This week I want to talk to you about verifying the accuracy of information you get as a private investigator.
When you collect evidence, you’re many times going to have primary documents or you’re going to have gathered the information first-hand (like when you conduct an interview), but when you get the information “second-hand” (like from an “info broker” or some online database), you have verified that the information is correct before you pass it on to your client.
What is the rule of plus one and why is it so important?
The rule of plus one, comes out of the law enforcement community but it’s very valuable for us as private investigators.
If you work as a lost prevention officer, asset protection agent, security officer, process server, even as a repo guy, the rule of plus one will help you. Continue reading →
This actually came to me while watching an online video titled something like “How to take a punch better”. This is a key element – who you learn from is very important.
It’s always been one of my strong points that I can take a punch pretty well. I haven’t been hit in a while now (thank God), but when I saw the video available online, I thought, “What the heck. If I can learn a little bit more on how to take a punch I might as well.” (Maybe that’s why you watch my videos. You understand that no matter how good you are, no matter how much you know, even small, incremental improvements compound over time to make you a significantly better private investigator!)
So this very accomplished black-belt goes on to explain something that I just figured every good instructor teaches his students… Continue reading →
How much respect will you get as a private investigator?
There are going to be people who are fascinated by what you do. There are going to be who will like what you do and are intrigued by what you do but you’re not necessarily going to get a lot of respect.
Police officers, honestly, most of them are going to look at you like a wannabe cop.
And then the general population… I think people are intrigued by what we do and they like what we do. But speaking from a work perspective… if you go to serve process or you go to do an interview, how much respect do you think they’re going to give you? Not necessarily a lot. It always surprises me when they do.
Repo Case Study
When I’ve worked repossession cases, what I would do – because I was given the hardest of the hard, the toughest cases, the ones where the repo agent couldn’t find the vehicle – I would go and find the vehicle and then call the tow truck to come in and get the vehicle.
One time I did this on a guy who had a history of taking off fast, so when he went into a house for a few minutes, I disabled the car. When he came out of the house, he did manage to limp it down the road for little ways before the tow truck arrived.
When the hook arrived, I held my badge out of my car window and I point him over to the skip’s car. As the tow truck driver begins to hook-up the skip’s car, the skip gets upset about this. Continue reading →
