The indicators that justify surveillance
Surveillance is expensive relative to a records request and cheap relative to an indemnity payment on a claim that should not have been paid. The decision usually turns on whether there is a specific, testable gap between what the file says and what is plausible.
- Reported restrictions that conflict with observed or reported activity
- A claimant who is difficult to reach during business hours but active otherwise
- Treatment that continues without objective findings or measurable improvement
- Social media or open-source material suggesting physical activity
- A prior claim history with similar injuries or similar providers
- Reported inability to work alongside indications of side employment
Timing beats volume
Three surveillance days scheduled around a known event produce more usable material than six days scheduled at random. The highest-value windows are the day of an independent medical examination or functional capacity evaluation, the days immediately before a deposition, and the week before mediation.
The reason is leverage rather than luck. Footage of a claimant loading equipment an hour before an IME, or two days before sworn testimony about their limitations, forecloses the explanation that the observation was an unusually good day months earlier.
How many days to order
One day answers a narrow question: does the claimant live here, is the vehicle here, did they attend the appointment. Two to three consecutive days is the standard block for establishing a pattern of activity. Ongoing or monthly programs make sense on long-tail files where activity is expected to change seasonally or as litigation approaches.
If the claimant rarely leaves the residence, covert static camera coverage is usually the better first spend: it documents the full day at a lower cost and identifies the windows where a manned investigator will actually be productive.
What a negative result is worth
Surveillance that shows a claimant behaving entirely consistently with their reported restrictions is a result, not a failure. It closes an internal question, supports a reserve position, and removes an argument that the carrier did not investigate. Documented inactivity across defined hours belongs in the file the same way documented activity does.
What to send with the assignment
- Subject name, date of birth, and last known address
- Recent photograph and vehicle description or tag if available
- Claim number and reported injury with current restrictions
- Known schedule: work, treatment, therapy, school pickup
- Any prior surveillance and what it produced
- The deadline that is driving the timing