By Susanna Speier Denver Private Investigator Blog Lightning struck outside my window as I sipped afternoon tea on Summer Solstice last weekend contemplating which Denver Private Investigator Blog ideas to turn into timely and relevant articles about the Colorado's private investigator industry. If you were on surveillance in Byers, Cope, Burlington, Limon Karval, Eads or Cheyenne Wells over summer solstice weekend you would have been enjoying some refreshingly mild --though unseasonably-- cool days. If you surveillance assignment extended into the last week of June your surveillance assignments --especially if they involve sitting in parked cars for extended periods of time-- might start to become uncomfortable toward the end of June. According to AccuWeather, your July surveillance assignments will be relatively bearable, providing they're in Colorado Springs where temperatures hover in the 70s and 80s next month. If you're in Denver moving into late July you may start melting into your car seat as temperatures push into the 90s while you're waiting and watching and waiting and watching. Taking photos and videos and/or crossing hot asphalt to serve papers over driveways and parking lots is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it for people whose workplace requirements include air conditioning. It's not a bad time to revisit what we shared on staying cool in a hot car and the parts of Colorado: See also: Best and worst Colorado regions for surveillance jobs ![]() That said, the foreseeable future of the private detectives whose primary revenue source is surveillance may have a new competitor. The new competitor is impervious to sweltering summer heat waves as well as to the monotony of sitting in a parked car for excruciating amounts of time. Hot carseats to not bother this new competitor. Nor does the smell of perspiration. It is a competitor that requires no air conditioning or kevlar vests. This new competitor does not sleep. It doesn't even defecate or urinate. On June 12, 2015 Amazon filed a patent for a "drone based surveillance system" and on June 5th, the patent was granted by the United States Government. Publications all over the country have been flailing around trying to figure out what Amazon plans on doing with the patent. Perhaps private investigators need to start weighing in, too. Quartz, wasted no time in pointing out that Amazon has already been in the surveillance business using devices like Alexa (disclosure: I have one and have concluded it's convenience outweighs it's heinousness) but that doesn't really detail whether or not this may be used for something less benign than an aerial delivery of your Whole Foods purchases. The above photo was snapped during a purely recreational drone flight I took over Denver's Cheesman Park and Botanic Garden last year. I have participated in projects like Denver's 48 Hour Film Project that used drones cinematically. I'm not a world dominating corporation like Amazon, though. This is the link if you'd like to check out the patent for yourself and trying speculating on the long term impact this could have on the private eye industry. Bottom line being, will Amazon drones be taking over surveillance jobs? Please share your thoughts and impressions on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter profiles. You can also respond in the comments field below. By Susanna Speier Denver Private Investigator Blogger If you've been following Denver's Amazon bid, you already know Denver one of a twenty of mid-sized cities being considered for Amazon's new headquarters (HQ2). If selected, the online commerce giant would bring 50,000 new high paying jobs to the city of Denver along with some notoriety. In October, Amazon Studios chief Roy Price resigned over sexual harassment allegations. In 2015 The New York Times called Amazon a "bruising workplace" where "workers are encouraged to tear apart one another’s ideas in meetings, toil long and late (emails arrive past midnight, followed by text messages asking why they were not answered) and held to standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.”" Recent race discrimination, gender identification discrimination and pregnancy discrimination charges indicate the juggernaut's local presence would mean ample opportunities for Colorado employment lawyers, should the mile high city make the final cut. With or without Amazon's HQ2, Colorado's robust tech industry will continue to expand and abuses of power will continue to create new opportunities for private investigators who are employment litigation literate. Given the landscape, next week's Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado (PPIAC) training seminar, How PI's can Assist Employment Attorneys, looks like a worthwhile way to spend a Wednesday evening in early February. Disclosure: I am a PIAC service member and gave a training seminar last fall. David Miller, Esq will give the free training seminar on Wednesday, February 7th, 6:30 pm - 8:30 at CB & Pott's, located at 6575 Greenwood Plaza Blvd in Greenwood Village, CO 80111 Networking begins at 6:00. Additional Amazon references: |
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