a walk," Christian says. "Fitting into the surroundings, that is the be-all and end-all." Almost just as important: the right cover story. "You must always know for yourself: who are you right now? And what are you doing right now?"

The Right Distance

And then we move on to practical advice: the correct distance for shadowing someone on foot, for example. "You have to be close enough to notice everything, but far enough away not to be exposed," Christian explains. "Fifty metres, I would say, roughly speaking. If he turns a corner, you simply have to speed up a little." My advantage here is that our domestic intelligence officers currently seem to have difficulty recognising when someone somewhere is being chased or pursued. Perhaps that even applies when it happens to them themselves.

 

And one more thing: "The moment when everyone is most alert is when they are leaving their house," the detective says. "You always look: is everything all right, is everything normal? That is why you should never be too close to the front door of the flat." In my case, that means: I have to keep my distance from the building if I do not want to make the domestic intelligence officers who come out nervous.

 

After just under an hour the target object has still not appeared, but my crash course is finished. I thank Christian. I am ready, and I have to leave – for Cologne.

Note

The – considerably more extensive – original article by Martern Boeselager appeared in VICE. The emphasis (bold type), subheadings and links on this page may differ from the original.

Kurtz Detective Agency Berlin

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10405 Berlin

Tel.: +49 30 555 786 41-0

Fax: +49 30 555 786 41-9

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-berlin.de

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