I went to the PD today in my town, called up the Duty Sup who sent me the Sgt after a few minutes.

so from what I got about stake-outs and surveilence was neat...

it's common for a PI to call in to Dispatch, let them know your location, the time you intend to stay in the area (24-48 hrs), your general discription and to not be suprised if one of the beat cops comes by to chat.

He figured I'd be hitting the whole metro obviously getting as much work as I could. I looked online to see thru the associations of who was 'working the area', so I know I have competition as I'm new.

BUT

The important thing is that survey/stake-out work is quite common around here, and dispatchers get calls from PI's often.

Which means plentiful work..