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An acquaintance of mine is an FBI investigator and moonlights as a higher-grade Realtor. He would use the same memory card and high end camera both during "sta
by jahsome 3y ago
An acquaintance of mine is an FBI investigator and moonlights as a higher-grade Realtor.
He would use the same memory card and high end camera both during "stakeouts" for surveillance photos as well as listing photos for the homes he was selling.
One day he uploaded the entire contents of the memory card to the MLS on one of his public listings, surveillance photos and all. I'm pretty sure everything was up for a few days before being cleaned up.
It's been years but I still haven't made up my mind on whether that makes him a worse agent of law enforcement or real estate.
- reaperducer 3y agoHe would use the same memory card and high end camera both during "stakeouts" for surveillance photos as well as listing photos for the homes he was selling. This really surprises me. I would have assumed that an FBI memory card used for taking surveillance photos would have all kinds of security and encryption on it for chain-of-custody purposes. Otherwise, the photos won't stand up in court. The healthcare company I work for has cameras it uses for photos, and for HIPAA reasons those cards are encrypted and secured. They won't even mount on an unauthorized computer.
- wpietri 3y agoWhy would you say it wouldn't stand up in court? As long as the agent shows up to say, "Yes, I took these photos of real things that happened," that strikes me as the heart of the evidence.
- reaperducer 3y agoBecause companies like Canon sell multi-thousand dollar cameras and attachments to police agencies that are designed to make sure photographs can't be tampered with so that they're admissible in court. There can't be the possibility that a rogue cop altered a photograph, or the case can get thrown out. It's why the cameras police departments use cost 5x more than the consumer versions.
- wpietri 3y agoI'm not sure "government agency buys expensive thing" is proof of actual need of said expensive thing. And even if it were, it's not clear to me that the need applies in this case.
- convalescindrey 3y agoHe surely should have lost his job or worse.
- stronglikedan 3y agoI would have expected his job have guardrails in place to prevent this sort of mishap, like a full audit log and chain of custody of all evidence gathered during these investigations, as well as SOPs on the handling and storage of such evidence.
- jahsome 3y agoPhysical evidence is perhaps handled with a greater regard, but from what I understand, background info gathered during surveillance isn't always intended for use in court and often really only serves to further the investigation itself. Usually a stakeout is gathering enough probable cause to effectively justify requesting search warrants, which is when the "real" investigation kicks off. My shared connection to the Realtor dope I wrote about originally is someone I'm quite close to, and through them I've learned some pretty alarming realities of law enforcement. It seems like the higher up the chain you look, the more indifference or incompetence you find.
- convalescindrey 3y ago> It seems like the higher up the chain you look, the more indifference or incompetence you find. Well, let's say, you have a really competent investigator. Is that the person you want to be promoted into a position where they are not doing any investigating anymore? In that light it's good to have the incompetent higher up so that the people doing the real work are those that are competent. :)
- koheripbal 3y agoNope. Usually all the court needs is his attestation that he always had sole custody of the evidence
- InCityDreams 3y ago>An acquaintance I know is an FBI investigator and moonlights as a higher-grade Realtor. I really, really, really tried my best, but the only appropriate i could think of was "Fucking hell!". Are you sure they're not a realtor masquerading as a....well, at this point, who gives a shit?
- mcv 3y agoNo, it's a very practical combination. Let's say you're investigating a murder, talking to the wife of the victim: "I'm sorry for your loss. Is there anything else you can tell us about what happened? And I can totally understand if you can't bear to live alone in this crime scene any more. In fact, if you want to move out, I know someone who would be interested."
- jahsome 3y agoIt's always stuck with me he was basically at the top of both fields, yet somehow simultaneously and spectacularly incompetent in both roles.
- passwordoops 3y agoI err to the side of incompetence, but want to believe it was a deep cover op to penetrate an enemy org by making them think he was compromised and had to act as a double agent, immediately rendering him a triple agent on behalf of the FBI... Maybe I can moonlight as a writer in Hollywood
- jahsome 3y agoThe entire scenario is pretty unbelievable, and played out like an awful Adam Sandler movie. If I hadn't witnessed it with my own eyes, I would have trouble believing someone with dueling top credentials such as his could possibly be such an idiot.
- smugma 3y agoRealtor top credentials? That made me LOL.
- epcoa 3y agoYeah, I know right? And the higher end you go has nothing to do with any competence - your clientele becomes more and more like the fucktards that bought into SBF.
- jahsome 3y agoI mean to say that among Realtors he was pretty elite, whatever that means. Put another way, he dealt in million dollar listings, not just average family homes.