Investigative Articles

28 Skip Tracing Tips
Compiled by Ralph Thomas with help from contributors from The Tracer EGroup.

Court Appointed Criminal Defense Rates Across The Country
A CDITC Research Survey
Many private investigators that specialize in the discipline of criminal defense investigation accept court appointed indigent cases. The rate of pay has historically been less than the rate charged to private clients for similar cases. This lower rate of pay generates many complaints among private sector criminal defense investigators.

On the case: Steve Murray and his dog Diesel with
the toy car he used to explore under the house.

Private Investigator Uses Innoviation To Find Missing Moggie!
A PI used his own dog, a remote control toy car fitted with a tiny camera and a sardine to find a missing moggie.

Personal Protection Measures Against the Terrorist Threat
Terrorism is an indiscriminate crime that comes in varying forms of threats and violence and is used primarily to attain political goals of one form or another.

Assets Locating
Locating Hidden Assets & Other Areas To Be Aware Of After you have located an "Obligor" the next step is to find the assets so they can be seized and liquidated. Many of the same methods that are used to locate the obligor can be used to locate assets. Contrary to popular belief, income is not only what a person earns. "Unearned income" is considered to be income as well. That is, income that is not earned through a paycheck.

PI Profile: Sherry Sullivan
Sullivan became licensed as a private investigator because she couldn't afford to pay for one, and steeped herself in the shadowy world of spies and government ...

The New Internet Is A Broadband World
If you are still on the Internet through a slow phone line, you are in the dark ages and it's time to upgrade.The new Internet is designed for broadband.

The Cut of His Jib Doesn’t Jibe
Background checks can protect a company from negligent hiring allegations and promote a safe environment for employees and the public. By Barry J. Nadell

Digital Analysis "Fingerprints" Artists
Statistical analyses of the texture of artwork that has been digitized can reveal forgeries, according to an article published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The method discriminates between authentic drawings and imitations, and indicates how many different artists contributed to a single painting.

Blood Spatter Interpretation
Blood is frequently shed during crimes of violence.  It is often possible to reconstruct one or more possibilities of what may have occurred to produce certain bloodstain patterns.

Testifying in the Theater of the Courtroom
When the judge read the jury’s verdict, the courtroom was stunned. How could this be? It seemed like a simple, open-and-shut case. Later, reporters questioned the jurors who spoke of factors that never occurred to the investigating officers, such as a witness who acted nervous, a police officer who seemed arrogant, and the possibility that evidence had been mishandled. Similar cases now abound, incongruous at first until normally insignificant behaviors prove otherwise.

Assessing the Biological Weapons Threat
Biological weapons (BW) are often pushed to the bottom of the non-proliferation agenda, but we ignore their extraordinarily destructive potential at our own peril. By Zachary Selden

How Long Is Your Digital Trail?
Very long and the problem with Google, computers, the whole internet shebang is that it's all right there, all the time, even at 2 a.m. when your judgment is impaired by nostalgia and tiredness and maybe a glass of wine and a sentimental novel. A WriedNews Article.

Issues To Consider With A Possible Suicide Subject
Psychologists talk about the multiple victims of suicide. Any investigator who has had the unfortunate experience of having a suspect commit suicide during the course of an investigation understands the impact of this statement. A John Reid Investigative Tips Article.

Navigating the Maze of Criminal Records Retrieval - Updated
A check of criminal records is standard procedure when due diligence research is conducted on individuals. However, even in this age of instant access to digitized information, old fashioned “gum shoe” techniques usually must be relied upon for the research of criminal records. This article will discuss how criminal records are maintained and the alternatives available for retrieval.By Lynn Peterso

Business Trend-Going Completely Digital
Mary Hodder owns two printers, but hasn't used either one in more than a year. To tell the truth, she can't remember the last time she printed something.A WiredNews Story.

Profile: David Bowman -His Focus Is Curbing Both Theft,
Absence In The Workplace
Ever called in sick when you really weren't? Or maybe taken a few office supplies from your workplace? When you take advantage of your employer, someone may be watching. And it may not be your boss.

Legal Ways To Locate Banks Accounts
The following information has been compiled from various sources to aid law information, bank investigators, law firms and researchers who are in need to obtain checking account information for investigatory reasons only.

Information Security : The Implications of Cyberwar for
National Security and Business
Cyberwar requires a small capital investment to achieve tremendous results.

Testifying On A Subject's Behavior Symptoms
Recently, the Washington Supreme Court reversed a rape conviction partially because the trial court admitted an investigator’s testimony that the defendant’s verbal and nonverbal behavior symptoms were indicative of guilt. A John Reid Investigative Tips Article.

New Technology: Defeating Caller ID And Caller ID Spoofing
Your target has long ago used the “Caller ID” phone feature to ensure you don’t get through. You desperately want to penetrate the privacy barrier. Who You gonna call? This new service lets you spoof the caller ID display box with any number you want!

How GPS Systems Work
Our ancestors had to go to pretty extreme measures to keep from getting lost. They erected monumental landmarks, laboriously drafted detailed maps and learned to read the stars in the night sky. Things are much, much easier today. You can get a pocket-sized gadget that will tell you exactly where you are on Earth at any moment. As long as you have a GPS receiver and a clear view of the sky, you'll never be lost again.

Interviewing for Credibility: Accurate Identification of Deception Behaviors
Whether conducted by the patrol officer, the victim’s advocate, the prosecutor or the investigator assigned to a special unit in the criminal investigation division, the interview of a victim, witness, suspect or informant is a critical element of any investigation. Precious resources in the form of man power, money, time and equipment can be wasted because of the failure of the interviewer to conduct a complete interview and accurately evaluate the credibility of the information gained from the subject interviewed. by Stan B. Walters

Electronic Eavesdropping & Industrial Espionage..
The Missing Business School Courses
Renowed countermeasures expert Kevin Murray hands you the missing business school short-course on electronic eavesdropping and industrial espionage in a PDF download.

Your Job: Forensic Accountant
This article gives you a run down on a career as as forensic accountant.Information includes qualifications, what a forensic accountant does, salary range, advantages and disadvantages of the career.

New Technology: Internet Spy in the Sky
p2pnet.net News:- Ground-breaking technology that will allow users to visually zoom in on – or fly over – any place on the planet in real time has been developed by a Vincent Tao, a professor at York University in Toronto Canada.

Front Companies-Who Is The End User?
A front company frequently operates like a consultant. It works on behalf of a customer, often with the intent of hiding the identity of the end user. Front companies may be used to locate and acquire technology legally and then export it illegally to an unauthorized recipient.

Top 10 Tips To Help Ensure A Smooth Internal Workplace Investigation
Conducting an internal investigation can be a very complex matter, but one that is very important in certain workers' compensation cases

Searching Smarter, Not Harder
When it comes to searching, more is not always better. Data experts are honing topic maps to better classify the information that's out there. By John Gartner. A WiredNews Article

Is Your Corporate Culture on Drugs?
The use of drug and alcohol testing for current and prospective employees, along with background screening, delivers a far superior result to either procedure used alone. It has long been established that drug testing prior to making an offer of employment is an acceptable first step toward a drug-free workplace. By Barry J. Nadell

How Autopsies Work
Medical examiners are doctors just like any other, except that their patients are dead, and the tools they use in their examination are more likely to come from a hardware store than a medical supply house ("Nurse, please hand me that bread knife..."). HowStuffWorks talked to Atlanta's Deputy Chief Medical Examiner to find out how autopsies work, and what we've learned may surprise you.

Profile: Melissa Connor- Forensic Archaeologist
You might call Melissa Connor an expert on man's inhumanity to man.

Understanding The Difference Between Digital And Analog
Understanding and know the differences, advantages and disadvantages of analoy and digital equipment is important. This article explains just that.

Travel Upstarts Take on Top Sites
A new breed of specialty search engines promise to deliver the best bargains to travelers using the web to find the best airfares and accommodations. They're challenging established sites like Travelocity, Expedia and Orbit.

Co-opting Former Employees: Who Do They Work For?
As a variation of the modus operandi, the use of a visit by a formerly cleared U.S. employee is a good method to collect export-restricted and perhaps classified technical information from unwitting former coworkers. A DSS article

Search Smarter And Untangle the Web
Having trouble finding what you're looking for on the World Wide Web? Cut through the online clutter with a few tips for smarter searching. Whether it's getting more out of Google, exploring other more-focused search engines, or mastering a few advanced search techniques, we'll help you become a savvy searcher by teaching you the right tools to use for each job.

Mall Security Vigilant Against Terrorism
Manchester, Conn. - In a suburban mall outside Hartford, past the Abercrombie & Fitch and the cell phone kiosks, tucked away by the Barnes & Noble, a conference room full of shopping mall security guards are learning to spot suicide bombers.

New Technology-CyberChoking The Spammers
Madrin, Spain -- At the risk of breaching Internet civility, a European Web portal is offering its visitors a weapon against spam: a screensaver program that tries to choke spam servers by flooding them with junk traffic.

How Riot Control Works
This is an extensive presentation from How Things Work on how Riot Control Works.

The ONCIX poster "Espionage is No Sure Bet" won first place (Professional Category) in the National Classification Management Society's poster competition in Reno, Nevada in June 2004. It serves as a reminder that there are no winners in the espionage game. Click on the poster to download it for free.

High Profile Trial Coverage

The Scott Peterson Trial
The Robert Blake Trial
Martha Stewart Coverage
Michael Jackson Trial
Jayson Williams Trial

Investigative News

Credit Headers Live-For Now-Congress Adjourns
With Congress finally in adjournment HR 2971, the Social Security Number Privacy and Identity Theft Prevention Act of 2003 authored by Representative Clay Shaw, R-FL, and its twin, S 2801 by Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, have died in committee of the 108th Congress. By Eddy McClain NCISS Legislative Committee member.

New Lie Detection?
Brain Scan Shows Differences In Truth, Lying
Brain scans show that the brains of people who are lying look very different from those of people who are telling the truth, U.S. researchers said.

Kirk Clore- Private Investigator - Offers Service To Find
People Not " Home For The Holidays
Not everyone knows where their family is during the holidays.
A local private detective is offering a missing persons service to Montgomery County families. “I can’t imagine going through the holidays wanting to be with someone and not knowing how to find them,” said Kirk Clore, a private detective with Clore’s Investigative Agency.

Italian Private Investigators Cleaing Up Digging Up Dirt
Private eyes clean up as Italians take dirty laundry to detective agencies

Video of Hurt Worker Shows How Surveillance Can Backfire
When Robin Hairston, a cleaner for the Metro-North Commuter Railroad, filed a claim against the railroad alleging that she injured her back on the job, Metro-North followed a common defense tactic: It hired a private investigator to videotape her daily activities.

California Supreme Court Rules
Truthful Report From Public Record Is Not Invasion of Privacy
A producer or publisher whose account of a court proceeding is an accurate reflection of the public record enjoys First Amendment protection from liability for invasion of the privacy of persons named therein, no matter how old the case is, the California Supreme Court ruled this month.

Bail Enforcement Agents Snatch Wrong Person
Edgecombe County deputies charged three Raleigh bail bondsmen with snatching the wrong person from his home.

Financial Records Of All Federal Judges Now
Available to the Public, Media
As part of a new judicial monitoring project, Judicial Watch has made available free to the public financial disclosure reports that must be filed by federal officeholders under the 1978 Ethics in Government Act.

Private Firms to Chase Delinquent Taxpayers
When Reps. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) teamed up in September to get the House to pass an amendment blocking the use of private companies to collect back taxes from delinquent taxpayers, it seemed the Bush administration plan might be doomed for at least a year.

Ugly Case Histories Show Value Of 'Positive Paranoia'
A lonely executive falls for a beautiful but conniving employee, who falsely accuses him of sexual harassment in an elaborate shakedown that costs him everything.

Signs Of The Times? Santa Watched With
Spy Camera In England
In what managers described today as a "sad sign of the times", a British shopping centre has installed a spy camera in its Christmas grotto to protect Father Christmas from possible child abuse allegations.

Londoner Jailed In TV Piracy Scam With Help Of
Private Investigator
Toronto-To people in London, Martin Mullen must have seemed like a quiet businessperson who ran a successful computer company from his home. But to police in Florida and satellite television giant DirecTV Group Inc., Mullen ran one of the largest and most sophisticated pirate satellite TV operations they have ever seen.

Former FBI Agent Fined For Privacy Invasion
A federal magistrate today sentenced a former Rochester-based FBI agent to six months of probation because the agent, after his retirement, illegally obtained access to confidential tax information about individuals' earnings.

States Begin Security Checks of Driver's License Photos
 States combat fraud with photo databases and invisible security numbers. At least two state motor vehicle registries in the United States have begun scanning new license photos against databases of pictures, to guard against issuing fraudulent IDs. The measure is one of many new security checks being applied to licenses and ID cards across the country.

Family Hires PI To Hunt Down Alleged Identity Thief
A Rocklin family who have been the victims of identity theft are still waiting for justice even though they have tracked down the people they believe stole their IDs.

They've Got Your Number …
… your text messages and address book, and a way to bug your calls. Why spam, scams, and viruses are coming soon to a phone near you.

Unbalanced Woman Terrorizes Ex-Husband
A Boca Raton man this month is urging the community to be on the lookout for his mentally unbalanced ex-wife, who recently took out a newspaper ad threatening to abduct his children for a “Glatt kosher holiday feast” in New York City.

The Lies Lenders Tell
Now that you have the right to a free peek into your credit file, you might be surprised by what everyone's saying about you. It's easier than ever to set the record straight. But you might not want to after all. Some of those boo-boos may boost your credit score.

Judge Finds Public Entitled To Information About Teachers
Investigations into the actions of teachers accused of misconduct should be public, because educators, like police officers, hold the public's trust, a judge here has ruled.

Microchips In People, Packaging And
Pets Raise Privacy Questions
Implanting a microchip in a pet has become a common practice, but until last week, it may have seemed quite a stretch to implant one in a person.

Private Eyes Criticised Over Covertly Video Taping Rape Victim
Sneaky video footage and photos aimed at discrediting an alleged gang-rape victim in court were an invasion of her privacy, civil libertarians said yesterd

Web Won't Let Government Hide
Given the government keeps tabs on the world using armies of agents, algorithms and wiretaps, how can a citizen compete? Try a browser.

Identity Of Webb Hill Remains Still Unsolved
Only a day away from the six-year anniversary of the discovery of human remains on Webb Hill, the mystery still remains on who the individual was, where he came from and why there is no evidence that anyone was looking for the young man.

PI Jerry Smithey Tails Robber, Leads Police To Him
It was dark by the time Jerry Smithey got around to putting gas in his Honda at the Hiawatha Kwik Shop .....

Maryland Governor Bans Two Reporters
Maryland's governor says his order for state officials to stop speaking with two reporters for The (Baltimore) Sun was "meant to have a chilling effect" on "two writers who have no credibility."
Gov. Robert Ehrlich said on WBAL radio on Nov. 26 that the ban was intended to set a benchmark for the minimum level of accuracy he expects in newspaper coverage of his administration.

Mexico May Sue U.S. Over Pepper-Ball Projectiles
Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Tuesday his government will consider helping migrants sue U.S. officials for improper use of so-called "pepper ball" non-lethal projectiles.

GPS Tracks Man Sought On Child Rape Charges To Mich.
Glousester, Mass.- A man wanted for allegedly raping his girlfriend's 8-year-old daughter then posting pictures of the act on the Internet has been apprehended in Michigan.

Cell Phone Calls In Flight?
Regulators eye revising rules to allow you to make, receive cellular calls on commercial flight. The Federal Communications Commission said that at its Dec. 15 meeting it will discuss possible revisions to rules prohibiting cell phone use on commercial flights. That's the first step of the process needed to lift the ban.

Automated ''Bots'' Overtake PCs Without Firewalls Within 4 Minutes; Experiment Reveals How Different Platforms Protect Against Internet Attacks
Avantgarde today released a study that showed that automated "bots," worms and other threats pummeled six computer platforms over a two-week period with 305,955 total attacks. Results also revealed that an inadequately protected computer fell victim to an actual compromise within four minutes of first plugging into the Internet.

Stalker Hacks Into Student Computer And Takes Nude Photos
A local college student says a stalker got into her home and took nude photos of her using her computer's web camera.

Prying Into FBI Activities
The ACLU files Freedom of Information Act requests to find out why antiterrorism task forces have been monitoring activists. By Ryan Singel.A WiredNews Story.

Spying On Worker Backfires On Metro-North
Metro-North Commuter Railroad, fighting a lawsuit by an injured worker, was partly derailed by the law of unintended consequences.

Foreigners Where Blocked From Bush Site
Surfers trying to view President Bush's official campaign website are finding it a tad difficult to get in. No explanation has been given, even though the site works just fine in the United States.

Middle School Sex Scandal
Reports detail Florida teacher's lewd encounters with boy, 14
Police have released their file in the case of Debra Lafave, the 24-year-old Florida teacher arrested earlier this year for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old boy who attended the Florida middle school where Lafave worked as a reading teacher. Included in the released records was the below Temple Terrace Police Department report of an interview with the victim, who told cops of his trysts with Lafave, who is now facing a variety of felony charges.

Clay Nichols Works With The Dead To Solve Crimes
While other children in the early ’60s in Los Angeles were playing on the beach, Clay Nichols was peering into a microscope and poking at the innards of animals.

Ruling Says Spam Violates Privacy Laws
A University of Ottawa professor has successfully used Canada's new privacy law to stop unwelcome e-mail solicitation.

New Hampshire Brainstorming On Fighting Computer Criminals
New Hampshire is stepping up its fight against computer criminals.
Speaking at a conference on white-collar crime, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said her office is considering a proposal to create a ''master computer brain'' to help investigate computer crime

New Web Site Finds & Downloads

BotSpot.com
Bots are little programs that are commly called intelligent agents. They will perform various types of tasks for you like search the internet, search for newsgroups, monitor the web for you, that that type of thing. This web site has a huge assortment of bot programs you can use.

Animal Abuse Crime Database
Track animal abusers and cases state by state.

Google Labs
Google labs showcases a few of their favorite ideas that aren't quite ready for prime time. Your feedback can help us improve them. Please play with these prototypes and send your comments directly to the Googlers who developed them.

Password Generator
Password Generator allows you to create random passwords that are highly secure and extremely difficult to crack or guess due to an optional combination of lower and upper case letters, numbers and punctuation symbols.

NAIS Email Encrypter And Decrypter
Here is a little Java Program that will encrypt and decrypt any text. Just type out text in the box below to try it and then hit the encrypt key. You can then hit the decrypt key to decrypt it. If you know the key, it will decrypt. Now here is something you can do. Let someone know the URL path to this page. Give them your key. EnCrypt a message and email it to them. They can then go to this page and decrypt it if they have your key number.