Pre-Plan Your Investigation

As with all big group activities your investigation will need planning and organising.  The best way to do this is to sit down a week or so before your investigation and after your recce and complete an itinerary for the actual night. There are several reasons for this being a good idea:

Time can be made for the set up

If, like CaSPIR you have many cameras and pieces of equipment that need to be placed in certain areas etc. and also if you have experiments which need to be sorted out and set up it’s an excellent idea to set aside an amount of time at the beginning of the night to do this.  Also in this time baselines can be taken of the entire area and your risk assessment completed.  It’s a good idea to time your self doing this and maybe give an extra half hour or so to allow for unforeseen problems.  We always seem to have cameras that work perfectly until we take them onto the location and then for some reason one or two don’t want to play anymore!  It’s a shame for investigation time to be run into because of equipment problems, especially if it’s an expensive location, you’ll want to make the most of your time there, and so making time for setting up is the best way to do this.  It is also a good idea to have a quick brief with your team before the investigation starts for any advice, questions, rules, and so on. 

People will know what team they are in and where they are going

There’s nothing worse than a big group of people with no direction!  Having an itinerary which everyone can read before hand is an excellent way of avoiding this and also a great way to get people concentrating on the aims and objectives of the night.

Everything you need on the night will already be to hand

Because you will have planned your night, know what experiments you are doing, what areas you have to cater for, what equipment you need etc. and thought about what might possibly go wrong you will have brought with you everything you need to cover every eventuality!  It’s a great idea to keep a list of all your teams’ equipment so you know what you have to choose from and to email those people concerned before the night to ask them to bring it along.  This all might seem obvious but overlooking one piece of kit could cost you a vital bit of evidence!

All areas will be covered in your allotted time

Over the years I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve been with a group, the time is up and people have said; “but I haven’t been to area 3!” etc. If you have your night planned with your teams and areas you can make sure that everyone gets to visit every location and this makes for a happier team at the end of the night.  If attending large venues take into account the time it will take to walk to various areas and also remember to give your team a small break in between each vigil to refresh them selves, munch a biscuit and carry on.  Energy levels need to be looked after when working at all hours of the night!

The night will flow better 

You will find that once you have planned a few investigations it becomes second nature to you.  You’ll realise what works for your team and what doesn’t, you’ll have established who is good at what and everyone will be in set up mode when they arrive.  Planning an investigation well, even if unfruitful evidence wise make for a more enjoyable and happier night for everyone!

Examples of what to include on your itinerary

•  Welcome to everyone especially guests and hosts

• Guidelines and rules for the night including safety

• A note of who your first aider is and what team they are in

• Attendees/credits

• Teams for the night

• Areas to investigate

• Experiments

• Vigil timetable

• Equipment deployment

Although as I’ve said planning is very important, it’s also important not to be too rigid in it, as a slight change of plans/ideas etc. could make for a more fruitful night evidence wise.  So be prepared to be adaptable too!

Good Luck!