• Uganda hires private investigator over journalist’s shooting
• Village hires private investigator to investigate its only police officer

If you need international investigative services or protection, consider hiring Covert Investigative Services.

It appears that Angela Voelkert created a fake account for 17-year-old “Jessica Studebaker,” complete with an attractive photo, and friended her ex-husband. Suspecting all along that it was his wife, David obtained a notarized affidavit: “I am lying to this person to gain positive proof that it is indeed my ex-wife trying to again tamper in my life… In no way do I have plans to leave with my children or do any harm to Angela Dawn Voelkert or anyone else.” He then proceeded to tell the person he had illegally installed a GPS unit on his ex-wife’s car and was seeking to hire someone to kill her. Angela turned this over to the FBI, who, in turn, arrested David. Having produced the notarized affidavit, however, David was able to turn the tables on Angela.

See stories:

• http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/06/10/digital-detectives-custody-battle-leads-to-facebook-double-sting/
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/09/facebook-angela-voelkert-murder_n_873907.html

This twisted tale is unsurprising to the professional investigator because domestic cases, especially those involving custody of children, often are fraught with high emotions. David’s decision to obtain a sworn affidavit was a good idea, but unlikely something most individuals would think of doing. It is not clear whether David was acting under the guidance of a private investigator, but most would have suggested doing exactly what David did. What is more, they could have given David additional security by recording and witnessing his social media interactions with “Jessica Studebaker.”

This story is just another reason private investigators are becoming more necessary in today’s world. Private investigators can assist clients in a variety of personal matters, including those in the still legally uncertain domain of social media. A quality private investigator would have dissuaded Angela from trying to entrap her husband. Instead, she or he would have suggested more civil procedures. For example, Angela should have considered having David’s everyday activities surveilled for some time to insure he was living a life that was proper for their children. In the end, of course, it is possible the investigator would have discovered that David was, in fact, a good father. This evidence could have been reassuring to Angela. Private detectives are not “hired guns” that seek to prove a client’s case for them. Ethical investigators act as collectors of information and third-party witnesses and mediators. Retaining their services is no guarantee of getting what you want, but it certainly would have been prudent for Angela.

In previous posts, we have provided advice that will assist you in finding a quality private investigator and making a good decision regarding the fit of a particular investigator with your case.

Though private investigators may not enjoy the same status and image in the United States that they once did, or get to enjoy adventures on par with Allan Pinkerton, they are still retained by the public, business owners, government agencies, and attorneys to assist in a variety of cases that matter to well-being of citizens and the security of the nation. Below is a list of a few cases in the past few months that are particularly noteworthy. In celebration of Independence Day, let’s salute these professionals for a job well done, and remember that all civil, criminal, and personal matters, big or small, can often benefit from the dedicated work of a professional investigator:

1. Missing Farrah Fawcett Portrait, worth millions, found by a private investigator. [link]
2. Undercover sting, coordinated by a private investigator, proves blackmail and protects bank assets. [link]
3. Missing Loyola University student found in hotel room by professional investigator. [link]
4. Private eye locates homeless man and informs him of a significant inheritance. [link]

Remember that a private investigator can be your advocate. If you currently have a financial, legal, business, or personal issue that you think could be resolved by a private investigator, please do not hesitate to call Covert Investigative Services. We have been retained by clients nationwide.

Private investigators are feeling the pinch too. The cost of operating a private investigations business requires ongoing continuing education, state licensing, liability and auto insurance, office rent, database fees, advertising, and so on. High fuel costs, just like in most professions and business, means less money to pay for unforeseen personal or business-related expenses. Investigators have always charged money for travel expenses related to the cost of an investigation, but this only partly recaptures the full expense of vehicle wear and tear and fuel. In short, the investigators and their clients share the expenses related to “mileage fees.” However, due to high fuel costs, many investigators have been unable to absorb all of the additional expense and have had to raise their mileage rates, or institute special surcharged fuel prices go above $4 per gallon. This unfortunately is not good for the client, and therefore not good for an investigators long-term business interests.

In this blog, I would like to share with readers what they can do to save money. By working to save money for themselves, I believe clients will also help the investigator save fuel and vehicle maintenance. Though the tactics below may cost the investigator a few hours of surveillance time—savings passed onto the client—any lost surveillance or investigative work will be offset by saving on fuel. By sharing some strategies that will help our clients money, investigators will not only use less fuel (hey, it’s good for the environment), but will have better investigative outcomes. Thus, by heeding the three pieces of advice below, we believe our clients will help us create a win-win situation.

1. Gather intelligence. Investigators need good intelligence to do their jobs well. The more intelligence you gather regarding a person’s behaviors and the context of their actions, the less time and travel the investigator will need to invest in establishing the parameters of the investigation. Often clients think they have good intelligence, but they incorrectly recall details or simply just draw upon the investigative subject’s recent practices. This often leads to fallacies of causation or generalization. In a domestic case, for example, a suspicious spouse may recall a recent event that seemed odd. However, his or her suspicions only seem to exaggerate the details. Let’s suppose a husband, for example, returns home two hours later than usual. This does not necessarily mean he was meeting someone. On that particular day, he may have had a post-work doctor’s appointment. By taking a few weeks to systematically record a spouse’s practices, a client may help an investigator avoid the need to establish random surveillances following, in this example, the husband after work. By observing daily practices, routines will become known. Since we are creatures of habit and routine, anomalies in routines become some of the best times to conduct surveillances. The same occurs in business. By looking at data and then correlating it to employees’ workdays, a client can help an investigator see patterns and identify which mobile employees ought to be followed. This will significantly reduce travel that would come with following all mobile employees for some time. In short, the more intelligence a client can provide the better chances that an investigator will spend fewer hours in the field.
2. Don’t skimp on money up front. Investigations can be expensive. Foremost, good investigators want to help clients get what they paid for, and if a good investigator is a good businessperson, he or she will also want the client to feel that she or he got a good deal. Referrals and reassignment is far less expensive than obtaining new clients through advertising. A good investigation, however, does require (as noted above) quality intelligence, which costs money. If you try to cut costs by not allowing the investigator to check, for example, vehicle registrations of a targets’ known associates. If you try to cut costs by avoiding the use of a tracking GPS on a company car or spouse’s vehicle (note: there are legal nuances so you should never do this without consulting an investigator), then the cost of the investigation may increase over time. For example, let’s imagine a frequent scenario where the investigator is following a target from one location to a potential meeting place with his or her paramour. Sometimes an investigator will need to stop a traffic light that the target was able to get through. If, for example, the investigator knows where the potential paramour lives—because of a background search on known colleagues—then the investigator can deduce from driving patterns where the target may be going. If the investigator already knows the potential paramour’s address, he or she has an increased chance of relocating the vehicle and getting quality surveillance video. If, however, the client forgoes such up front data gathering, then the investigator may spend time driving around with the hope of relocating a vehicle. In addition, surveillance may have to be rescheduled, increasing fuel use and additional hours of billable time.
3. 
   Follow your investigator’s advice. This piece of advice is related to the second. It is probably some of the most important advice a client can receive, but often the most challenging to accept. Emotions run high in domestic investigations, so it is easy to want to confront a potential cheating domestic partner or spouse. Businesses want to quickly rid themselves of a suspicious employee. Being patient during surveillance is not always easy. However, it is important a client listen to the investigator, not because she or he she is always right, but because she or he has the best intelligence. A client cannot see what is going on during fieldwork. Getting too involved can create problems both for the client and the investigator. The great unknown for everyone is the target’s practices. Ideally, the investigator would be able to predict movement and establish a surveillance point just before the target moves. This way, the investigator is not spending 8 hours in the field waiting for a target’s movement. Intelligence can help close this gap, but it cannot fully close it. A client may think that surveillance is only going to be a few hours. But let’s say the target spends more time at work, or does not, on the first day, go to anticipated places. Or let’s assume the target engages in less public (and therefore less observable to the investigator) behavior. If a client micromanages or does not take the advice of the investigator, then he or she may pull the investigator away from a surveillance. In most circumstances, the client will want another surveillance to occur at a later time. Every time surveillances start and stop, the investigator has to travel to and from her or his office. All of this increases fuel usage and the cost of an investigation. If an investigator advises you to wait, then do so; it will cost you a bit more money then, but a lot less in the end.

The above pieces of advice will definitely work toward helping save the fuel costs associated with an investigation. Nothing is more important than honest and open communication between an investigator and his or her client, though. You should feel comfortable with your investigator. If you do not, choose an investigator with whom you do. Each investigator has his or her own approaches to doing investigating and operating his or her business.  There are many of us available to serve your needs, so shop around. If you happen to be in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, I’d, of course, appreciate your business. If you think you may have trouble covering the costs of an investigation, speak with an investigator. Often she or he has savvy ideas to help reduce investigative expenses for a client. So call an investigator today to discuss the particulars of your case and see what kind investigation can be conducted with few stops at the gas pump.

While some people, such as cyber libertarians, do not lock down their network for ideological reasons, others simply do not know how to protect themselves. Leaving your WiFi network exposed can create serious financial and legal problems.

A recent Associated Press article reported that Barry Covert, a Buffalo, New York homeowner, was awoke in the middle of the night by a SWAT unit with an arrest warrant. They believed he was a child pornographer who went by the name “Doldrum.” After being arrested, Covert continued to proclaim his innocence, though he had to prove that he was not who the investigators thought. After searching through his personal computers,the police ultimately determined that Covert had been telling the truth–”About a week later, agents arrested a 25-year-old neighbor and charged him with distribution of child pornography. The case is pending in federal court.” Cover was lucky, but the article reports on other cases, showing that this is not an uncommon problem. Orin Kerr, a professor at George Washington University Law School, notes that this is one reason to secure a WiFi network: “Whether you’re guilty or not, you look like the suspect.”

We’ve already blogged, to some degree, on this topic for businesses. So in this article we want to cover ways to securing your WiFi network. For more see Bradley Mitchell’s article posted on About.com.

1. Change default administrator passwords.
2. Disable SSID Broadcast
3. Assign static IP address to devices
4. Turn off network during extended periods of nonuse.

These four things alone will help you protect your WiFi network against undesired use. If you notice your network has slowed, this is a good sign that you may have been hacked. Be sure to take measures to protect yourself.

Obviously, if you find that your network has been improperly used, hire a private investigative company skilled at computer forensics. Whether you are building a defense case or taking preemptive measures, private investigators can help you track down people who have illegally used your network and help build a case for civil or criminal pursuit or defense.

Also, if you are interested in writing an employee manual, please check out this handy book:

]]> http://covert-pi.com/blog/2011/02/07/for-your-records/feed/ 0 http://covert-pi.com/blog/2011/02/03/cya-get-tonecheck-to-monitor-your-email/ http://covert-pi.com/blog/2011/02/03/cya-get-tonecheck-to-monitor-your-email/#comments Thu, 03 Feb 2011 17:41:02 +0000 Administrator http://covert-pi.com/blog/?p=79 We’ve blogged in the past about the need for small businesses to think about cost-effective solutions to security, employee monitoring, and due diligence. So when a program comes along that could help you legally monitor (if implemented correctly) your and your employees’ emails with internal and external stakeholders, we want to pass this information along.

Entrepreneur Magazine recently published an article about ToneCheck, an email plug-in that flags emotionally charged and other inappropriate email. With a relatively good freeware version and a reasonably-priced full version for use in small to large enterprises, ToneCheck provides a line of defense against harassing and inappropriate emails. You know, those types of emails that may originate in a time of intense anger or passion, or when you’re rushing to send off a rushed email.

If, for example, your employee wants to send a message, in jest, that reads “Ugh, you suck!” the “CYA” program comes to the rescue: a box pops up informing the sender that she or he “has exceeded the company’s tone tolerance.” You can, of course, create various settings, and it does not stop an email; it only warns the sender. Such a program. however, can come in handy for a variety of reasons.

When used legally and strategically as part of your broader risk- and security-management, this program can help mitigate risk of lawsuit or lost business. For example, if you have this program installed on all of your computers, with employees’ full awareness, they may actually appreciate this handy tool. Before an employee sends you that angry-toned email about how you’re such a “bosshole” (admittedly, Entrepreneur Magazine said this one got through), the program will warn him or her that the message is “threatening.” In short, the employee will appreciate that this program saved their job.

Before an employee sends along a sexually-provocative joke throughout the office, “just to make people laugh,” the program will warn them of the risk. If she or he still proceeds, and your employee handbook specifically notes “that we do not tolerate the exchange of inappropriate emails (e.g., sexually explicit or racist in tone),” and you further specify that sending the email after warning by ToneCheck, the employee can face legitimate reprimand or termination. Also, you can show due diligence in court should a discrimination lawsuit be filed.

As a tool for yourself and your employees, y’all will be warned regarding the tone of an email to a potential or current customer. If you or your employee happens to be in a rush, the program will warn that the email can be interpreted as “threatening.” You don’t want to say “It has been annoying…, upsetting…, troubling…,”—which are all somewhat angry—when you really want to convey the following:  “It has been concerning me for some time that you have not been able to keep up on payments.” Yes, you may be annoyed or angry, but you don’t want to lose a good customer just because they interpreted your email as threatening.

Of course, a program is only as good as it is used and it can only be used with the appropriate type of monitoring. If you find that a particular employee has a tendency toward writing violent or threatening emails, especially if unconsciously, you may want to hire a private investigator to look into the person’s history or to conduct a thorough investigation. This program could just help you uncover an employee who is threatening sabotage or violence against you or your company’s interests.

If you have questions regarding how a private investigator may be able to help you, please contact Covert Investigations to see how we may be able help you. Our initial telephone consultations, as always, are free.