Comparing Surveillance Choices

I love the way things have gone - in a high tech way for digital photography.  I have used a Digital Canon EOS with great success as far as long range surveillance photos.  I decided to compare still photos from the Canon and a JVC Everio to see this difference.

Canon EOS 80-300mm Zoom - full zoom

JVC Everio 40X zoom -at 40x

Both shots were taken free hand (no tripod or other assistance).  As you can see, both shots are relatively clear.  I must note that I am glad the JVC has image stabilization, as I was shaking quite a bit at full zoom.  I do not have a very steady hand.

The shortcoming for the JVC is that the battery fife while in use is a little over 2 hours.  Whereas on standby, the Canon is much longer.  However, neither will stay on, all by themselves with no activity for a long time.  The advantage to the Canon, is the extra weight makes it a bit easier to hold steady (this can be compensated with  a camera stabilizer on the JVC is need be).  When I know I will be taking far off shots - I will likely be prepared with a tripod or other stabilization tool.

The JVC fits in the palm of my hand, is lighter - so it will pretty much replace the Canon - as least as of now.  It will be in my "always carry around" arsenal of equipment while I am working.   The still shots have great quality, and the zoom capability is excellent.  I like the built in lens cover too.  I have not tried the low lux feature yet.  A review of that will be coming up shortly.

If you are just starting in the business, I would highly recommend getting the JVC Everio with low lux capability before getting a nice digital SLR.  The size, capability, and price difference is well worth it.

What ever you do - stay safe!

Three Keys to Success in Investigations

I have had people ask me how can they become a successful investigator?  I sat down the other day and came up with these three key points.  If you really want to succeed as an investigator, you need to continually learn new ideas and methods, but not forget about the basics.  With all of the electronic shortcuts, some investigators forget to actually investigate things, which is a shame.  The following are the three key points I have come up with:

1. One of the most important things I know for anyone to have in their work is a passion to do well in their job.  This passion may be that you just really love what you do.  I for one am one of those people that really love what I am doing right now.  I am a people person, and I am constantly meeting people all the time and I love the interaction.

 I also love studying people and their behavior.  I know of no other job that lets me do this – including being a psychologist.  They almost never get to study people when they are totally unaware that they are being observed.  If you are a people person, loving the investigations business and having a passion for your work can come easy.

2. Another key element to success in investigation, is perseverance.  Now, I know that you will not always be compensated to persevere, so we cannot always check out every single lead to the end.  But you need to have the never-give-up attitude.  When your clients see this attitude in you – you give them the confidence that you will succeed.

This does not mean you will always catch a cheater cheating.  It also does not mean that you will catch the fraudulent insurance or disability claimant.  Sometimes they are not cheating.  Sometimes the claimant is really disabled.  You cannot make them actually cheat or commit fraud.  Also, sometimes they can just avoid being caught for a period more than your client can afford to pay you.

3. Honest self criticism is necessary for you to continually improve as an investigator.  For the inexperienced investigator, I suggest finding an experienced friend who will do this with you.  Do not get offended if they find something you have missed or have done wrong.  Be open to suggestions, even from people who are not “experts” as new ideas should always at least be considered.

What I have done when doing self criticism, is that when I notice I did something wrong, or I missed something, I make a note of it, both in the file, and in a notebook I use for generic notes for myself.  In a recent case, I forgot something as basic as to confirm the identity of someone I was interviewing.  I feel silly for doing it, but I did not even realize I did it until I wrote the report of the investigation.  You can bet that is not going to happen again.  When I make mistakes in an investigation, I do not charge the client to correct the issue, because that one is on me.

If you do these three things on a consistent basis, you will have good investigations that get better as time goes on.  Always study, learn, and especially learn from your mistakes.  Becoming not just a good, but an exemplary investigator is goal I have, and you can attain that goal yourself with a little self discipline.

Cell Phone Recon - a Review

I decided to try out Cell Phone Recon.  I installed it on my own phone to see how it performs and what all it really does.  Here is what I can do.  I can see what calls came into the phone, calls made from the phone, text messages to and from the phone.  Emails to and from the phone (though some of these have not been tracked well).  I also can track where I have been (via the cell phone) by GPS.  Also you can switch phones when you want - but you can only monitor one phone at a time.

The program has a way to back up all of this information.  I initially tried it out so I could recommend (or not ) the product.  I decided it works really well, and I am going to keep it on the phone for 2 reasons.

1.  It is a great CYA tool for work.  I can prove where I have been and calls I have made, etc.
2.  It is a good security tool for the phone.  If my phone gets lost/stolen - I can find it via cell phone recon. I really like that idea.

Over all cell phone recon works as advertised.  It is a great tool for you to use in investigations (if used properly under the law) and a great security feature for your own phone.

I highly recommend this product.  You can get it from Brickhouse Security

Whatever you do - stay safe!

No Excuse for Shoddy Investigation!

 Photo: Melissa Phillip / © 2011 Houston Chronicle

Whenever you have a criminal case - one of the most basic things is to check the criminal history of the defendant.  Often this information cannot be used against the defendant during the trial.  However, it always can be used for the defendant in the trial.

This basic step of investigation really stands out in the case of LaDondrell Montgomery.  He was wrongfully convicted of robbery.  How do I know he was wrongfully convicted?  He was in jail at the time!

It seems more and more I come across cases with shoddy investigative work.  Why the basics are over looked in felonies baffles me.  Sure, in our age of surveillance cameras and instant information, there are a lot of things that  make our job easier.  However, you cannot get away from the basics in a good investigation.  If you do, it may just bite you in the butt.

See more about the story here.

Is It Time You Got Your Smart Phone?

Smart phones are really great tools.  They are especially great for private investigators.  I finally broke down and got an Android phone, and I have used it like crazy.  You can take notes, keep track of your mileage, integrate photos with map locations, browse the web, and you can use skip trace services on the spot.

I use the maps and latitude feature on my phone all the time.  I can track movements from surveillance and spot my exact location right away.  I have a Tom Tom which I love, but this app helps me go back and follow up much easier.

If you do civil process service there is an app that is great for that too.   You can get a good app from http://www.truthinservice.com for about $80. I contract with a company and do process service and they have their own app.  It seems to work pretty well.  


I also use Droid Scan a lot for copying documents.  All you need to do is have decent lighting and use the phone's camera to capture the document.  The program does a good job of automatically cropping the edges of the document.  It works really well and you can upload scanned documents to Google docs for later use.  The OCR feature is pretty good if you need to make reports using information out of the documents.


It takes some practice and time to get really good at all of these apps, but there are many free ones that can get you going and help you with your work.  I went a route that many may or may not want to go - I did the straight talk thing with the $45/month unlimited talk, text, and data - so far I have been happy with the phone, features and service.


Whatever you do out there - be safe!

Tracking Phones Using GPS

There are a lot of people that just do not understand about GPS tracking of cell phones.  A lot of people believe that just because a phone has GPS capability, that the phone can be tracked using GPS.  That is simply not the case and here is why:

1.   A GPS unit does not transmit anything to the GPS system.  It simply receives signals from multiple satellites to allow it to calculate its current position. This it true for hand held GPS units, cell phones, TomToms and all other GPS capable devices.

2.  For someone to be able to track a phone using GPS a few things need to take place first.

      a) The phone must have the GPS activated.  This may seem obvious, but a lot of people do not realize     this.  Some phones have GPS activated in the default setting - so check your phone if you are not sure.
      b) The phone must store the locations after acquiring the GPS coordinates.  Most phone do this automatically if the GPS function has been activated.  Note: All iPhones and iPads appear to log your location to a file called "consolidated.db." This contains latitude-longitude coordinates along with a time-stamp.  Technically these are not done using GPS, but by cell tower triangulation.  This information does not leave your phone unless you have certain apps (see c)

      c) Some type of location sharing application has to be activated for the phone to be able to be tracked. This means the phone either is connected via the internet or sends the coordinates through text messages to a certain location.

I will expand on c just a bit.  There are a lot of apps that may not tell you that you are sharing your location.  At least they do not tell you overtly.  An few of these applications are:  Family GPS Tracker, GPS Tracker (for Android), Google Latitude, There are several "stealth" programs that can be installed, but a lot of social networking apps reveal and store your location in servers not in your phone.

3. Getting the GPS information from cell companies takes a subpoena for private investigators, but that information may be available for a lot of phones nowadays.

Whatever you do - stay safe.

How Long Do the Cell Companies Keep Information?

Wired Magazine broke a story that includes a memo "For Law Enforcement Only" that covers how long each cell phone carrier keeps information on cell phone calls and tracking.  This includes information on where a cell phone has been (for ATT from 2008 to present) to billing information , calls made, text messages, etc.  This can be useful information in many cases.  For a PI in Texas you will need a subpoena to get this, but knowing how long the information is kept by the carriers is very important. You can see the memo here.

The story is about the court ruling that the government does not need a warrant to get cell tower information  from the cell phone service carriers.  This includes tracking the movements of the cell phone.  The ruling basically says it is up to the district courts to decide if law enforcement needs a warrant.  That is Federal Law.  Texas state law requires a subpoena to obtain the records.

Ars Technica has a good article with detailed information concerning all of the stored infoprmation.  They have an easy to read chart for your viewing pleasure.

The point is - knowing how long the data is kept by the companies can be very useful when investigating  a case.

Remember to stay safe!