On the LPS website Events page a list of our forthcoming investigations etc. will be given. If you wish to attend any of these events then you must inform the President preferably 7 days before the event but certainly no later than 24 hours before the event is scheduled to start. Some events may not be posted until close to the event date in which case it is permissible to inform the President closer to the event but no later than the preceding day. Normally a maximum of twelve people will be allowed to attend an investigation and attendance places will be allocated in the order in which the request emails are received. Any person who turns up at an event without informing the President of their intention beforehand may not be allowed to take part in the event. This is especially true of events where only a limited attendance is allowed. A link is provided on each Events page to enable you to email the President.

On the Events page a start time for the event will be posted. This time must be strictly adhered to. If you arrive at the site after the start time you will either not be allowed to take part in the event or you will have to wait outside the investigation area until the first part of the investigation is over (especially if a vigil is being undertaken). Whether or not you are then allowed to take part will be at the discretion of the Investigation Co-ordinator. Many events involve the investigation of more than one site and may therefore have more than one meeting area. At these multiple events members who cannot get to the first meeting point by the start of the event will be allowed to join the investigation at a later site as long as they are there when the rest of the team arrive at the meeting point.

It is not the responsibility of the LPS management team to provide transport for members who, therefore, must make their own way to the meeting points. Members are not allowed onto the site without authorisation from the Investigation Co-ordinator, if any member arrives early they should not enter the investigation site as this could ruin the investigation for others due to contamination of the site. For each event a map is given on the Events page which shows the meeting points for the event. These are the areas where members should park so as to avoid contaminating the investigation sites. Also included on the Events page are ground level views of the meeting points to better clarify where members should meet.

At the start of an LPS investigation all LPS members will be divided into teams. Members may request to work together on the same team and wherever possible this will be allowed. Each team will have a Team Leader who is responsible for that team during the investigation. The division into teams will be undertaken by the Investigation Co-ordinator unless members raise specific objections to the composition of the team. Any objections should be raised in private with the Investigation Co-ordinator.

An investigation may be divided into a series of vigils which is especially true of indoor, all night investigations. Team Leaders will agree, before the investigation starts, as to the number and location of each vigil as well as the duration. The Investigation Co-ordinator will be in overall control of an investigation and will inform all team members of the arrangements, vigil locations and duration etc., for the investigation. Vigils will start at a specified time and all members must be in place by this start time. Between vigils there will be a break of 10 to 15 minutes before the next vigil starts. On indoor investigations a room will be set aside as a Control Room for use by the teams between vigils. This room is the base of operations and is the only room in which the consumption of food and drink is allowed. Smoking is not permitted on site, including outdoor events in the area where the investigation is taking place. For outdoor investigations a location off-site will be assigned as the general meeting area. In this area the consumption of food, drink and smoking will be permitted. Anyone who is not in place with their team at the allotted start time must remain in the Control Room or outdoor meeting area for the duration of the vigil.

During the rest period between vigils members should avoid wandering around the site as experiments may have been left at some locations which could be easily disturbed and the results would become invalid. Prior to the start of an investigation Team Leaders will agree on the experiments that will be performed by the teams. If you have any particular experiment that you would like to try then please let any Team Leader know at the start of the event. The location of any experiment, video camera etc. which will be left in place during more than one vigil must be relayed to the Investigation Co-ordinator so that all teams can be made aware.

All team members are required to keep notes during an investigation, especially during vigils. This can either be done using pen and paper or a sound recorder as long as the notes are spoken in a low voice so as not to disturb other team members especially during silent vigils. Even trivial things, like suddenly feeling cold, may have relevance so the information should be noted. All records should also include the time at which the event occurred. Because of this all members should carry a timepiece and the time should be set accurately before the event starts (this includes the time on digital recorders, cameras etc). It is also worth noting odd things like a dog barking as other team members may hear the sound differently (like something talking) and one set of notes could help clarify another set. For outdoor walking events writing notes at the time may not be practical but anything relevant should be written down at the earliest opportunity.

Vigils will normally last from between thirty minutes and one hour, the length varying according to circumstances and the location of the investigation. The Investigation Coordinator will inform team members of the length of the vigils and will communicate the start and end of the vigil with the leaders of each team by walkie-talkie. At the start of the session ten minutes will be allowed for team members to take photographs. After ten minutes you should only take a photograph using a flash if you feel there is something relevant to photograph. Under no circumstance should you leave the location of the vigil until the vigil is officially over but you may remain longer if you have found something interesting but you must inform your Team Leader who will inform the Investigation Coordinator as soon as the end of the vigil has been announced. This also applies to people in the Control Room or the off-site meeting area who should not leave the room/area during the vigil period. On indoor investigations, with limited areas to investigate, all teams will normally spend at least one session in the Control Room. Talking is permitted in the Control Room and outdoor meeting area during vigils but it should be done quietly.

For outdoor walking events the team structure may still be used but the proceedings may be more informal. Quiet talking is permitted on such events, as long as it is relevant to the investigation, but remember that at some haunted sites the paranormal event is a sound (horse’s hooves etc.). On outdoor walking events there is usually no restriction on the use of flash photography. Outdoor events, especially those involving vigils, should follow the same guidelines as for an indoor event as given above including restrictions on eating, drinking and smoking. This includes when walking down a road which forms part of the investigation, if in doubt ask the Investigation Coordinator first.

As some walks may be along narrow country lanes with no footpath it is recommended to wear reflective clothing during the walk so as to make you more visible to passing motorists. Large reflective vests are not recommended as it causes problems with flash photography so we would suggest using reflective armbands, a limited number of which can be provided by LPS for the investigation. On off-road sites the wearing of reflective clothing is not permitted and anyone wearing such clothing at the start of a vigil will be asked to remove it and if this is not possible they will be asked to leave the site.

At the end of an investigation all members should write up their notes and submit them to their Team Leader or to the Investigation Co-ordinator within 7 days of the investigation (if the investigation was on a Friday then reports must be in by 12 noon on the Saturday of the week after the event). During the investigation the person to whom the reports should be sent to will be specified by the Investigation Co-ordinator. All reports, unless otherwise specified, must be written as third person (John, he, she, him, her) and not first person (I, me). The information can either be typed straight into an email or sent as a text file or Word document attachment to an email (please send as a .doc file and not a .docx [use Save As and Word 97 - 2003 Document]). If the report is not received in the correct format you will be asked to resubmit it (which still has to be within the standard 7 days from the investigation). Failure to provide the report within seven days will mean that the member will not be allowed to attend a future investigation which will be determined by the President. The Team Leaders will then collate all of the data from the investigation and write up separate team reports which would normally be completed within two weeks of the investigation and forwarded to the Investigation Co-ordinator. These reports will form part of the investigation notes which go on the website, into the newsletter or are given to the site owner. If any images/diagrams are included in the report then you should send the original, full-size, version to your Team Leader or the Investigation Co-ordinator as appropriate.

If any interesting photographs, video recordings or sound recordings are found by anyone present then they should be sent to the Investigation Coordinator. These photographs and recordings will be analysed and may go on the website unless specified that they shouldn’t. Photographs can be sent through the website from our photo album page (www.lutonparanormal.com/photos.html) and these will be added to the gallery if it is felt that they are suitable. For most events a website photo gallery will be created in which investigation and background photographs will be placed.