Surveillance Logs: What Investigators Should Record, Minute by Minute

A surveillance log is the contemporaneous record of what an investigator saw, when and from where. Photos and video show moments; the log ties them together and accounts for the time in between. If a case is contested, the log is what gets examined line by line, and every gap, vague entry or later correction becomes a question. Here is what to record and how.

Before you start

Open the log with the setup, so a reader understands the context of every later entry:

• Case reference, subject reference and the objective of the session.
• Your name, and anyone else on the team with their positions.
• Date, start time, and the location you are observing from.
• Weather and light conditions, which affect what could reasonably be seen.
• Equipment used, with the clock on each camera checked against a reliable time source and any difference noted.

The clock check matters more than it seems. If the camera is four minutes fast and nobody noted it, the timestamps on your footage will not match your written log, and that mismatch will be used against you.

What goes in each entry

Each entry is a time and a plain factual observation. A good entry records:

• Time, to the minute.
• What was seen, described, not interpreted: "Male, dark jacket, left front door carrying a black holdall", not "subject left for work".
• Identification: how you know it was the subject, and how confident you are.
• Your position if it changed, and whether line of sight was clear.
• Media: which photos or clips were taken, by file number or counter.

Write down what you observe, not what you conclude. Conclusions belong in the report, where they can be reasoned from the log. The same discipline applies to interviews, as covered in how to take a witness statement that holds up.

Record the nothing

Long periods with no activity still need entries. Note at regular intervals that observation continued and nothing happened: "No movement at address. Vehicle still parked." A log that jumps from 09:12 to 11:40 without comment invites the suggestion that you were not watching, or that something was left out.

Record the losses too

Lost contact, blocked view, a break, a battery change, a move to a new position: log each one with the time it started and ended. Honest gaps are defensible. Hidden gaps, discovered later from footage timestamps, are not.

Never rewrite

Write the log as you go, or as close to it as safely possible. If you make a mistake, strike it through so it stays legible, and add the correction with the time you made it and your initials. For digital logs, use a tool that keeps the original entry and records the edit, rather than one that silently overwrites. Do not tidy the log up afterwards; a neat log written at the end of the day is less credible than an untidy one written live.

Close and file it

End with the finish time, your position, a summary of the media captured, and your signature or equivalent. Then file the log with the footage and stills under the case straight away, with the originals preserved and working copies kept separately. The general principles of note-taking that stands up later are in how to write a case note that still makes sense in five years.

Check your jurisdiction

Rules on where and how surveillance may lawfully be carried out, and on what may be recorded, differ widely. A careful log cannot rescue evidence gathered unlawfully, so confirm the rules for each assignment before you start.