From indicator to documented fact
Most referrals arrive with patterns rather than proof: inconsistent injury descriptions, treatment that follows a familiar provider path, a loss with no independent witness, or a claimant whose availability does not match their reported condition. None of those, alone, supports a decision.
Field work is what converts them. Surveillance documents actual physical capability. Canvassing produces witnesses who were never in the original report. Recorded statements lock in a version of events before it can be revised. Open-source research, properly preserved, captures material that may not exist next month.
Report language matters more than most people think
An investigative report that characterizes a claimant as committing fraud creates a problem for the carrier and adds nothing to the file. The observation — what was seen, when, for how long, from where — is what has value. The determination belongs to the SIU unit, coverage counsel, or the state.
For the same reason, reports should identify the source of every fact, distinguish observation from inference, and describe periods of no activity as plainly as periods of activity.
Sequencing an SIU field assignment
- Open-source and public-record research first — it is the cheapest way to focus the field work
- Covert static coverage where the residence pattern is unknown
- Manned surveillance on the windows that research and static coverage identify
- Canvassing and statements once the activity picture is established
- A written summary that a referral file or coverage decision can rest on
Preserving the file for what comes next
SIU findings frequently travel — to a coverage decision, a state referral, or defense counsel. Unedited video masters, contemporaneous field notes, and investigators who can testify to what they recorded are what keep those findings usable months later.