The daughter of a homicide detective, Norma Mott Tillman was only 10 years old when she started sneaking reads from her father’s training manuals.

“I was amazed at how you could figure out what angle the bullet came in, how close range, what kind of knife was used in a stabbing, and how the blood splatter told another story,” Tillman said. “Law enforcement was my destiny.”

The East High School graduate started as a dispatcher. When she completed the Police Academy, Tillman was promoted to the sex abuse unit, where she stayed for 11 years. Gradually, though, local lawyers learned that the petite, polite woman had a knack for finding people.

Fasten your seatbelts, legal mavens. In less than six months, electronic discovery as we know it will undergo very important changes.

Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) that take effect on Dec. 1 are supposed to help reduce litigation costs. The paradox is that electronic discovery costs may increase, especially with respect to work that must be performed within the first 120 days after a lawsuit has commenced.

The purpose of these new rules is to provide early structure, uniformity and predictability. But the reality is that right from the get-go, the parties in a lawsuit will need to start evaluating with their IT teams and outside counsel where they stand in terms of their own electronic data.

Let that be a lesson to you!

When his wife told him she was tired of his cheating ways, Richard Okwi should have paid more attention.  Otherwise, Mama Apio might not have felt compelled to bite his penis clean off.

Okwi, 29, was admitted to the Mulago hospital in Kampala in critical condition after his loving wife bit his penis off at some point during a domestic brawl.

Winston Stewart is a graduate of Seneca’s Law Enforcement program.
Winston Stewart graduated from the Law Enforcement program at Seneca College and went right back to his high school job.
Except this time, instead of just working security at the local mall, his own newly-formed company — Winston Security and Investigative Services — was in charge of security for the local mall. “That was pretty cool,” he says of his firm’s first contract.
As a student starting out in the Law Enforcement program, Stewart was intent on becoming a police officer, but in his second year, he discovered all that the private sector of law enforcement had to offer.
“That was a great part of the course, it gave you all kinds of options,” he explains.
Today, Winston Security offers a multitude of services, including security consulting, private investigation, mobile patrol and digital surveillance systems. The firm employs 47 people, has 26 clients and is pushing $1 million in annual revenue.
It’s a long way away from where he started out — with a small investment from his mom, the income he had from working three part-time jobs, and the one client .
“We were competing against well-established companies,” explains Stewart, who says his youth was also an obstacle. “Who wants to work for a 21-year-old?” he laughs. “I probably wouldn’t go work for someone who is 21.” Dealing with potential clients was also a problem. A fresh-faced college grad doesn’t necessarily bring to mind security. “We didn’t have the business experience or the track record.”
What he did have was his alma mater. “Apart from learning a lot, I was also able to use a few of the professors to help me network. They were coming from the industry.”
For example Winston’s forensics teacher was with the OPP and “was able to fast track a lot of stuff,” says Winston. “It worked out really well.”

Congress is putting on the squeeze, but Colorado’s private investigators still can’t agree how — or if — they should be regulated.

“My best chance of clearing myself of the trouble you’re trying to make for me is by bringing in the murderers — all tied up. And my only chance of ever catching them and tying them up and bringing them in is by keeping away from you and the police, because neither one of you show any signs of knowing what in hell it’s all about…. Getting this all right, son? Or am I going too fast for you?”

The stenographer looked at him with startled eyes and replied: “No, sir, I’m getting it all right.”

“Good work,” Spade said and turned to Bryan again. “Now if you want to go to the Board and tell them I’m obstructing justice and ask them to revoke my license, hop to it. You’ve tried it before and it didn’t get you anything but a good laugh all around.”

– Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

In Sam Spade’s day, there were private dicks and there were bad guys, and no confusion about the two. Unless, of course, the bad guy our hero was after happened to be another dick.

Professional Investigators of California (PICA)

November 10-11th 2006

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Southeast Investigators Conference (SEIC)

November 3-4th 2006

read more »

Investigative Professional Association of Georgia (IPAG)

October 27-28th 2006

read more »

Licensed Private Detective Association of Massachusetts (LPDAM)

Membership Meeting
October 9th 2006

www.lpdam.com

A San Diego insurance agent/broker who failed to send clients’ premium funds to insurance companies, causing the victims to lose more than $150,000, has pled guilty to one count of insurance fraud and one count of grand theft, according to the California Department of Insurance.

According to Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, Oscar Serron, 52, a former insurance agent and broker from San Diego, entered his plea following a a probe by the CDI Investigation Division of consumer complaints received during 2003 alleging that Serron committed insurance fraud involving premium theft. Serron, who entered his plea July 31, was the owner of First Preferred Insurance Services located in Oceanside, Calif.

• Group for Private Investigators
• Group for Process Servers