The Council of International Investigators was formed to encourage a greater association among owners and operators of investigation agencies while developing mutual trust and respect. read more »

Ray Michalko, retired RCMP officer and private investigator, has been spending about 40 hours a week over the past 18 months investigating the disappearance of women along the infamous “highway of tears” in British Columbia, Canada. Michalko has found some leads he has been able to pass onto the RCMP. Since 1974, nine women have either turned up dead or have disappeared between Prince George and Prince Rupert on Highway 16, a section now known as the “highway of tears.” A group of women have founded a trust to provide funding for Michalko’s investigation.

Insurance companies should be careful they only employ private investigators that operate to high standards and within the law, says the Association of British insurers.

The ABI has worked with the Information Commissioner’s Office and the private investigator (PI) industry to publish guidelines on the use of PIs by insurers when investigating potentially fraudulent claims.
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It’s a good time to be a private investigator in the greater Los Angeles area. Two of LA’s prime paparazzi targets Britney Spears and soon-to-be ex-hubby Kevin Federline are in the market for digging up a bit of dirt and instead of just grabbing the tabloids, they have decided to turn to detectives a report from The National Enquirer claims in this week’s issue that is on newsstands.

They both have launched an all-out war and the report claims that both are hiring private investigators to dig up new bombshells to use as weapons in their custody battle, the magazine reports. At stake are millions of dollars in support money and custody of their two boys, Sean Preson, 22 months, and Jayden James, 10 months.

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On Monday, two families living hundreds of miles from each other, hundreds of miles from here, marked yet another anniversary without justice, without answers and without the son and daughter they lost to the horror of a July 16.

It was a sunny July 16 morning in 1998 when Scott Brewster’s nude and bludgeoned body was found facedown in a drainage ditch running through Snow Park. He was 26.

It was a rainy July 16 night in 1989 when Kaitlyn Arquette was shot twice in the head as she drove east on Lomas Boulevard near Arno Street Northeast. She was 18.

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SOCIAL welfare officials could face fines of up to €100,000 if found guilty of leaking information to private investigators working for insurance companies.

The practice came to light during audits of two insurance companies, which revealed they had access to private data that could only have come from welfare records.

Under the Data Protection Act, employees who pass on personal details of clients to others can face fines of up to €100,000 on conviction in the Circuit Court, or up to €3,000 if convicted in the District Court.
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A House of Representatives panel on Wednesday approved a bill that backers say will help fix the problem of Social Security number misuse and identity theft.

By a vote of 41 to 0, the House Ways and Means Committee voted for a 56-page bill that the panel’s chairman, New York Democrat Michael McNulty, said would “stop giving access to our Social Security number to every Tom, Dick or Harry who seeks it.”

The bill, called the Social Security Number Privacy and Identity Theft Protection Act, was introduced earlier this week.

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PV500 with Motion Activation and Time/Date Overlay
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The PV500 Pro-pocket DVR is the #1 digital video recorder designed exclusively for investigators conducting covert video recording. This recorder is small enough to fit into a standard cigarette pack! Provides extremely high resolution (720 x 480) picture and time/date on screen. The PV500 records on SD cards from 1Gb to 4Gb. The PV500 also powers the covert button/screw camera kit or any other type of covert camera. The PGC1148 button camera plugs directly into the PV500 dvr and requires no additional batteries or cables. Power for the camera is supplied by the dvr making for a very professional and compact covert video recording system. The dvr kit comes complete with two high capacity 2 hour batteries, charger, remote control, playback cables, and carry case.

This device is excellent for recording and documenting process of service. Audio microphone available on the PGC1148 button camera at no additional cost.

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After reading what Private Investigators (P.I.s) are discussing in current on line groups I am struck by some of the questions asked. So I decided to list what we as P.I.s should know.

1. Know the Law - there are several key statutes a P.I. needs to know. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, State laws on stalking, are all critical, as is the new federal law on acquiring cell phone records; the Telephone Records and Privacy Act of 2006, S.92 and Protecting Consumer Records Phone Records Act. You need to understand several key statutes and know where to go to look up relevant laws.

2. Know how to get information - know your databases. We do not have access to NCIC, we are not Law Enforcement, but we can access a variety of reliable, sometimes up to date and relatively inexpensive databases. There are a number of database conglomerates out there that offer information to P.I.s. And there are many other on-line and off-line sources; that is, if you are in full compliance with all relevant laws.

3. Know who your client is - I am very selective of my clients - I love Corporate and attorney clients but some characters who call and want background checks and license numbers - well, you have to know who you are dealing with. I am not an information broker, I am a professional investigator. For new clients whom I cannot successfully “google” I run background checks, then decide. As the saying goes: “If it smells like a fish, it is a fish.”

Beginning in September, some of the volunteers in the city’s public schools will be required to submit to background checks.

Under the Norwalk Public Schools’ up-graded volunteer policy, which was unanimously approved by the Board of Education last week, volunteers over 18 years old must submit to background checks, including fingerprinting and reviews of national databases for involvement with criminal and child protective services, in cases where they would work with students in any type of out-of-school activities, chaperone overnight field trips, work in direct contact with students without the presence of a teacher, or have reason to communicate with students in person during out-of-school time or by phone or any electronic means during school or non-school hours.

Parents or guardians who volunteer to work in their own children’s schools during the school day under the supervision of an NPS teacher or administrator would not be required to submit to a background check including fingerprinting, nor would volunteers performing a one-time service in the presence of an NPS teacher or administrator.

• Group for Private Investigators
• Group for Process Servers