For the programme “M19 – The Long Interview” on Mephisto 97.6, Patrick Kurtz, owner of Kurtz Detective Agency Munich, spoke for an hour with editor-in-chief Paula Drope about the detective profession. The third part focuses on surveillance and the daily work of our private detectives in Munich. The second part on detective training can be found here.

First Case: Observation for Breach of Non-Compete Agreement

Paula Drope: “Mr Kurtz, what was your first case?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “My first case involved a breach of a non-compete agreement. An employee had an exclusive contract with a company – he was only allowed to work for that company and not for a competitor. But the company suspected he was working for a competitor, so our Munich detectives conducted surveillance on him. It lasted four days, I think, sitting around three days, each time 10–12 hours. At first, it was nice for the earnings, but nothing happened. On the fourth day, though, he showed up at the suspected company and was indeed working there.”

 

Paula Drope: “And what happened then?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “I prepared the investigation report, submitted it to the client of Kurtz Detective Agency Munich, and, I imagine, a dismissal followed. There was probably also a contractual penalty. He would have had to pay a considerable sum for breaching the contract. But I don’t know the exact details.”

 

Paula Drope: “So, you usually don’t know what happens after a case?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “It depends. If there’s an amicable settlement, I usually don’t know. If it goes to court, we receive updates for witness summonses, etc. To request images later, we must be contacted afterward due to copyright law. Some clients keep in touch, especially for private matters: ‘You helped us, thank you.’ I’ve even been invited to dinner by a client. But in most cases our Munich detectives handle, we don’t know how it continues.”

Detectives Must Read Target Behaviour

Paula Drope: “You mainly mentioned surveillance. I guess you sit in a car? You already said it can sometimes be boring.”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “Sometimes, yes.”

 

Paula Drope: “Have there been any really tense situations during an operation?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “Yes, certainly. There are always moments where you are unsure: Are we still safe? Has the target noticed us? Some targets can look at our Munich private detectives all day and not recognise them, while others become immediately nervous after a second glance in the rear-view mirror. As a detective, you usually notice this very quickly. In other cases, a certain nervousness has nothing to do with our surveillance: Perhaps they are nervous because they are committing an offence. Then their unusual behaviour is not due to thinking they are being followed by our economic detectives in Munich, but simply due to the stressful situation they are in because of their crime.”

Even Private Detectives Cannot Always Make Everything Work

Patrick Kurtz: “I also had a case where a target approached us because they had noticed we were following them. The observation took place in a very small village, and within that village there was a small enclosed area with six or seven houses, which could only be seen from two rural roads. We couldn’t park inside the area, as that would have been immediately noticed – no chance. We could only cover the two access roads. Our Munich detectives positioned themselves accordingly. We were undercover, meaning we could not be seen from the street. The target person could not possibly have seen us, but agricultural vehicles passed by regularly, and on the second or third day it happened: Our Munich detectives followed the target and saw them enter a house. We positioned ourselves 200–300 metres away from the house.

 

Suddenly, the target person stood at my car window and said: ‘You can stop now.’ Yes, that was not a pleasant moment. I later analysed how this could have happened, but I could find no mistake on our side – the surveillance could not have been conducted differently. It must have been one of the farmers who had seen our Munich detectives and probably informed the target. Furthermore, the farmer must have known about the target’s situation [sick leave fraud]. There was simply no other way to carry out the surveillance at that location unless we had used, I don’t know, a helicopter – which would have been noticed [laughs]. No, even afterwards, no better solution comes to mind. Sometimes, it just isn’t possible.”

 

Paula Drope: “So ultimately, that’s just bad luck?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “Yes. But with a clever trick, we were able to still prove the violation – even though the target already knew they were being observed. The employee became overconfident and made a mistake.”

Prior Information When Preparing a Surveillance Operation

Paula Drope: “How much does luck play a role in being in the right place at the right time, or conversely, not being in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “That is highly case-dependent. For example, I always tell clients who call suspecting their spouse is cheating and ask about the costs: it is very difficult to generalise. I always need to know:

 

• Is there a concrete suspicion?
• When and where could something happen?
• Or is it just a general feeling based on circumstantial evidence?

 

If our Munich detectives only have a general feeling, we have to observe more or less randomly. But if we know there is an event or location on a particular day, where the person might go with another woman, for example, we can narrow down the observation considerably. It always depends on the situation and the prior information provided by the client.”

Detective Work and Cooperation with Police

Paula Drope: “Adultery is unpleasant for individuals but ultimately not something the police are interested in, right?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “Exactly.”

 

Paula Drope: “You also handle larger cases. When does Kurtz Detective Agency Munich reach its limits, i.e., when do you need to involve the police?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “For serious crimes, we are obliged to report them anyway. Otherwise, there are few situations in which involving the police would be beneficial for our Munich detectives. It usually depends on the client’s instructions – we cannot act against their wishes. For example, if we observe a child or adolescent suspected of taking drugs, we cannot just call the police, because that would harm the child and the parents as clients of Kurtz Detective Agency Munich. That is not the goal of the assignment. There are therefore very few cases in which we actively cooperate with the police.”

Kurtz Detective Agency Munich

Landsberger Straße 155 | Haus 1

D-80687 Munich | München

Tel.: +49 89 7007 4301

Mob.: +49 163 8033 967

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-muenchen.de

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