ARE YOU BEING FOLLOWED? ARE YOU FOLLOWING SOMEONE?

Are You Being Followed? Are You Following Someone?

By Snake Blocker

When working as a team to follow another vehicle and not lose track, it takes about five vehicles to follow one vehicle.  This number is needed to cover all intersections and exits without riding the bumper or being identified.  This is great to know if you are being followed or following someone.  If just one or two vehicles follow the same vehicle, they will be spotted quickly if the driver has good awareness.  The idea is to have a team, so one or more vehicles are not identified as following. Keep this in mind too.  Always observe vehicles around you.  If you see a vehicles following you, make several stops and get out to go into a store for a few minutes, buy something so they don't think they are spotted.  Never take the same route and same times to go to daily places like home, school and work.  Watch as you leave parking lots, and make sure you don't see any vehicles you noticed earlier.  If you see a vehicle you saw minutes or hours ago, be aware of possible other vehicles in their team.   A common tactic for following, is to change license plates (or take off front plates) and change items hanging from their rear view mirror or placed on dash.  Look for fresh screw marks on front bumper that look like a front plate was recently removed.  It is also common for the drivers following to change their look if they think they were spotted. They may change in and out of wearing glasses, hoodies, caps, jackets, etc.  They will usually keep their windows up, as they are communicating to their team and listening for instructions.  They usually do not have any radio or music playing and will have an earpiece, Blue Tooth piece, or phone to their ears . They may also follow you by foot and pretend to be on their cell phone or listening to their Ipod.  Common terms used when team communicating are: "Quick join...(South, North, East, West) (the direction of the driver turning);" "Trigger...(1st on, last out) (The driver that follows first or last);" "Fresh...(red, green [red light, green light](intersection signals)); "Intending...Romeo (right), Lima (left) (indicating turn lane or turn signal)." These are a few of the vocabulary/terms used to avoid misinterpreting the path/activities of the person being followed.  Listen for these terms if you pass someone and over-hear their conversation during a foot patrol.  When in doubt, go in and out of building and take their photos on your phone if you can without being seen.  An individual criminal following you usually won't have a team, but be aware of anyone that you see more than once in two different places that are not near each other.  Write down a description of anyone following you with every bit of information you can recall and write down as soon as possible. You will remember more details 24-48 hours later, so be ready to write more details down at that point.  Carry a change of clothes, extra glasses/sun glasses, jackets, scissors to cut hair, hair color/beach, cash, razors [to shave beard/mustache], and a 'bug out' kit, as you may have to leave the area quickly if in danger.