PI Blotter: City of Oakland Hiring Private Investigators
- May 10, 2012
- by PInow Staff
- In the News
Each week PInow combs the web for the latest and most interesting industry news stories to bring you the Weekly Private Investigator Blotter.
Private Investigation School
INDIA – The Anapol Institute at the New Alipore in Kolkata has billed itself as the first academic institution for private investigators and has been offering courses to both men and women interested in becoming private investigators. The school was founded by private investigator Satya Ranjan Banerjee, who was inspired to start the school after demand for private investigations increased and Banerjee saw a great many amateur investigators. The school teaches criminal law, forensics, civil law, handwriting studies, surveillance and other topics.
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The Business of Private Investigations
NEW ZEALAND – Private investigators, such as Graham Aylett and Michael Campbell, need business skills as well as investigation skills to run a successful company. According to Campbell, running a private investigation business is similar to running any small business, with overhead and marketing needs. Unlike other businesses, however, private investigators often have numerous specialty costs, such as surveillance technology. Private Investigation companies, unlike many other businesses, often fare better during economic downtimes, as fraud and theft pick up. According to Campbell, start up costs for a PI company are between $80,000 and $100,000, with an ideal ratio of 40 percent earnings for 60 percent tax and overhead.
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Oakland Looking for Private Investigators
OAKLAND, CA – There are three contracts in Oakland out to bid for private investigators, as the city is looking for help with police internal investigations. So far, the city reports that at least twelve California private investigators are qualified to bid. The move to look to external help comes after U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson slammed the internal investigation related to the Occupy protests. The city faces penalties if it cannot move forward on the investigation.
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Attorneys Warn Clients About Facebook
CANADA – Attorneys in Canada are warning their clients that posting personal details on social networks can harm their cases. Attorneys and private investigators routinely use social networks such as Facebook to gather information about clients, and even seemingly innocuous information posted online can harm a court case. Even with privacy settings, attorneys warn that information posted online stays around forever and can be more accessible than people think. Judges can also order information from social networks to be made available if the information is deemed relevant. A number of courts in Canada have passed rulings suggesting that information from social network sites is permissible in any case, since these sites are not intended to be private. Social networking has been benefical to private investigators, since it allows them to gather more information less expensively than with older methods of surveillance.
Private Investigator Appeals to UK’s Supreme Court
ENGLAND –Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was jailed for his role in the News of the World phone hacking scandal, has asked Britain's Supreme Court to allow him to continue his silence about who hired him. Lower courts have told Mulcaire to reveal who hired him for illegal phone hacking but the private investigator has been fighting orders to reveal his client.
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Private Investigator to Look Into Gaming Commission Allegations
ATTLEBORO, MA – After allegations were made against the new acting gaming commission director, State Rep. Dan Winslow hired a Massachusetts private investigator to research the allegations. Stan McGee was hired to run the state gaming commission but allegations of assault have been made against him. Winslow revealed that McGee’s background may not have been adequately researched before he was hired.
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