Anyone involved in any kind of legal matter will need to hire a process server. This highly competitive industry provides delivery of legal papers to the residence or work address of the person to be served for a flat fee, usually between $75 and $125.
The time pressure and limited income offered by the flat fee arrangement for a process server naturally generates conditions that result in the service being limited to a quick visit to the service address and a knock on the door. This is what we call the “knock and walk” approach.
For most service of process assignments, a knock and walk works fine. However, not every party who should receive legal papers are willing to do so. Those who are aware that process servers are coming will sometimes make an effort to avoid them. These subjects are referred to as evasive, and sometimes include people who can be violent and unpredictable.
Evasive parties and potentially violent and unpredictable subjects merit using a licensed private investigator for service of process. Plus, your proof of service will include a color picture of the service, captured by a covert eyeglass camera.
The miniaturization of digital camera technology has brought an explosion of covert camera products to the market place. Affordable and easy to use, they come with the date and time stamp included in the digital file that contains the video.
In recent years the issue of keeping the date and time stamp on the image after upload was very inconsistent between manufacturers. Many used a separate file for the images, the audio and the date, causing separation when uploaded from camera to computer.
Thankfully the tech world has worked this out, and current cameras have the image, sound and date/time data all saved in a format that uploads together.
The use of these devices does take expertise, and your investigator has it because we have been using these covert cameras since before they were affordable. Back then we used analog cables leading to a shoulder bag containing a camcorder recording on Hi8 tapes.
The task was the same; to capture clear, stable video of the subject moving in the public. Applying this knowledge while performing service of process produces color images of the subject receiving their papers.
Choosing the location of the serve is important as well. While process servers tend to door knock at the subject’s residence, an investigator will use surveillance on the subject and wait for them to exit their homes before performing the serve.
This technique prevents the subject from evading service and makes sure the video images depict a public setting.