Understanding How to Assess Intelligence

OK,  I know when people see "intelligence" they think about spy agencies and whatnot. Well, most of what PIs deal with is intelligence.  Sometimes a PI will forget about assessing the intelligence "because the information is so good."  What I mean by that is, we learn something from a source that really could blow the case wide open.  We need to tread lightly, if we do not assess the intelligence.

OK, I have already over used "assess" so I will explain what I mean.  When we gather information, we need to weigh the quality of information we receive.  We really need to explain this if and when we pass this information on in our reports.  One line you should never see in a PIs report is "I learned that..." or "I discovered that..." at least not with an explanation of how it was learned/discovered.

You see, sometimes how you get the information is nearly as important as the information itself.  I am not saying you need to reveal your sources directly.  Example:  Let's say you run a report from one of the data companies.  The report shows that your person of interest resides at 123 Austin Street, Houston, TX.  Look at the report closely.  Does it show a driver's license using that address?  Can you find a second source through public records or even a Google search?  You should never just say "Well, Acme information service says he lives there."

Here is an example of what I mean.  I had to farm out a paper to be served out of state.  I gave them the information that I had.  I also explained where I received the information.  This included using "a friend of a friend on Facebook."  It also included jail booking records and what agency it was from.

If I just said "I have information he is at that address." without passing on how I got the information, the people receiving it have no idea how to assess the information.

This happens all the time.  What happens?  Someone telling me information without giving me an idea where it came from.  How do I know it happens?  I get something from someone almost every day this way.  What happens when I cannot confirm the information or deny it right away?  I have to pick up the phone or email and ask how did they get the information.

Save a step - pass on how you got the information.  You may have to say, "I have an informant I have used in the past that has been very reliable."  That is OK.  Or, "I learned it from the Ex."  Exes often keep closer tabs on the whereabouts of the ex than they did when they were together - go figure.

Weigh your intelligence, it will help you know how much time and effort to put in on what you are doing,   Sometimes you only have a sliver of information, and that is fine.  Just know how to use your resources wisely.

Stay safe!

Serving "That Guy"

I just want to say, sometimes you run into "that guy" when you are serving papers.

He is angry that you are serving him.
He thinks if he doesn't touch the papers, then he isn't served.
He thinks he can make some sort of statement that will somehow negate the service.
He thinks he can intimidate you with threats of calling the police.
He thinks he can intimidate you with threats claiming you are trespassing.

That guy.  Well, I actually served that guy the other day.  Yes, he tried to employ every one of those tactics.  The one I found most amusing, was the "trespassing" one.  Here is what the place looked like when I approached:

This is a blurry pic - but I didn't want to use a good one, as not to reveal "too much."  However, it is easy to see the open front gate and the fact that th door to the porch is standing open (which I did not go through).

"That Guy" tried to claim he had a "no trespassing sign."   I asked him where, as I never saw one.  Then he pointed towards the house next door and said "It is way down there."

Here is how it went down:

I walked up and knocked on the wall by the open door.  I waited and knocked again.  "That Guy" walked up from inside the house and closed that glass door.  I introduced myself and told him why I was there.  I already recognized the guy from his jail booking photos.

"That Guy" said he didn't know me, he wagged his finger at me, and said "Get off my property."  I told him "OK", then I said "You are served." See that gap above the door?  I slid the papers in there before walking away.  "That Guy" then grabs the papers, opens the door and throws them on the ground.

This began his threats of calling the police - to which I said go ahead.  He then said he was already served and already has a court date - which I told him the date was on the papers and I was not sure what that was. He then complained that I threw something into his house.

It was really not that big of a deal, but he was indeed "That Guy."

Stay Safe!

The Great Transformation

I served a woman today that I hardly recognized. I served her two days before in jail. Today I saw her leaving the courthouse and I served her.

In “vulgar” terms – she looked like a crack whore in jail. When I saw her outside the courthouse she looked really good. She knew it too, as she asked me how I recognized her. I mostly went by the fact she was the same height, weight and hair color and I knew where she was supposed to be. I don’t think I have both photos as cameras are not allowed in the jail. 

I was pretty much amazed at her transformation.

Sorry - no photos to protect her privacy

Judge Gone Wild

Apparently, in Jefferson County Texas, Judge Layne Walker, has decided either he is the law or is at least above the law.  It looks like something that would be going on in a banana republic, but no, it is happening in Texas.   I have not checked the party affiliation of the judge, as that does not matter.  Government gone bad is government gone bad. There are many accusations against said judge, and his actions as reported in articles, are not professional or are downright corrupt.

Allegedly, the judge had pulled a gun on a process server that was attempting to serve him.  The same judge then incarcerated the same process server for trying to serve the same documents to the judge at the Jefferson County Courthouse.  The server was not charged for anything, until long after he had been in custody.

It seems the Judge is really annoyed at what has been reported by Investigator Philip Klein.  You can read more about this and other things concerning this judge and the complicit sheriff at The Southeast Texas Political Review.

WND has taken notice and has an article about the Texas Judged (sic) Accused of Corruption Goes on Legal Rampage.  It speaks of even more bad behavior that the Judge appears to have been doing.  People often ask how can things get this bad?  When the powers that be either fear or are complicit with a judge like this, it is easy for it to grow into a lawless situation. The Texas Rangers will not investigate without the permission of the District Attorney.  Maybe many turn their head because the Texas Gang Investigators Association has recognized Judge Layne Walker with a state-wide "Ted Poe Damn Good Judge" award for what the group calls his effort to help combat gang activity.  After all, he puts gangsters away!

Just because the judge does one thing you like doesn't mean that the (alleged) flood of ongoing bad behavior should be ignored.

I just could not pass up posting about this.  Whatever you do, stay safe!

The Friday Afternoon Rush

In my business, I find a common factor of Fridays.  I believe it is because attorneys and "legal service" companies want to clean up their pending workload before weeks end.  So, more often than not, there is a Friday rush of papers to be served.

I even usually wait to go do Friday evening serves until after 5pm, to make sure that I will be able to catch all of thos last minute papers.  The problem is, some find ways to even get them to me after that.  Many of the people that I serve for email me th documents to be served.  On company, I went out on Friday and returned after 7pm, and still had no new documents.  When I checked on Saturday, there were 10 new papers to be served.  I was originally planning on a "slow" Saturday, but that had changed my plans.

Yes, I could have waited until Monday to start service, but I really do not like having a lot of pending work myself, but that applies to any day - not just Fridays.

I have learned to expect the rush of papers, but sometimes they still find ways to surprise me.

STay Safe!

Process Service and Investigations - it is Similar, but not the Same

I get asked a lot about the differences between process service and investigations.  While thaere are many differences, there are similarities.  Sometimes to find the person to be served, you need to do some investigating yourself.  You may need to find where the person lives, works and hangs out.  The reason is you may need to serve them where ad when you know you can find them.

Process Service is 99% about being in the same place at the same time as the person you are serving.  This is easy enough when you have cooperative folks, and can be very difficult when people are trying to avoid service.  Sometimes you need to learn a prson's schedule and habits.  You need to learn about the vehicle they drive and may need to get a description or photograph of the subject.

One more similarity is surveillance.  There are those pesky serves that can only be done with surveillance.  You simply need to wait un noticed until the person eing served is leaving or arriving from a place you know the will be.

Since serves have a set fee, you usually need to get permission from the client to charge for "wait time" if you are going to conduct surveillance on a serve.  Otherwise, you are costing yourself money if you are doing a serve.  I know a lot of servers out there, myself included a time or two, that just get fed up with the avoidance that you make all sorts of special efforts to make the serve.  Sometimes it is just a matter of pride.

Whatever you do - stay safe!

The B-I sitch that Did Not Want to be Served

A few days back I had papers to serve on a woman that I knew was ducking service.  At night, I could see the lights on in her apartment and even see movement inside.  She would not answer the door.

So I tried several times of day to catch her.  I had figured out what car was hers so I sat out from zero-dark thirty to wait for her to go to work or whatever.  After a couple of hours, I see a woman that fit the description given to me walking to the car.

I call her by name tell her who I am and try to hand her papers.  She has that "deer in the headlights" look and tried to ignore me as she gets into her car. (she has two toe-headed kids in tow).  After she opens the driver's door, she gets in and I drop the papers in her lap.  BOOM!  She has been served.

I guess she thought she could "unserve" herself.  She opens the door and throws the papers on the ground.

I informed her it did not matter what she did with the papers, as she had been served.

She then drove off...

I guess she tears up traffic tickets expecting them to go away too.

- Be Safe!

Starting Out as a PI - How to Survive

I recently started helping some out in developing a PI's survival guide for new and upstart PIs.  Some old timers will frown upon my share "trade secrets" but I am of the belief that there is a lot of work out there for private investigators that work hard and continually are trying to improve their trade craft.

The following are a few tid-bits of information I shared:

The first and foremost thing I learned to do is incorporate.  It wasn't that much to file (I don't remember the cost, but it wasn't high) as an LLC and you really don't need a lawyer to do so - pretty simple instructions from the Secretary of State.  You need this protection. I learned this the hard way from my father's business when he was a Hertz agent.  Someone who got in an accident and it was their fault sued my father.  They didn't win the case, but the cost of defending himself took pretty much all he had saved up.

The next thing I recommend (though some PIs do not want to do this) is get certified as a process server and do this before or as they are waiting to become a licensed PI.  There are a lot of similarities and it can get the foot in the door with attorneys.  The process of becoming a licensed PI in Texas can take quite a while.  Through no fault of my own, it took me more than 6 months from when I first applied and I passed the managers test on the first try.  Maybe I will tell that whole story sometime later.

One key issue that hampered me was I did not know what equipment I needed.  Remember, I was starting out as a private investigator and had not done investigations privately, only as a police officer.  I bought a lot more stuff than I needed, and think more than anyone would NEED, but all the cool stuff made me buy too much.

So what equipment do I recommend? The piece of equipment I use the most, and works for me in all sorts of circumstances is a Sony digital recorder I bought at Wal-Mart.  I can put the thing on record and even drop it in a cargo pocket in some pants and it records conversations perfectly.  I paid all of $69 plus tax.  I did add a 2 Gig card.  The model is ICD-PX312.  Did I say I use this ALL the time.  I replaced the batteries after about 8 months, even though the battery indicator showed they were still OK.

But Guess what?  You can buy it even cheaper today.  Here is an example:

You can find one as cheap as $28 bucks now.  

I have more on this, but I hate long posts - stay tuned and stay safe!

Diligence v. Diligence

I know that you can only work with the tools that are available to you.

Think about this for a moment.  As a private investigator – you are given information by a client as a starting point.  If you are like me, there is a about a 30-40% chance that some of that information is not correct.  A name will be spelled incorrectly or it will be the wrong name altogether.  An address given will be incorrect.  Dates, times, and anything involving a number seems to have a higher chance of being incorrect than other basic information.

This is why it is so important to get as much information as possible.  This was the investigator can cross-check the information so as to start the investigation in the right place or with the right person.  It may not be the investigator’s fault that (s)he was given bad information.  The problem is, the client rarely sees it that way.  This is also why written information is so much better to go on than verbal.  When you have a written request – it is obvious what you were asked to do.

Diligence vs. Diligence

Diligence – I have harped on this before.  You need to be at least diligent in all that you do.  I do not mean the legal definition of diligence. You do not want to rely on what some information database gives to you alone.  Remember to actually investigate.  Talk to people. Make phone calls.  Check other sources of records.   Diligence is rarely specifically defined in a legal sense.  When it is, it usually does not require all that much.

Some legal dictionaries say things like: “diligence n. reasonable care or attention to a matter, which is good enough to avoid a claim of negligence, or is a fair attempt (as in due diligence in a process server's attempt to locate someone).” Or something like "due diligence is a measure of prudence, activity, or assiduity, as is properly to be expected from, and ordinarily exercised by, a reasonable and prudent person under the particular circumstances; not measured by any absolute standard but depends on the relative facts of the special case."


Legal diligence basically is “just enough to not get sued” or what is “expected.”  I hope that you do more that what is expected.  Strive for excellence.  That is how I handle all of my cases, from the background check, a process service, or a homicide.   I have to work within the constraints of the client’s budget, but that does not mean I will do a half-a$$ed job.  I may not be able to put in all the hours I would like for a case, but what hours I do put in, they will be productive ones.

I have noticed that it seems I get the job done in less time than a lot of investigators out there.  When you are doing your job in an effective manner, you will do it faster than someone just billing hours.  I am not talking about surveillance, because we all have no control over the subject of the investigation.  We have to wait for him or her to make their move.

You can be diligent, as described in a regular dictionary: “constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything or done or pursued with persevering attention; painstaking: a diligent search of the files.”  That is a good thing.  It is a much better practice than the “legal” definition of diligence.  When in doubt – do your best!

And whatever you so - Stay Safe!

Process Servers Who Conduct Investigations

There seems to be a big fuss over whether or not process servers conduct investigations to locate people they serve. We all know that often a process server does conduct some sort of locate investigation to complete the service, they can do that for themselves all they want.

I think the area of concern is when a process server wants to sell this information that they derived from their own investigation. Once a process server charges a fee for that information, that is when it appears that process server has crossed the line if he or she is not a licensed private investigator. Said line they crossed being “conducting investigations without a license.”

I'm not trying to give legal advice here. I'm just giving my own opinion as to how I see everything unfolding. There are many PIs out there who are also process servers. Obviously there is no problem with these folks charging for the information. But when someone is a process server and not a private investigator, and they are conducting investigations for a fee whether it be before or after the fact is a violation of the law.

OCC §1702.104. INVESTIGATIONS COMPANY. (a) A person acts as an investigations company for the purposes of this chapter if the person: (1) engages in the business of obtaining or furnishing, or accepts employment to obtain or furnish, information related to: … the identity, habits, business, occupation, knowledge, efficiency, loyalty, movement, location, affiliations, associations, transactions, acts, reputation, or character of a person;

I'm not sure why there's any confusion on this issue. There are exceptions listed in the code. The list is quite long but process servers are not an exception.

Remember that not only is the process server violating the law, but the person who hires the process server to obtain the information is also subject to fine. If you ever have a doubt – just make sure you hire a real Texas PI who is licensed.

Whatever you do – stay safe!