Skolnick Goes Undercover: A Sketch of the ‘Working Personality’ of a Police Surveillance Officer

What does a surveillance team do in its day-to-day work? And how do the bedrock elements of this work mould the ‘working personality’ of a surveillance officer? In this article, drawing on ethnographic material, we use dramaturgical theory to pinpoint a dilemma that is intrinsic to surveillance work, namely a surveillance team’s requirement to mitigate their risk of exposure, while simultaneously maintaining control of the operation’s subject. But, crucially, if the team has to make a choice, cover trumps control. If, then, the team is to work safely, a surveillance officer has to stop thinking like a police officer: the ‘good’ surveillance officer develops a ‘working personality’ whose attributes include discipline, loyalty, and, above all else, a sense of circumspection.