Trying to find people, especially people who don’t want to be found, is not easy. Tools exist to make a search easier but it is rare an amateur will successfully find someone. For the best chance of success, hire someone who finds people for a living.
Winning the court case means that it has been determined that the other party is at fault and must pay up, but it is rare that the party actually does so. If this person were willing to take responsibility no legal action would have been necessary.
One popular way of avoiding payment if for the person or corporation involved to hide their money then claim inability to pay. Asset searches are necessary to find the party’s financial resources. Once they money is found then further action can be taken to make sure it ends up in your hands.
There are countless tricks people use to hide their wealth and that is what makes asset searches so challenging. Techniques can be as simple as withdrawing their savings in cash and burying it in the backyard. People can hide the money in accounts under the name of a child, friend or other willing party. Methods can get as complex as a web of false identities using stolen Social Security numbers.
It is common practice to run complete background investigations on workers from factory line employees to CEO candidates. In fact, the higher a position in the company, the more likely the need for an investigation.
Calling an applicant’s previous employer is no longer a useful avenue of investigation. Increased liability means that HR departments won’t do any more than confirm that a person used to work there. This applicant might have been fired for embezzlement or assault on a co-worker, and yet their employer can’t admit that to you without risking a lawsuit.
Not all revelations need to be that dramatic. Falsification of credentials from past work history to college degrees is common at all levels of employment. Discovering this fraud says a lot about the applicant’s character and saves your company embarrassment.
This weekend we worked an infidelity investigation where we were following a husband because his wife thought he was seeing another woman. After 4-days of surveillance we reported no evidence that the husband saw another woman.
The wife was upset with the results because she still believed that her husband is cheating on her. We reported our investigative finding and showed the wife video evidence of the husbands activates for the weekend. She still was not satisfied.
I feel that anytime you conduct an investigation you need to have clearly defined objectives. If you have doubts as a spouse provide the investigator with as much information as you have and accept the results of the investigation.
Even if your company is not involved in classified activities, you may still be the target of espionage activities by foreign governments.
There are a number of laws restricting the export of materials such as encryption software or advanced electronics. Foreign governments will seek other avenues to get access to these products. Any organization that handles restricted items should have a counter intelligence program in place. While this may sound farfetched, there are numerous examples of these operations. For instance, many model rocketry clubs have implemented criminal background checks on new members because terrorist organizations try to infiltrate them to obtain explosives.
If you have strong evidence of espionage, particularly if criminal or foreign intelligence activities are suspected, then the police or the FBI would be the place to go. However in most cases, companies have no idea that this is happening. Implementing a counter intelligence office sweep is an important first step in discovering these activities.
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Employee theft can range from the occasional box of paper clips to millions of dollars in securities. Embezzlement schemes can be hard to discover, often shielded behind confusing arrays of false identities and fictional bank accounts. Surveillance companies are experts in asset searches that will track the activity.
Not all counter intelligence is about actions aimed directly at your company. Sometimes your organization can be an incidental victim to other criminal activities. Criminals may be stealing employee Social Security numbers or customer credit card information. Hackers can create hidden areas on your servers to host pirated software, child pornography or other illicit files. Again, it can be difficult to discover these operations without the help of experienced counter intelligence specialists.
When performing a physical security evaluation of a surveyed area, a starting point must be established. It might be the door or a corner of the room. No mater where it is, a SYSTEMATIC examination must be performed of everything on or against the walls, progressing in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction until a complete 360 degree circuit of the room has been completed. When checking items, they should be compared with like items whenever possible for weight and composition. If an item doesn’t seem correct, perform a critical examination, to include X-Ray if necessary.
Most of the time when a process server goes out to deliver a civil document there was never a question of safety, but a question of will the subject avoid service. Recently, a process server was killed after trying to serve divorce papers on a subject. The subject became angry and killed the process server all because he did not want a divorce from his wife.
There are questions that we have to ask the client to keep us safe and to have successful service. Ask your client about the person you are serving.
Is the subject known for having a temper?
Is the service in a dangerous area?
When will this person be home?
Can we serve them at work?
Get as many details as possible. If it is a domestic case, try serving the person at work. They are less likely to become violent or give you a problem if there are at work. Keep your cell phone handy in case you run into a hostile situation.
If you are an attorney or paralegal reading this PLEASE warn your process server if you believe the subject is violent.
In Texas, there are thousands of people in prison awaiting trial or an appeal for a criminal offense they did not commit. If you gave the majority of those people a choice between hiring a “Great Lawyer with No Private Investigator” or a “Good Lawyer with a Great Private Investigator”; most would hire the “Great Lawyer with NO Private Investigator”. Most criminal defendants think that lawyer can also be their investigator. A great criminal defense lawyer knows about 85% of what happens at trial is a direct result of the work done outside of the courtroom before the trial begins. Don’t let your attorney or anyone else tell you that you don’t need your own investigator.
Being a former Police Officer and FBI Agent, I know there are always two sides to the truth. During my 20 year career, I have seen many people get prison and probation sentences because there was no one willing to investigate their side of the truth. I have seen lawyers all over the state work out plea bargains, probation and prison sentences for clients when they were not always necessary.
Here are some facts to consider when you are facing criminal charges:
Approximately 70% of all criminal defendants do not have a private investigator working for them.
In every case, the District Attorney has the police investigating for them. Do you think the police will investigate on your behalf?
Hiring your own private investigator gives you a better chance of charges being reduced or dismissed.
Even if you have a court appointed attorney, you may have the right to request that the court appoint a private investigator to investigate your side of the truth.
If your case goes to trial, your defense lawyer will be at a big disadvantage going against the District Attorney if you do not have a private investigator working for you.
Having an experienced private investigator working with a good lawyer will increase the chances of your case being dismissed or the charges getting reduced.