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A Research Report On Rural Surveillance

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Rural surveillance, although can be done in almost any settings, is usually conducted in rural, farming, countryside or isolated areas where the use of an observation van is impractical. (Jenkins, 2010, p.205). The allegations and charges that were cited in both the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents were severe enough to warrant such surveillance and information gathering. The allegations and charges in the case of the Waco siege and stand-off include firing of automatic weapons from their compound, modifying legally purchased guns into illegal weapons, stock piling illegal weapons, child abuse, advocating polygamy, fathering many children through a harem run by the leader of the group. The location of the compound was in a rural area and for …show more content…

The government also had an informant infiltrate the target but unknown to him, his cover had already been blown. The target must have fed him with wrong and misleading information as was evidenced in his reply about what the target group were doing. He replied that they were praying when in actuality they were arming themselves for the siege from the government.
If the government had taken the time to set up an OP, taking note to use all rural OP precautions, they would have been able to overtime get in close, set up both surface and sub-surface OPs and gather evidence or information about the illegal weapons production activities, observe automatic gun fire activities, confirm daily routine of key target group members. The surveillance could have produced information on child abuse issues as well as polygamous activities. Intelligence from the surveillance could have been used to better coordinate efforts of all agencies involved with the siege. An even better alternative would have been to arrest the main target when he was out of his comfort zone as he often did by mingling with locals during gun shows.
Lack of coordination even among one government agency with some leaning towards aggression while others opted for negotiations shows the level of unpreparedness to move forward with the mission. The government knew that they had been compromised but instead of adopting less risky options, they decided to move in with little or incorrect intelligence about the

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