Watching Vancouver's Private Investigators
With economic crime on the upswing, private investigators are hotter than a Rolex in Times Square. Just don’t call them gumshoes.
10:27 a.m. “Discretion is the better part of valour,” says Scot Filer, the co-founder of Lions Gate Investigations Group, as he drives past the home of the “target” on a quiet street in a tony Vancouver suburb, turning around only after we’re out of eyesight.
The 54-year-old with a trim salt-and-pepper goatee, wearing jeans and black motorcycle boots, parks his rolling office – an unremarkable dark blue Silverado truck that could pass for a rental vehicle – about 18 metres from the target’s house. He reaches into a briefcase for binoculars and a video camera, placing them on the console beside his constantly vibrating BlackBerry.
Today’s stakeout, on a warm spring morning, involves an individual engaged in a significant lawsuit against a large corporation. Filer’s duty is to observe the subject and provide video footage that may or may not impact the lawsuit. His client, a lawyer working on the corporation’s behalf, provided limited data about the target: his address and a basic physical description. “Only information that they’re legally allowed to give you,” stresses Filer. “The companies that hire us usually have no tolerance for cowboys that cross the line on privacy laws. Or corporations will call us in as a fixer to plug leaks: employee fraud or security leaks that might make them vulnerable to competitors. They don’t want a lot of noise or a legal battle; they just want the problem to go away.”
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