COVER
STORY:
THE FTC ON PRETEXTING
THE PI MAGAZINE INTERVIEW WITH JOEL WINSTON
By Jimmie Mesis, Editor-in Chief, PI Magazine
An interview with the Associate Director of the FTC, Division of Financial
Practices, that clarifies the concerns and confusion surrounding the effective
investigative practice of pretexting.
FEATURES:
THE VARYING LEGALITIES OF GARBOLOGY
By Ed Thompson
A search of one’s garbage at the curb without a warrant is not a Fourth
Amendment violation. However, individual states interpret their own constitutions
differently. Find out where this leaves private investigators in your state.
CARBON MONOXIDE ACCIDENTS: EVEN OUTDOORS
By Jane Cracraft, Associate Editor, PI Magazine
Until recently, few investigators suspected carbon monoxide unless the death
occurred in an enclosed place. In the late 1990s, researchers for the CDC began
to study carbon monoxide as a factor in boating and swimming deaths. A new
area of outdoor hazards has been identified.
RETURN TO SENDER
By Warren J. Sonne, Associate Editor, PI Magazine
An attempt to answer the question, “is it illegal to peek into mailboxes
during an investigation?” Discussing the questions of who owns a residential
mailbox, when mail is considered delivered, what mail tampering consists of
and the laws involved.
DEPARTMENTS:
WHEN FAST ISN’T
FAST ENOUGH?
By Rosemarie T. Mesis, Publisher, PI Magazine
Affordable web-based case management systems, that offer clients instant access
to investigative results.
Excerpt: Successful private investigators are always
searching for the latest technologies and the newest services they
can offer their clients. Utilizing these new services can make a
big difference in being considered just a regular investigator or
a great investigator. Most clients expect their investigators to
provide them expedited service without risking the loss of quality.
There was a time for example, when providing insurance clients with
surveillance videos, photographs, reports and an invoice within a
few days was considered fast. Now many want them within hours...
OUTSOURCING
PAYROLL:
A NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION THAT MAY BE RIGHT FOR YOU!
By Michael Alter
Eliminate your payroll pains! Whether you process payroll manually or use a
service, the outsourcing options available to small businesses are better than
ever.
Excerpt: 2005 is here and it’s time to make
a new year’s resolution. This year, why not make a vow to eliminate
your payroll pains? Whether you process payroll manually or use a
service, the outsourcing options available to small businesses are
better than ever...
TAX DEDUCTIONS FOR
THE EDUCATED
By Mark E. Battersby
Whether you are a self-employed investigator or an employee, there are educational
tax deductions and unique write-offs in the pages of our tax laws and regulations
for anyone willing to look for them.
Excerpt: Each year, more and more private investigators
realize they are not smart enough to cope with our federal tax laws
and seek professional assistance. Surprisingly, those same confusing,
complex and frequently overwhelming tax laws contain a number of
tax breaks for anyone attempting to get smarter—or continue
their professional education.
It matters little whether an investigator is self-employed, an employee or
an employee of his or her own investigative business...
NETWORKING
LIKE A PROFESSIONAL
By Jimmie Mesis, Editor-in Chief, PI Magazine
Tips on how to take advantage of one of the most valuable marketing tools for
a professional investigator.
Excerpt: Networking is probably one of the most
valuable marketing tools that every professional investigator should
learn to master. It offers the opportunity for others to meet you
and learn what you actually do. You also get to meet many others
and learn what they do for a living. Savvy investigators..
GOOGLE™:
ONE, LIBRARIAN: ZERO
A PROFESSIONALLY TRAINED LIBRARIAN MEETS HER MATCH WITH GOOGLE'S RANKING SYSTEM
By Cynthia Hetherington
How your agency’s site can rank higher on the web search engines such
as Google™ and Yahoo™.
Excerpt: Working as a youthful librarian I was eager
to answer all those questions about businesses, health issues and
Christopher Columbus. I’d wax and wane for hours trying to
locate the annual reports of a company, or the true cause and effect
of bromide poisoning. I sought advice from experts who could only
be found through books dusty and old on the shelf, or associations
with less than 300 members. Librarianship in part was a gatekeeper
job. We didn’t have the answers, but we knew where to find
them.
WHAT’S YOUR
FAVORITE SURVEILLANCE SNACK?
The story of how Private Investigator Greg Schmauss went to a CALI meeting
and, unexpectedly, became a spokesperson for the Quaker Oatmeal Company.
FINDING FAKES AND
FORGERIES:
By Joe Devanney
The secrets of how fakers have gotten away making forgeries in the past and
how new forensic tools are now aiding
investigators on forgery cases.
Excerpt: Insiders know that fakes are a constant problem in
certain areas of the antiques trade. Arguably, the greatest danger exists with
objects that are both highly priced and one-of-a-kind. These include such things
as handmade furniture, antiquities, Kentucky rifles and rare manuscripts. Items
that were originally mass-produced are more likely to be authentic because
they typically sell for less money and, ironically, are harder to fake...
KATE WARNE, PI:
The First Female Private Investigator Had a Baltimore Connection
By Lynn H. Levy
A PI profile of Kate Warne, who had a part in stopping a plot to assassinate
President-elect Abraham Lincoln.
Excerpt: She hung out in downtown Baltimore, making
connections with Confederate terrorists. She wore disguises, talked
with accents, and used pretexts to get secret information. She worked
with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, and became known as
the first female private investigator...
USING PRETEXT
IN INSURANCE INVESTIGATIONS:
IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS FOR EFFECTIVE USE
By Daniel W. Draz, CFE
The proper use of a pretext to obtain non-financial information.
Excerpt: Investigators have used pretexts to obtain information
for quite some time. When used correctly, it is an effective investigative
technique for gathering difficult information, which might otherwise be unattainable.
Despite the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) legislation restricting its use in
certain financial investigations, pretexting is not dead. Specifically, not
all pretext investigations are conducted to obtain personal...
A MOLESTER’S
MEMENTOS
By Dan S. Willis
A child molester’s mementos of his victim sealed his
conviction 27 years after the crime.
Excerpt: During the summer of 1974, the only thoughts of 8-year-old
Larry Brown were those of Little League baseball and having fun. At his young
age, there was no way for him to understand the perverted intentions of a friendly
35-year-old man, Harold Levin, who lived several blocks away in La Mesa, California,
a suburb of San Diego. There was also no way for Levin to foresee that his
compulsive desire to re-live his deviant fantasies with his victim...
SOMETHING IS AMIS
IN COMMON INTEREST DEVELOPMENTS
By Randall Frost
Investigators are needed to assist homeowner associations due to the increase
of embezzlement.
Excerpt: Although legislators around the country
introduced a handful of bills in 2004 aimed at extending protections
to homeowners in common-interest developments (CIDs), far less attention
has been paid to looking at the long-term financial integrity of
these developments.
GADGETS, GIMMICKS & TRICKS OF
THE TRADE
By Julius “Buddy” Bombet, Associate Editor, PI Magazine
New technology, equipment and advice that every PI should know.
BOOK REVIEW:
THE SOURCEBOOK 6th Edition
By Don C. Johnson, Editor, PI Magazine
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