May / June 2006
- Issue 85

$6.00

COVER STORY:
Secrets of the Surveillance Superstars: Hints for Achieving Better Results
By Daniel W. Draz
The difference between being a great investigator and being a superstar lies in preparation,intuition and a bit of “dazzle.”
Excerpt: When someone uses the word “superstar,” we think of an extraordinarily talented, multi-millionaire, professional athlete, singer or model. However, that isn’t always the case. Have you ever looked the word up? A superstar is simply defined as “someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field.” (Wordnet)
While the image of a private investigator isn’t usually the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word superstar, our profession certainly has its fair share of “dazzingly” skilled surveillance professionals. Investigators who are always prepared, who always do their homework before starting an assignment, who always demonstrate excellent investigative technique, who always have the right equipment,...

FEATURES:
Threat Assessment: Case Management
Effective methods to help investigators assess attackers and the varying degrees of threats.
Eugene Neilsen
Excerpt: Incidents of workplace violence, stalking and attacks on public figures have become major concerns facing law enforcement, private investigators and security professionals.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), one in six violent crimes in the U.S. occurs in the workplace. Workplace violence accounts for the deaths of approximately 1,000 employees every year...

Professional Homicide Investigation
By Vernon J. Geberth
An investigator’s search for the truth consists of balancing the mechanical evidence with the intangibles.
Excerpt: The world of homicide investigation is permeated with human tragedies, which involve a variety of sudden and violent death scenarios. Many of these events, which are seemingly beyond the comprehension of the average person, reveal motivations and patterns of repetition, which are recognized by experienced professional investigators...

Investigating Video Voyeurism
By Jimmie Mesis, PI Magazine Editor-In-Cheif
As hidden cameras fall into the wrong hands, investigators who have been using this covert technology for years find themselves searching for the same types of devices.
Excerpt: The same video technology that has developed miniature cameras and helped to enhance security has now found its way into the hands of sexual predators, perverts, deviants and pedophiles.
Miniature video cameras that were originally designed for undercover investigators to capture valuable...

DEPARTMENTS:
Running a PI Business: The Race of Life
By Tim O’Rourke
Some pitfalls to avoid while developing and maintaining a successful PI firm.
Excerpt: “Whether you choose to be a gazelle or a lion is of no consequence. It is enough to know that with the rising of the sun, you must run. And you must run faster than you did yesterday or you will die. This is the race of life...”

Doing Media the Right Way
By Kyle Niederpruem
Tips for when you absolutely have to do a television, print or web interview.
Excerpt: When you pick up the phone and a reporter is on the other end, what’s the best way to respond?
Ask a few questions of your own before you say anything that’s going to end up on tape or in print. There’s a right way to ask the questions—and a wrong way...

Breaking into the PI Business: Only the Best and Brightest Succeed
By Stephen Markley
A college student and part-time investigator discusses what it takes to break into the field of private investigation.
Excerpt: Megan Young has the life of any other 22-year-old college student. She attends classes at the University of Pittsburgh, she goes out on the weekends, and she puts away margaritas with enthusiasm if given the chance. Young balances this typical undergraduate life with a part-time job that few people her age would understand: a burgeoning career as a private investigator...

Looking for Leads: Investigating Missing Person Cases
By Dan S. Willis
Missing person cases leave little in evidence, but a lifetime of leads for investigators.
Excerpt: Investigating missing person cases where foul play is suspected is one of the most difficult cases an investigator can undertake. Typically, there is little if any evidence at the time of disappearance. There is usually no overt crime scene, no known eyewitnesses, no obvious motives, and seemingly few leads.
However, a persistent and insightful investigator does in fact have a vast number of leads to follow up with on any suspicious missing person case...

Pro Bono: Studying the Volunteer Efforts of Private Investigators
By Jane Cracraft
Stories of investigators volunteering their time and resources across the country.
Excerpt: Maura Murray is missing… Around 7:30 p.m. on February 9, 2004, Maura Murray disappeared.
It was dark and freezing when the 21-year-old nursing student from the University of Massachusetts drove her well-traveled Saturn sedan along Route 112 in the Ammonoosuc River valley in northern New Hampshire. At a sharp bend in the road, she crashed into a tree, cracking the windshield with her head. A passing bus driver offered help, but Maura told him she had just called AAA, so he went up the road to his nearby home. Another neighbor called police. They arrived within 10 minutes, finding Maura’s car empty.
She was gone...

Video Surveillance
By Donald E. Kneece
The proper equipment, knowledge and considerations to get video in different situations.
Excerpt: As private investigators most of us use video cameras to document and gather evidence to support our investigations and to corroborate our investigative findings. Many of us have come to rely on our camcorders to do this job for us. Even though the camcorders of today give us many capabilities that allow us to gather video in situations that were impossible just a few years ago, they are not always the best camera for all situations. The television programs that make it look simple ...

Difficulties of Rural Surveillance
By Jennifer Tanner
Areas of concern when conducting surveillance in rural domains.
Excerpt: Rural surveillance can be very tricky. Most would agree that it is more difficult than conducting surveillance in the city.
When you conduct surveillance in a heavy populated area, it is easy to park your surveillance vehicle on side streets or in business parking lots. You can also utilize vehicles that are parked on the subject’s street for cover, in order to establish a surveillance position in proximity to the subject’s residence. In a rural setting...

Seven Essentials for Undercover Corporate Investigations
By Steven W. Easley
Elements an operative should consider before undertaking a corporate undercover assignment.
Excerpt: Here are seven key elements an operative should consider and understand fully when undertaking a corporate undercover assignment...

PI Buzz
By Tamara Thompson
PI related issues from the top investigative blog on the web.
Topics Incude:
New York Times Online Expands Business Research Features and Adds Video
Free 50 State Legislation Keyword Tracking Tool
Handbook on Capital Punishment Law for Federal Courts

From Pedophile to Internet Predator: Protecting Our Children from Online Evil
By Bruno Pavlicek
A look at ways parents can protect their children from pedophiles and predators on the Internet.
Excerpt: Do you really know what a pedophile is? Are all pedophiles predators? Better yet, what does a pedophile look like?
A pedophile, as defined by the Webster’s Dictionary, is an adult with a sexual desire for a child. The reasons behind such feelings vary from growing up in a dysfunctional family, where a person was sexually abused...

Whose Face is It, Anyway?
By Warren J. Sonne
New technology for composite drawings shows promise.
Excerpt: Having brought many a confused witness to the police artist, it was never a surprise to me that the person who was ultimately arrested for the crime bore little resemblance to the artist’s sketch. There were at least a few reasons for this: 1) the victim’s recollection may have been affected by fear or the stress of the moment; 2) the police artist may have had his or her own style of drawing faces...

Book Review
Reviewed By Robert D. Keppel
Practical Homicide Investigation: Tactics, Procedures, and Forensic Techniques by Vernon J. Geberth

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