A polygraph can be a useful tool that can be used as part of a larger investigation to get answers. However, businesses interested in using the test need to follow the law to the letter to avoid legal action.

Polygraph tests have caused a lot of controversy and have generated many myths over the years. In November 2006, A Jacksonville, Florida firefighter fought the results of a polygraph test that he says was inaccurate. The man took the test as part of an internal investigation into an incident which allegedly involved nooses being placed on his uniform. The polygraph results suggested deception, but the firefighter has always consistently claimed that he found nooses on his uniform – an act that can be seen as a hate crime or a form of harassment. Administrators of the test are defending the polygraph as a reliable tool but the firefighter and his attorney are pointing out the many documented studies that suggest the test is highly fallible.

A polygraph is sometimes called the “lie detector test” but this is a misnomer. The test is really nothing more than a way of measuring the body’s responses when questions are asked. Polygraph examiners compare physical responses to questions to see how a subject reacts to questions for which the answer is known (such as “what is your name?”) and to questions for which the answer is unclear (such as “where were you on the night of September 30?”). By comparing the two, proponents of the polygraph claim that deception can easily be uncovered, since people react physically when they lie.

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Newest PInow.com Members — March 2007

The PInow.com Team would like to welcome the newest countywide members of our online Private Investigator Directory. Below you will find the basic contact information for all of the qualified private investigators who joined the PInow.com online directory of local, pre-screened private investigators between March 1 - 31, 2007: read more »

Online cheaters connect with other partners in cyberspace for adventures that range from erotic virtual encounters to basic flirting. While some don’t consider it cheating, many experts agree that online infidelity crosses the line – and can lead to real cheating in person.

Online cheating has many forms. Some internet users log onto online dating sites – or specifically, online dating sites designed especially for discreet married people – to meet someone in person. Many others simply flirt and have affairs online, without ever meeting the person they are speaking with.

What is online cheating?

Some justify “hot chats” as harmless fun, but this sort of behaviour has caused marital rifts – and has even lead to in-person affairs offline. At best, cybersex means that a partner starts spending time with someone besides their partner – time that can better be invested in the relationship. Since online flirting or online sex is simpler and fantasy-based, it can fuel desire even more, leading someone to seek a real-life affair. Of course, there is always the real possibility that the cheater’s partner will be upset and hurt when they find out about such online activity.

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The PInow.com Team would like to welcome the newest countywide members of our online Private Investigator Directory.

Below you will find the basic contact information for all of the qualified private investigators who joined the PInow.com online directory of local, pre-screened private investigators between January and February of 2007:

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Look out for the signs of an emotional affair. Emotional cheating can lead to a traditional affair, so keeping an eye out for the classic signs can help partners outwit pain down the road.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with a friendship. However, friendships do not involve the deception and the type of inappropriate emotional closeness that an emotional affair entails. Despite its name, an emotional affair can involve physical intimacy, although it does not always. What this type of infidelity always dishes out, though is pain: pain caused by a partner who invests more emotionally into another relationship.

Emotional affairs involve someone who builds an inappropriately intimate relationship with someone outside their partnership. This may mean that a husband suddenly starts confiding all his personal and work-related problems to a female co-worker rather than his wife. It could also mean a wife suddenly confiding all her successes and desires to a new male friend rather than her husband. An emotional affair is usually also marked by secrecy – a partner may downplay or outright lie about the amount of time spent with a new partner. Sexual attraction is almost always part of the equation, too, although it is not always acted upon.

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Many parents and children are in financial difficulty today because parents are not paying the child support ordered by courts. Hiring a private investigator can help parents augment resource-strapped legal systems so that payment can finally be made.

Deadbeat parents cost children a lot of money. In the state of Hawaii alone, more than half a billion dollars represents the amount of delinquent child support payments. According to 2005 statistics, the state is only able to successfully collect 40% of delinquent accounts. The District of Columbia is not much better, collecting only in 37% of cases. Most states have passed laws to get deadbeat parents to pay up — in some states; parents who fall behind on their child support can find their pay checks cut, their credit dinged, or their licenses suspended.

Despite the legal measures, though, parents still report that deadbeat parents do not pay child support. Child advocacy groups point out that some parents move or change identities in order to avoid child support, while others only make a payment or two when threatened with cut pay or loss of a license and then return to non-payment. In many cases, law enforcement and child services simply do not have the resources to find and compel non-paying parents to make payments.

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Real estate fraud is on the rise. Knowing the popular scams out there and knowing how to protect against this type of criminal activity is essential.

Real estate fraud is an umbrella term for criminal activity involving real estate – criminal activity that usually amounts to little more than theft. According to new statistics, the problem seems to be getting worse. The FBI reported that in 2005 alone, real estate fraud cost the country at least $606 million. The Treasury Department is tracking 35% more suspicious through 2006. The IRS reports that cases of mortgage fraud that have been brought to their attention have been doubling every two years, starting with this decade. This worrisome trend means that all real estate investors and homeowners should be on the alert.
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Computer monitoring software can uncover exactly what computer users are doing online. Anyone interested in installing this type of software, though, needs to select the program carefully.

According to a 2001 American Management Association survey, 77.7% of major U.S. companies used computer surveillance to check employee e-mail, Internet use, phone calls, computer use, and files. Some companies even used computer surveillance to videotape workers. The reason is not hard to see: According to IDC Research, 30 to 40% of Internet use during work hours is for personal use. Employers are concerned that they are losing worker productivity, thanks to employees who use work hours to surf the Internet and to send personal email. Employers are also concerned that workers who use company computers to commit fraud crimes, or use the system to send sexually explicit materials may embroil the company in a lawsuit.

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Businesses that rent, borrow, lease or offer financing on products face risk of non-payment. When a customer does not make payment, the business stands to lose considerable amounts of money. Investing in a professional investigator with repossession experience can be the best way to collect property legally without losing additional money.

The repossession process today really begins with the way companies do business. In today’s business world, many companies sell products and offer financing at the same time or lease and rent products. In all these cases, there is a risk that the customer will simply not honour their contract and will not pay.

When a customer does not pay, the business has a few options. They can write off the loss, they can keep trying to collect on the delinquent account, or they can repossess the item that has not been paid for. Repossession is a legal process that allows a business to legally take over a product in cases where a contract has been broken. No business likes to repossess – it is a costly hassle and still results in some loss of money – but in cases where money cannot be recovered, repossession lets a company recover some of their lost money and assets.
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Emotional affairs often involve deep friendship and intimacy as well as sexuality, which can lead to real problems if they cause another relationship to form. Tracing and proving this sort of infidelity can be extremely difficult, however.

Emotional affairs are a type of infidelity that usually does not begin with physical intimacy or sex. In fact, by definition, this type of cheating begins with the emotions. Many people assume that cheating must involve physical intimacy, but this type of infidelity can also lead to broken relationships.

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