New Hampshires Best- Nickels Private Investigations

Mystery Shopping Tests: Secret Accountability

2009-03-20T06:38:00.000-07:00

The three words “Mystery Shopping Tests” are just what a private investigator looks forward to hearing. They are magic words…words that are associated with fun and good feelings. But, if you ever worked in retail or held a service position of some kind, these words could strike fear into your heart. These are three words that you don’t want your boss to say. These are three words that mean that you have to work hard, all the time, every day. These three words mean: secret accountability. And these three words are a great idea for businesses and for private investigators.

What are Mystery Shopping Tests?
Mystery shopping tests are purposefully simulated shopping transactions conducted by an undercover investigator. They are designed to observe and record, secretively, the service of a place, as well as the appearance of the place. They look at/for: friendliness, cleanliness, proper conduct, illegal activity, honesty and so on. Mystery shopping tests are a great way for a private investigator to act as the “eyes and ears” of a company. They are, in essence, accountability for a company.

How Do They Work?
First, a company will hire either a private investigator or work with a mystery shopper hiring agency to fulfill the man-power required. Then, the company will detail for the investigator exactly what to ask, what to look for, where to go and what to do. Then the investigator will perform their job, observe, record, and report back the results of the shopping trip. For example, a retail store might hire an investigator to go through their store, ask for help, pick out something, perhaps try it on (if it is a clothing store), purchase the item and leave. Throughout the time in the store, the investigator will really be looking for evidence of theft, or cleanliness, correct procedure, etc. It is that simple, and it is highly effective.

Benefits of Shopping Tests
Mystery shopping tests are extremely beneficial for company. Here is a list of how a company can benefit:
- Produce Greater Faith in Staff
- Perform Front of House Accountability
- Control Revenue
- Increase Revenue
- Increase Awareness of Potential Security Risk and Guest Safety
- Ensure Quality of Service
- Maintain Consistency
- Eliminate Internal Fraud

Who Uses Mystery Shopping?
Without working at each store you go to, it is hard to tell who uses mystery shopping tests and who does not. Yet, most stores utilize this investigative tool, including non-retail companies. From Starbucks to City Parks Lifeguard services, to tax companies, a wide range of companies have seen the benefits of mystery shopping tests and decided to run some for themselves.

Nickels Private Investigations can easily perform these shopping tests for any company in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts. We are secret. We are confidential. And we have the investigative know-how and the experience required to give you all the information that you need. We are good eyes and ears.

Surveying Your Children: You Can Never Be Too Sure

2009-03-18T05:29:00.000-07:00

You don’t want to be that Mom or Dad. You know...the one who thinks that their child is an angel, but everyone else knows what that child is really up to. Or, you don’t want to be that parent who doesn’t know anything about their child, because they can’t get any kind of information from them. High Schoolers are notorious for talking all the time about nothing and never letting parents know anything substantial. Know there is a better way. Surveying your children – letting a private investigator follow your children around, observing, recording and reporting back to you their activities – can wake you up to the reality of your child’s doings or put your mind and worries at ease.

Perhaps you are worried that your child is doing illegal things at night without telling you. They are staying out late and not reporting back to you on what happened. Perhaps you think they are in a gang. Or perhaps you are concerned that they are into drugs, or having sex, or hanging out with the wrong crowd. A report done in 2003 showed that by the 12th grade over 50 percent of children were involved with illicit drugs. Another report shows that promiscuity among teenagers is far greater than any parent knows about or even would like to know about. Is your child in this category? Are you in this category?

A private investigator is trained and experienced in many practices and procedures to help you gain valuable information on your children’s activities. Surveillance is just one tool among many. An investigator can perform a background check on your child, to uncover any hidden activities, such as civil charges, criminal charges and so on. An investigator can secretly interview your child’s friends and/or schoolmates, in order to dig deeper into the world in which your child lives and operates during the day and late at night.

An investigator can track emails, trace and record computer usage, and find out what your teen is looking at online and why. Also, an investigator can use his forensic skills to examine your child’s room, clothing and possessions, looking for traces of illegal drug use.

The honest truth is that you never know what your child is doing unless they tell you and you trust them. A parent can only be so fortunate for that to be the case, but most of us do not live in such a state. We desperately seek information about our child’s activities that we cannot obtain on our own. We need the help of someone with the knowledge and skill set to find out. That is exactly what a private investigator does. You can never be too careful and go so far as eliminate the option for child surveillance. Keep watch on your children and know for sure what they are doing when you aren’t around.

Truth Be Told 2: Due Process

2009-03-16T05:28:00.000-07:00

You have heard me rant before about Truth. I can’t help myself. I have to say what I think. I have to speak and strive for (what I believe to be) the truth, because I just don’t see many other people doing that in the world today. Call me cynical. Call me pessimistic. Perhaps even call me a dreamer. But I tell you, a private investigator seeks truth and justice, because that is what he loves…because that is what he thinks is the right thing to do – the best way to live. You can even call me old fashion. But that is how I see it. And that is how I live. I seek truth daily. I search high and low for it. I stay up late at night and work till early in the morning for it. I crave it. I respect it. I want the Truth to be known.

And this doesn’t have to be simply among private citizens, or in households, or within corporation or the business world. No, I want to see that the law is followed at all times, everywhere – even, and perhaps most importantly, in the courtroom. I want, in a phrase, due process. I want to make sure that the government follows and respects all of the legal rights that are owed to a person, not just some of them. I want to make sure that no one is taken advantage of or stepped upon by a bullying governmental attack. I want to see due process in every court case I am involved with. I seek not only truth, but that truth is followed and respected in due process.

It is the Fifth Amendment that gives a person rights against an unlawful allegation from the federal government. The Fourteenth Amendment narrows the Fifth and applies it specifically to the States. That means that those under my watch (New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts) have both national and state rights that must be obeyed. As a private investigator it is my duty and my passion to follow these rules and to make sure that all parties follow them as well.

Due process is not only about what a government cannot do, but also what individuals can do. You and I (and corporations – as individual is defined legally as “corporate personhood”), we have the right to three important things: life, liberty and property. We are free – to live, to act and to own. These rights cannot be taken away from us, and due process gives an individual the right to fight.

As a private investigator, it is my interest to make sure that these three things – life, liberty and property – are not infringed upon or disrespected in any way. If your life is being threatened, use a private investigator to provide surveillance. If your freedom is being infringed upon, let Nickels Private Investigation conduct research, interviews, monitoring, audits – whatever it takes – to protect you. And finally, let us help you protect your property. This is what we seek. We want due process. We want the Truth.

Business Investigation: Show Me What You’re Working With

2009-03-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

Individuals are not the only ones who join together and try to work together. They are not the only ones who join with someone else into a partnership that benefits both. Though individuals do come together in marriage, or in committed relationships, businesses, too, do the same thing. It is called a merger, or a partnership, and it happens every day. In fact, it is just as common for companies and businesses to collaborate and/or merge as it is for people to get married. Why then, would one require more preparation, planning and consideration than the other? More to the point, why would a person want to spend much time and energy getting to know another person before committing to marry them and a company would not want to do the same thing?

The fact is: marriages and mergers are the same thing, and should be treated with the same concern and consideration. Personal investigations are highly common; business investigations should be as well.

Business investigations can be thought of as dating. It is the job of a private investigator when investigating a business to inform you of all the past records. The private investigator can also tell you about the business’ personality. And you can find out how it deals and has dealt with its other companies and partners.

When conducting a business investigation, wouldn’t you like to know whether or not the prospective partner has had or is having financial trouble? Or wouldn’t you like to know if there was a history of conflicts with breach of contracts? Perhaps you would want to know if the business’ boastful claims about themselves were true, or if they only had paper credentials? All these questions, and more, will be investigated and answered by a good private investigator. They are important questions, and they need to be considered carefully.

An in-depth business investigation will be able to provide/obtain for you:
- Organized Crime Inquiries
- State and Federal Court Record Searches
- Certification of Assets and Executives Credentials
- Credit and Financial History
- International Background Checks
- Insurance Fraud Investigations
- Intelligent Web Records

With a good private investigators help, a company can plan confidently for the future and move forward without reservation. Like a solid marriage, a good merger requires communication and trust. If one company is holding back from another, the merger is doomed to failure. So, all information about each other should be shared so that trust and cooperation can be formed. A private investigator can and will find out all the information necessary for a company to make a wise judgement about another, and can help build a solid foundation for a good, successful merger. Through business investigations, you can find out exactly what you are (and will be) working with.

Adultery Investigation: Find Out Who They Are With When They Aren’t With You

2009-03-11T05:24:00.000-07:00

The reports do not lie. Fifty percent of all new marriages end in divorce, with the leading cause being adultery. More and more spouses and partners are cheating, leaving their home and searching for something new. Adultery is the age old search for greener pastures, but as we all know, that search is as fruitless as the search for the fountain of youth. It does not exist. The grass is not greener somewhere else. But that does not stop many, indeed thousands, of men and women each year from adultery. It should be no surprise then that adultery investigation is one of the most requested services by a hurting and worried spouse for a private investigator. We all want to know the truth – what really is going on. And in this case, we want to know who they are with when they aren’t with us.

Checklist for the Concerned
Do you think that your spouse may be cheating on you? Do you have concerns about their extracurricular activities, their time on the computer, or their late-night business meetings? Here is a checklist that you can go down to evaluate your situation and find out if adultery investigation is what you need.

Look at your spouse and ask:
1. Do they spend more time than necessary alone on the computer?
2. Are they spending more and more time late at work?
3. Are they withholding information about credit cards, bank statements or phone records?
4. Are they acting defensive or overly sensitive about their time?
5. Are they spending more time away from home?

If you answer “Yes” to more than one of these questions, then you could consider investigating adultery. You definitely need to keep yourself open to the idea. A private investigator can perform many tasks for you that will help you either prove or disprove your concerns. Below is a list of services that you can expect an investigator to perform.

Adultery Investigation Services
1. Surveillance
2. Email Tracing
3. Internet and Computer Usage
4. Phone Record Investigation
5. Interviewing
6. Photographing
7. Spending Investigation

The cheating husband or wife always leaves a trail to follow; you just have to know where to look. A good private investigator can easily gather the information that you need and give you the peace of mind that you deserve. Also, the private investigator can give you the legally-defined proof that you will need to support your request for a divorce, if that is the route you choose to take.

In every adultery-driven divorce case, proof must be given in support or in contradiction to the claim. A private investigator knows what is and is not permissible, and will follow the rules of evidence. And you can be sure that all the information gathered will remain confidential: it is between you and the private investigator. He is legally prohibited from divulging any information from a case. Your secrets (and your cheating spouse’s “secrets”) will never be given out. So let a private investigator put your mind at ease. Find out who they are with when they aren’t with you.

Discussing the Art of Computer Forensics

2009-03-09T05:22:00.000-07:00

We all know that we live in a technology-driven, technology-saturated culture. Computers, cell phones, iPods, PDAs, game systems...you name it...are all over the place. And information is passed constantly throughout the different technological mediums. That information, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, is saved; and it can always be retrieved through certain procedures. These procedures and tactics are what is known as computer (or digital) forensics. As private investigators, it is our job to known how this skill set well. So in this article we will discuss the art of computer forensics and all that it entails.

Computer Forensics` Goal
The goal of any computer forensics is the retrieval of information – no matter if it is lost or simply hidden. The information, also known as a digital artefact, could be on a computer, a hard drive, a USB card, a cell phone, or throughout many computers on a network. Any storage medium can be searched. The information is retrieved for various reasons.

Reasons for Retrieval
Attorneys and Prosecutors often employ computer forensics to analyze a person`s or a business` computers, searching for evidence for or against the client. In the event of a loss of information, as happens, for example, in the case of a hard drive crash, then it will be used to retrieve what is lost. Computer forensics can also be used to trace how a hacker broke in to a network or computer. And finally, employers can use computer forensics to gain valuable evidence against an employee accused of illegal or fraudulent activities. Emails, messages and files can be traced and examined that could support or deny any claim.

The Process and Practices
There are 5 basic steps and 4 basic practices to going about computer forensics. These must be followed and adhered to in order for the retrieved information to be considered valid and permissible in a court of law. First, as for the process, an investigator will prepare, collect, examine, analyze and report. These are the 5 steps to computer forensics. In preparation, the investigator understands and strategizes for what they must find. Then, after collecting the data, they must categorize and present the information in a clear and cogent system

As for the practices, there are, again, 4. First, when doing good computer forensics, the investigator must handle the data as little as possible, preventing him from altering or tampering with the data in any way. Then, he must make certain that he established what is known as the `chain of custody`. This means that the data is clearly linked to the person or to the business under examination. In a court of law, this link-chain is vital. Thirdly, the private investigator must officially document everything observed and retrieved. And finally, it is wise to use only methods and procedures that have been tested and confirmed as valid and affective. This way, the results will be accepted as reliable and accurate.

Joint Ventures: Investigate Before You Commit

2009-03-06T05:21:00.000-08:00

I have already spent significant time discussing the similarities of business ventures and partnerships and relationships between people. Both are two entities coming together to either form one body or to work together and collaborate. Both require trust, communication and information. And both require heavy consideration and evaluation. In this article I will specifically examine joint ventures, defining what they are, giving some examples, and then stating once again the need for investigation before committing.

Joint Ventures Definition
The term joint venture refers more to the purpose of a business event instead of the actual type of event. Thus, a joint venture occurs when two businesses come together – whether in the form of a collaboration, partnership or merger between two companies – for the benefit of both. Both parties agree to combine forces and give of their individual resources (equity, assets, workforce, etc.) and then to share in revenue, expenses and control. A venture could be simply for one specific project, or it could span for a year, two years and up to an entire business relationship. Reasons to build joint ventures include: building on a company’s strengths; improving access to financial resources; spreading costs and sharing risks; increasing exposure and access to new technologies and customers.

Examples
Joint ventures are seen often in the oil and gas industries, with companies like BP and Shell combining for a time into Shell-Mex and BP, as well as the more recent merger of Texaco and Shell known as Equilon. They are also common in the global economy, with almost ¾ of joint ventures occurring among international companies. In fact, some countries, like the People’s Republic of China and India, require that, in order to sell within their marketplace, a foreign company must join in a venture with a domestic company. This, naturally, increases the number of joint ventures yearly, as more and more companies seek to sell both in domestic and foreign markets. Examples of international joint ventures include Sony Ericsson, NUMMI (GM and Toyota) and Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

Importance of Investigation
Though the number of joint ventures increases every year, studies show that between 30 and 60 percent of JVs breakdown and fail, with 60 percent of JVs either never getting off the ground or failing less than 5 years in. There are many causes, many factors that play in the failures of joint ventures; yet, one must assume that part of the problem is lack of information, communication and trust among the partners. Not enough private investigation took place beforehand. One partner might have been mislead with false claims or false information from the other, which could have easily been countered and avoided if the first company verified the information for themselves through investigative work.

A good private investigator will be able to uncover and retrieve the information that a company seeks, and will be able to verify or falsify any information given. Ultimately, a private investigator can help support a choice in partner or can steer a company clear. With private investigation before committing to a joint venture, the number of failures will go down.

Investigate Before You Commit

2009-03-04T05:19:00.000-08:00

When it comes time for you to make a major decision in your life, the worst thing that you can possibly do is make the decision hastily. You don’t want to run into anything, and you don’t want to commit yourself to something that ultimately will prove to be a mistake. This is why it is always important to investigate before you commit. There is wisdom and foresight in investigation. You never know what you will find.

How many movies have we seen where a woman (or a man) marries Mr. Right and then finds out later that he has a shady past? Or how many times do we read in the newspaper or hear on the news about a merger gone bad between two companies because of malpractice and/or illegalities? In both of these cases, the “surprise” ending could have been predicted, and the harsh reality of the situation could have been uncovered. This is where, again, private investigation and private investigators come into play. They can help shed light on shady pasts and uncover buried secrets that can keep you from making a bad decision. Think of private investigators as modern-day prophets – able to predict the future and holding the power to change what is about to happen.

A private investigator can perform background checks, interviews, surveillance and research. They can search through all State’s (New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Mass., etc.) records, finding out if your future husband has a criminal or civil record, or if he is perhaps withholding property or (even worse) children from you. A private investigator can perform background research on a company, finding out assets, acquisitions, mergers, financial records and reports, and so on. You can find out with whom your future business partner has worked and what happened. You can receive information on CEO’s, Presidents, Board Members and other Executive.

A private investigation team can perform surveillance on a person or a company, finding out what exactly goes on whenever you are not around. A PI can be your “eyes and ears” so that you can keep tabs on whomever, whenever. And finally, a PI can tell you what other people say and think about your future partner. They can give you the second, third, fourth…hundredth opinion that you will need to decided if this person (or company) is right for you.

Added bonus: whatever a private investigator finds is secret and confidential. That is to say, that they will let you, and you only, know what has been uncovered. And they will let you make the decision. Why would you not hire a private investigator to research your future partner and find as much information as possible?

Again, there is wisdom in investigating before you commit. Enough bad decisions are made each day. Enough commitments fail, and enough marriages and mergers break down because of secret and unsafe past events. Don’t be caught in this unfortunate track. Investigate before you commit. Major life decisions are too important to get wrong.

Finding Fraudulent Fund Managers

2009-03-02T05:17:00.000-08:00

The financial world has recently been rocked by incredible and unprecedented news – not once, but twice. The two men responsible for the two shake-ups are, as we all have heard about at this point in time, Arthur Nadel and Bernie Madoff. Both are fraudulent managers, and both stole millions upon billions of dollars from hard-working, hopeful and trusting citizens. The one, Nadel, overstated the value of investments in six funds by a reported 300 million dollars, keeping most of the money for himself. The other, Madoff, developed a Ponzi scheme along the side of his public activities, which brought around 50 billion dollars into his greedy and unquenchable coffers. Fortunately, both have now been caught and are awaiting trial; yet, how did they work for so long beforehand? How could they steal so much money without anyone knowing? And now, where is the money?

The questions that American and other concerned citizens should be asking are: can this be stopped? And if so, how can it be stopped before it gets out of hand? The answer is simple: private investigation. Why? Again, the answer is simple. There is always a money trail, always a lead to illegal activities. Mr. Hansel fraudulent fund manager and Mrs. Grettel fraudulent investor always leave a trail of bread crumbs, marking their journey into the dark forest of fraud and, subsequently, helping others find them. It is a private investigators job, passion and skill to find these bread trails, follow the path and overtake the thief before he goes too far. Through private investigation, a situation will never get out of hand.

Take for example the two recent cases:
Nabbing Nadel
Nadel reportedly made many fraudulent boasts about the value of investments and the rates of return. He claimed to have millions more than he actually had, which kept investors coming in and buying in. Through private investigation these claims could easily be debunked. A company’s records are not only online, as well as their asset information, but also can be traced through investigative auditing and computer forensics. Through these investigative procedures, lies can be uncovered and the truth be made known. Millions can be saved.

Unmasking Madoff
What Madoff did, he did in secret. He had his “day job”, which was known worldwide, was regulated and was monitored. But on the side, he conducted what is being hailed as the largest Ponzi scheme in history, stealing billions and keeping it all. He truly was a two-face, masking his thievery with a friendly, familial outer-appearance. How could he have been unmasked earlier? Again, through private investigation and some investigative auditing, background research, computer forensics and investigative analysis, the curious case of Madoff could have ended much earlier.

To state it again, it is private investigators job, passion and skill to seek out thieves and to sniff out illegal activities. In this case, it is a good private investigator’s duty and service to find fraudulent fund managers and fraudulent money managers and bring them into the light and to justice. We like to do it. It is what we live for.

Private Investigation for the Corporate World

2009-02-27T07:51:00.000-08:00

Private investigation is not simply for the private sector. Though individuals often hire a PI to perform some type of personal surveillance or research, businesses and corporations, too, hire private investigators to be perform routine investigation and services. After all, a business need just as much protection as (if not more than) an individual.

Why is that? Well, for starters, it ensures that someone is looking out for the best interests of the company. Though you would expect that this would be the job of the CEO, Manager, President and other higher-ups, this isn’t always the case. They don’t have time to be examining and evaluating all the different facets of the company, especially if the company is larger than one or two buildings. So, private investigators are hired to be the “eyes and ears” of the company, reporting anything fraudulent to those in charge. They can examine and survey not only the outside offices, but also the sales and distribution channels. They can keep tabs on and report about business partners. In fact, they have the power and the responsibility to dig up any dirt on a future business partner that could potentially hurt a merger or agreement. That is to say, they can make, and/or break, business deals.

They can also look out for the corporation’s assets and goodwill. A corporation’ assets are all the company’s possessions – its stock, its investments, its acquisitions and its satellite companies. A corporation’s goodwill is all that the company gives to charity or for charitable purposes. As you can imagine, with so many moving parts, it is impossible to keep track and keep tabs on all pieces, let alone a few pieces. Take Microsoft for example. They have investments in over 140 companies and have trademarks spanning from Xbox to MSN. To be a responsible, well-informed business, they need to know what exactly is happening in all of their companies. Yet, with so many facets to the business, it is no wonder that private investigation is needed and hired.

Not only are private investigators necessary for keeping track of assets and goodwill, but also they can limit the threat of civil and criminal exposure. When a future business partner has secrets or perhaps a shady past; when an acquisition has been “cooking the books” and needs to be dealt with before the media finds out; when an individual or a group within the company is performing illegal activities that can damage the future of the business – all these things can be found out and reported on by a private investigator. As the eyes and ears of the business, they can move around like scouts, looking for threats and bringing back valuable information.

If you want to know more about corporate criminal exposure, go here. If you would like to know more about how private investigators can help corporations, go here.

Investigative Auditing: Finding and Retrieving What Is Yours

2009-02-25T07:47:00.000-08:00

When you lose your wallet or have your purse stolen, it is a big deal. Your money, your identity, your security are all gone, and your financial situation goes into Code Red. But you are just one person, with only so much money.

Just imagine that the same is true for a business, except that instead of a thousand dollars missing, it is hundreds of thousands, even millions. All things halt when money goes missing, and the dogs are sent out to trace the loot.

Finding and retrieving what has been stolen from a business is called investigative auditing. It is the forensic side of accounting. It is a skill that only a select few people have, as it requires not only knowledge of accounting but also the ability to perform investigative techniques. Below is an outline of what is involved.

Tracing the Money
When the money goes missing, the investigative auditors are called in to find the money trail and chase down the stolen funds. This is not only difficult, but very tedious work. It often isn’t as simple as finding which bank the money was put into. Perhaps the money is deposited in many accounts. Or perhaps the money is still in a suitcase. Regardless of where the money is at the time, it can be traced. This is due to the fact that all transactions are registered and accessible – if you know the right people. A investigative auditors job is to find the right people, uncover and follow the connections between each transaction, and map the trail. Then, once the money has been found, the auditors embark to recover the assets.

Bringing It Back
Recovering fully the stolen money is not as easy as finding where the money has gone. Often times an investigative auditor comes onto the scene a little too late. Like a crime scene investigator cannot stop the murder from taking place, but can perhaps find the murderer, so too works investigative auditing. It is understood that transactions have already taken place, as these transactions led to the money itself. The money has already partially been spent. So, full recovery of the funds is almost always impossible. Yet, partial recovery is always an option.

So when an investigative auditor goes on the hunt, they are looking to bring back as much money as they can. Yet, the company has already lost a significant amount and should weigh the cost of recovering the money. In the end, if the money and the thief are found, more money will be spent to seal the deal and quiet down the situation. Finding the money might not be worth all the effort, especially if only a small portion of the money is returned. Coming to the scene late is costly.

Prevention
The best way to use investigative auditing is to prevent large theft from happening by reporting and busting smaller thefts. A typical thief works his way up. He starts off small and then steals more and more, if he is not caught. Stopping him when he has only stolen a small amount could save a company millions. So, the best way to save money and stop financial fraud is through using investigative auditing in small matters, before a situation gets out of hand.

Truth Be Told: The Role of a Private Investigator

2009-02-23T07:42:00.000-08:00

In today’s politically charged, pride-motivated and power-hungry culture, the Truth is hard to find. People talk it about as if it happened in the past but is no longer around. It is the Dodo Bird of ethics…the wooly mammoth of values. They say (and it seems to be correct) that the truth is as extinct as dinosaurs, blown away into the annals of history by the meteor of Self-protection, or the deadly flood of lies.

You can’t find truth at the local grocery store. You can’t find it at your favorite coffee shop. You can’t even find it at home. Even if you were able to afford anything in this world, you couldn’t buy it. Truth is expensive. Truth is uncommon. But, the truth is out there.

Though it feels like we are constantly lied to – from the Presidential platform to the real price of things in the local supermarket – there is such a thing as truth, and it wants to be known. Truth wants to reign in our culture. It wants to be the head of this Democratic Society. But in order for truth to be told, it must be sought. There must be seekers of truth out there. And a private investigator is just one of those.

In each case, a private investigator spends all the time necessary and all the energy he can muster to track down and tell the truth – what really happened no matter the outcome. He doesn’t care about popularity. He doesn’t care about glossing things over. No. He cares about justice. He cares about “fair.” He works, day and night, sunrise to sunrise even, to bring the truth to light. And he does it all because that is what he loves to do. That is why he got into the business.

That is why a private investigator interviews people. That is why he conducts background research, surveillance, auditing. That is why he goes above and beyond, stays in the shadows and searches the margins of society. In fact, that is why the entire profession of private investigation exists: to uncover and tell the truth.

How would people know what really happens in the world if it were not for private investigators? Can we trust the news? Can we trust what the “fair and balanced” reports? As we have seen in the past, the answer is no. Investigations into actual events happen daily, and private investigators lead the way.

Nickels Private Investigations is one of these seekers. They lead the quest for truth in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts. As a licensed professional, they have the skills and the experience necessary to find even the hardest of things. If the truth is out there, then they will find it. It is the role of the private investigator.

Interviewing: Seeking the Truth One Question at a Time

2009-02-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

Interviewing people is one of the most fundamental and important tasks that a private investigator has. People know things. People see things. And the right people can tell you exactly what you need to know. For a private investigator, interviewing people is a quest. They are seeking the Truth of a situation, one question at a time.

When is Interviewing Used?
A private investigation team will employ interviewing within almost any case. If a company has been robbed – either internally or externally, then a private investigator will begin by asking coworkers or business partners questions. They will seek to gather as much information as they can from all witnesses, so that they can begin to formulate what exactly happened. If, as another example, a person’s identity is in question, then a private investigator will interview friends, family, acquaintances and high school sweethearts – anyone who can give valuable information. Witnesses of character, and witnesses to a crime, are the best support or defence that a person can have.

Setting “the Mood”
Interviewing is, in its simplest form, a conversation with a purpose. The task is to gather pertinent information in the context of a dialogue that will later be used as evidence. The conversation can be informal and formal. Interviewing gives the private investigator the opportunity to casually and slyly uncover the truth of a situation. But in order for this to happen, the witness must feel comfortable. Establishing the right context and environment – free of distraction and free of anxiety – is an important part of interviewing. Also, making sure the witness feels comfortable with you is highly important. This is called “building rapport.”

Asking the Right Question
Like many skills, there is a technique to interviewing. You should always begin with open-ended questions, but then close with close-ended questions so that the witness (and you) can be sure of the facts. An example: “What can you tell me about the car?” (open-ended); then “So the car was black?” (close-ended). Also, you should never ask leading questions that allow the witness to simply say “Yes” to something that you have said. And, you should always ask the witness to recreate the event as fully as possible – physically and emotionally.

More Than Words
Asking the right questions, however, is not the only thing a private investigator must do. They must also watch for body language – to see what the witness isn’t saying with their words. This is a key feature of interviewing. It allows the private investigator to see, and feel, the Truth, just as much as it gives him the opportunity to hear and understand. Body language plays an important role. That is to say, how a person answers is just as important as what a person says. Eyebrows lifting, lips squeezing, eyes roaming – all say something. A good private investigator will know how to read the signs and interpret them correctly. Only in interviews can you see and hear so much. That is why interviewing is so fundamental and important to all private investigation cases.

Background Research: Reliving the Past

2009-02-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

Background Research is another integral part of a private investigators job. He is called upon often to find out as much information from the past as possible about a person or a company for many different reasons. For example, this could be background checks for employment purposes. Or this could be research about a potential business partner. In either case, the private investigator is hired to search the annals of the past and get as much scoop and as much dirt as he can find. Because of the internet, this process has become much, much easier.

A private investigator can, for a small fee, simply use a background check website to find vast sheets of information about a person or a business. He can search through state-wide criminal and civil records (New Hampshire, Vermont Maine, Massachusetts, etc.) and find out whether or not a person is a sex offender, has filed bankruptcy, has lead in his foot and gets speeding tickets, and more. He can find out previous addresses, family members and neighbors.

For a business, going to a website that assists with corporate research will provide information from public and private corporate files (both locally and globally), financial articles and reports, executive profiles and more. Also online, a private investigator can search a company’s assets, acquisitions and mergers, revealing how much property and possessions a company owns, and with whom they work.

You might be surprised at how quickly a private investigator has access to a person’s identity and past. Gone are the days of keeping secrets about oneself or remaining anonymous. Especially with the rise of Facebook, MySpace, Reunion.com and other networking sites, a person’s identity and location are only a click away. With a few websites and some skill, anyone can research a person’s social security number, telephone number, vehicle registration and club memberships. And they will even be able to find photographs.

Yet, even with the accessibility of all the information, a private investigator must be mindful of the law when performing background research. He must make sure that he follows local, state and federal privacy laws, as well as stay within his licensing geography. For example, Nickels Private Investigations is licensed has a broad geography to work with (Massachusetts up to Maine), but we cannot go outside of those states. Were we to do so, we would be breaking the law by investigating without a license. Once again, this is a benefit of performing background research online.

So with the expansion of the internet and with the rise of private information and disclosure acts, background research has become easier and easier. The past is no longer private anymore, but easily accessible online. Though we all would rather not relive it, it is there for researching. A private investigator just needs to know where to look.

Impeaching Witnesses and Evidence

2009-02-16T07:41:00.000-08:00

We have all seen a courtroom drama, either on TV or in the Movies, in which the Prosecution or the Defense team brings in a witness that will win the case and damage the other side. Then, in the classic plot twist, the “sure-fire” witness is shown to be not as perfect as originally thought, and the witness and evidence is disregarded. This is what is known as impeaching witnesses and evidence. This is what Nickels Private Investigations does.

Impeaching a witness is not as difficult as it sounds. There are many ways to go about impeaching a witness, and all the ways require skills that private investigators must have. Here are three:

Bias Witness
When a witness is shown to biased it means that the witness unfairly and, most likely, unjustly favours one party over the other, and this bias affects their statement and evidence. A private investigator can easily prove this to the court and impeach the witness by showing evidence of under-the-table dealings, or perhaps showing what exactly the witness will gain if a certain outcome is reached. An example of this would be what is known as a “rat” – a guilty, biased witness who is getting favourable treatment in order to provide evidence against another person. Through Background Checks , Surveillance and other methods, Private Investigation companies can easily and stealthily figure these things out and provide the necessary information and impeach a critical witness.

Inconsistent Evidence
When a witness gives two or more conflicting pieces of information, then the witness can be classified as inconsistent and can be impeached. The credibility of the witness will be reduced if not completely eliminated, which can serve either side and give them the advantage. Conducting interviews and doing some background research on the witness are two ways of working toward this end.
Character of Witness
Similar to the two ways above, calling into question the character of the witness can help sway the jury and judge to impeach the witness and the evidence. Again, through interviews, background checks and the like, a witness can be seen in many negative lights that can ultimately prove fatal. It is the job and skill of any good private investigator to dig up as much dirt about someone as possible, so that anything and everything can be used against the witness.

Seasoned private investigators can easily provide all the necessary information to bring about these outcomes and impeach a damaging witness. They are able to counteract any potentially damaging attack by either the prosecution or defence in order to help your side win. Especially when dealing with the government, seasoned police will bring all kinds of evidence and statements that could be fatal. Therefore, it is imperative to provide your own evidence and statements that will neutralize the opponent’s attack and give your side strength through witness and evidence impeachment. Nickels Private Investigations is just the seasoned professional you need.

Good Evidence: The Difference Between Freedom and Imprisonment

2009-02-13T07:31:00.000-08:00

Chances are that we have all been there before. We know what happens when good evidence is introduced into the equation. Just think about all those times we got in trouble as children. We always thought that we were going to get away with it. We had a fail-proof plan. We would cry, or we would shrug our shoulders. We would say that we didn’t know what happened, or we would blame it on our siblings. But then Dad or Mom would point to the broken window, or ask our brothers and sisters, or show us the report card...whatever it was. And we would be caught.
Good evidence does that. It has the power to make or break us. It holds in its hands the key to freedom or imprisonment. It is what we all seek, and upon which all court cases hinge. Whether in a criminal, civil or family court case; Private Investigators pride themselves on getting just this kind of evidence.

Good evidence is hard to come by. It takes time, resources and know-how to gather and process all the information. But, a good argument will always have good evidence. For your benefit, here are a few important weapons you will need in your argument arsenal:

1. Good Witnesses: The best witnesses are those that saw or know of the crime firsthand. They can give the clearest and most precise credible testimony available. Also, the best witnesses will be available to support you and your claims completely. A good witness is credible and cannot be impeached.

2. Good Testimony: This is connected with the first weapon and is also vitally important. Your argument must be clear, consistent, and creditable – the same all around the board. When testimony is unclear and contradictory, your argument will appear fake and fraudulent. Consequently, it could be thrown out and disregarded, ending the trial and your hopes of winning.
3. Good Exhibits: These are the physical objects obtained following the guidelines of ”Rules Of Evidence” that you present to the judge and jury are extremely important. They will not only aide your argument, but also serve as visual aides, representing and recalling the crime. They can be photographs, video surveillance, objects from the crime itself (like a weapon or article of clothing) and so on. A good investigator will be able to gather these essential items to use on your behalf

Consider all the court cases we read about each day. How many cases are decided by witnesses and testimony? Well, private investigators can find good witnesses, certify their credentials, and debunk all bad witnesses. How many come down to damaging exhibits? Again, seasoned investigators gather the best information, take the most potent pictures, and talk with the closest informants. They make sure that your side has not only good evidence, but also the best evidence, so that your side will have the strongest case possible.

There is no need to be caught on the wrong side of the iron bars. When imprisonment is at stake, and your freedom is hanging in the balance, make sure and trust a private investigator. Good evidence is worth it.

A Bad Divorce: 5 Ways to Seal the Deal

2009-02-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

A bad divorce case can be ugly – emotionally, spiritually and, of course, legally. They can drag on and on without an end in sight. They can be financially and physically draining, and you can end up losing even though you “won”. Yet, there are ways of avoiding a bad divorce case. With the help of a private investigator, you can bring closure easily and quickly. Here are five ways to seal the deal.

1. Good Surveillance: Whether with photos or videos, this is the best way to obtain evidence that something illegal is happening. Visual evidence always brings a quicker closure to a bad divorce – eliminating speculation and physically solidifying and argument. Surveillance is used most often in cases of adultery; yet, any situation involving illegal activities within a marriage (i.e. abuse, theft, neglect, child custody issues...) can and should be visually recorded.

2. Hidden Asset Searches: This is the best way to find out if someone is hiding something and what exactly they are hiding. Searching through financial records and backgrounds, as well as legally obtained bank information and credit reports (Fair Credit Act), can bring to the surface and prove and withholdings that a person may have. These types of asset searches can be done online or through a private investigator.
3. Well-Placed Interviews: Finding and interviewing the right people is a private investigator’s job. Family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, long-lost boyfriends and girlfriends: you name it, and we can find it. A well-placed interview can bring force to your argument at just the right time in a divorce/child custody case and bring a quicker judgment.

4. Quality, Relevant Courtroom Testimony: Just having many witnesses won’t cut it, though. When it comes getting a quick closure, having the right witnesses and the best information is vitally important. A private investigator cannot only gather good witnesses, but they can bring forth the best witnesses in order to build a clear, concise and consistent argument. With a bad divorce/child custody case that is full of arguments from both sides, clarity and consistency are a plus and a strong defense.

5. Professional Reports: Finally, nothing impresses the judge and jury more than a professional presentation. You not look like you have your act together, but you are showing them that you do. By giving them the details in an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand format, they will appreciate and understand you more. This is greatly to your advantage. Private Investigation Companies are more than able to provide such reports for you, collating all the vast sheets of information and argumentation, so that you easily and quickly can present your case.

Again, a bad divorce case can be ugly. It can drag on and on. But it doesn’t have to. Hiring a good private investigator to perform these five services can be the difference in your case between winning and losing. You won’t need to end up on the wrong side. Divorces are bad enough. Let a private investigator at least ease the legal side of things.

A Team Player: The Role of a Private Investigator

2009-02-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

If there was an award for the best team player, perhaps even the “6th Man Award” for the courtroom – always coming off the bench in the clutch and giving outstanding results day in and day out, then the private investigator would get it most every time. He is the one that brings in all the information that ends up being crucial testimony. He is the one searching high and low for evidence, witnesses and testimony. He is the one who knows exactly what the team needs and when the team needs it. He is a team player. Such is the role of a Private Investigator.
Good Defense
A private investigator knows what good team work is and provides exactly what the legal team needs in order to obtain the best possible defense. This means that they will follow the lead of the attorneys and their instructions, and they will have a thorough understanding of the sequence of evidence needed for the best possible results. They will gather the witnesses, collect the exhibits and help the legal team organize the entirety of the evidence.

For example, a typical scenario in which a PI would be hired by an attorney is in a case of adultery. In order to prove that illegal conduct had taken place within a marriage and in order to build grounds for divorce, a private investigator would be hired by an attorney and be given the task of photo surveillance, video surveillance and witness interviews. Working together, they would try and build the best defense with as much evidence as possible.

Yet, private investigators do not simply serve the attorneys. They themselves can serve as expert witnesses; they can decide what exactly is needed to make and support your case, and they can take the lead on finding and evaluating evidence. They truly are a team player, able to play the follower and the leader, and always providing what the team needs.

Never the Mole
Especially in high profile cases – where the media wants to know every single detail about every person so that they can be the first to publicize the “facts”, even if it jeopardizes the case, but even in smaller, less well-known ones, talking with the media can be a problem among a legal team. But you can be assured that a professional private investigator like Nickels Private Investigations would never talk with the media, jeopardizing the case. We will never be the mole, never the insider.

Not only would it be unethical for us to do so, but it breaks the law! State laws in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts forbid any information to be divulged that is received by Private Investigator. Furthermore, because we are under contract through the ‘attorney client privilege”, we cannot give out information. That is to say: what happens in and for the courtroom, stays in and for the courtroom. We keep it secret. We keep it safe. Why? Because that is what a team player does.that is what a team player does.

Personal Investigators Make Great Travel Escorts

2009-02-08T05:30:00.000-08:00

We all want to travel. We all have the desire within us to see the unknown, experience the beautiful, learn something new. No matter how old we are, we want to “see the world” and do something great. When we are young, it is easier. When we get older, however, it becomes much harder to travel, much scarier or riskier even. There are many men and women who want to travel the world and fulfill their dreams before they are completely unable to, but the fast-paced, high-octane culture we live in now scares them and/or prevents them from leaving their front door - from embarking on their grand adventure. This is where travel escorts come in handy. For those scared of travel but wishing and willing, travel escorts are a viable option for you.

But, as you probably know or can know pretty easily if you start looking around, travel escorts are not a dime a dozen. They aren’t around every corner, and even if they were, they definitely would not cost 10 cents. Travel escorts are rare and expensive. And it is understandable. Being a travel escort isn’t a job for anyone. It requires trust, skill and experience. A good travel escort must have traveled extensively, be comfortable working in close contact with one or two people, be able to navigate and lead travels in unfamiliar locations, and so on. Not many people have these skills. So where can you find a good travel escort? Who can be trusted and counted on?

This brings us to the heading for this article. You don’t have to read the sentence again. It says what you think it says, even if you might be shocked at the idea. Private investigators do, in fact, make great travel escorts. That is to say, the right kind of private investigator makes a great travel escort. And Nickels Investigations is the company for all your travel escort needs.

For starters, we have traveled extensively both nationally and internationally, giving us vast experience with the hassles and pitfalls of travel like airports, rental cars, foreign currency, hotels accommodations, and more. Regularly we travel throughout New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts, in the country and in the city, in wealthy and poor neighbourhoods alike. Much of our business takes us overseas, as well, offering us the advantage of knowing more about where you want to go.

We are well familiar with security and protection services, as well as in keeping information and possessions confidential. Private investigators must be versed in the law and in safety, as our line of work requires both on a daily basis. In addition, we are limited by law in divulging any information that we retrieve from sources or through research. Thus, we practice and apply confidentiality and privacy in all that we do. All this means that we could not be a safer, more trustable supplier of travel escort services. Let us help you fulfill your dreams and travel the world.

Witness Location is Important in Many Legal Cases

2009-02-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

Most attorneys use a private investigations service like that of Nickels private investigations to help with witness location. They do this because it is cheaper for the client to pay a private investigator than it is to pay the lawyer to locate and then interview a potential witness.

When a private investigator has found the witness with important information to a legal case then the lawyer will schedule a deposition for the witness. The deposition is a statement that the witness makes under oath. This statement can be either written or taped via a tape or video recorder and can be used in court. A deposition is very common especially when the witness can’t be in court because of an illness.

Most lawyers try to avoid depositions because they can be expensive. The court reporter has to be available to document questions and answers, and opposing council may also want to be available. This is why an attorney has to be careful and get the deposition from the correct source. He doesn’t want a deposition from an entire neighborhood when referring to a case involving an auto accident. He only wants the one witness that saw what happened, and that is why he hires a private investigator like Nickels private investigations to do the witness location for the case.

Let’s demonstrate when you need witness location services from the following case. Lets assume that there was a multi vehicle collision and the attorney suspects that one of the drivers was inebriated. He will call in a private investigator to locate any witnesses that can testify to the persons inebriation prior to getting into the car and driving.

The private investigator will use databases that are only available to law enforcement or to licensed investigators to locate these witnesses. Once he has located the witness, he will ask pertinent information and won’t exclude anything from the report. He will also document the interview with a digital recorder.

Of course, any investigator will inform the witness that he is recording the information, so it doesn’t get thrown out of court later, and that he is recording so that the interview goes quickly and he doesn’t have to write down so many notes. These are the types of questions Nickels investigations asks potential witnesses:

1. State your name 2. State time and date of interview 3. State that the witness has given consent to record the interview 4. Mention the reason for the interview.
Usually a client or attorney will ask for the original tape, but most private investigators give them a copy. The original will be needed in court.

Witness location Done by Professionals

2009-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

If you are ever in the need of finding someone who doesn’t really want to be found, you will find that the job is just not that easy. Witness location is something that Nickels private investigations specializes in and an endeavor that is best left to the private investigators. There are a few things you can do but it is very infrequent that an amateur finds someone.

The private investigator usually uses the term ¨skip trace¨ when they need to locate a missing person, or a person that is needed as a witness. Witness location or skip tracing is done by law enforcement, the private investigator, lawyers or a combination of all of these. It is when a suspect in a criminal action, or a witness to such criminal action needs to be found. Sometimes someone from the private sector will call a private investigator to do a skip trace to find a missing parent, or a business associate.

Although you might think that witness location is only done when a case refers to a criminal act, there are other reasons a skip trace might be done. For example, an estate lawyer will use it to find heirs or adoptees might use it to find birth parents.

The Internet
If you are looking for someone and don’t want to hire a private investigator, you might want to try the internet. You can look on google, or on social networking sites.

People You know
If you have mutual acquaintances you might try to locate them first, and find out if they have any information on the person.

Use a Professional Investigations Team
If you can’t find the person you are looking for then its probably best to call in the professionals. Witness Location takes a certain knack and it takes a professional like Tom Nickels Investigator years of experience to be successful in locating missing persons. A private investigator has access to information you don’t. They can get into databases of information that are only available to law enforcement and specialized agencies. The fee a private investigator charges for witness location is not that high and well worth the price if you need to locate someone.

Robbery violent crime is Continually on the Rise

2009-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today more robbery and violent crime is committed than ever before in America. The threat of violence and fear resides in all individuals living in the country and with good reason, just listen to the news and you will hear about school shootouts, break ins and random killings. Anyone could be a victim.

Tom Nickels investigations, defines robbery and violent crime as a crime where the offender threatens to use, or uses violence and force to get what he wants. This may include murder and assault. Studies show that men are the usual victim in a violent crime, except in those which involve rape.

Robbery violent crime falls into four categories; these being, aggravated assault, rape, robbery, manslaughter, and murder. Recently there have been over a million violent crimes in the United States and of all the categories the most common is aggravated assault.

To prove our point as to how much violent crime has increased in the last few years we have listed a few statistics for you below:

1. According to statistics from the FBI there are over 48 murders committed in the United States every day.
2. one violent crime is committed every 22 second
3. One rape is committed every 5.7 minutes
4. A robbery happens every 1.2 minutes

The important thing to do is to be aware of the statistics, and keep your home, car, and family secure. Stay alert and find ways of being prepared. Nickels private investigations has found that one of the best ways to be prepared for this type of crime is to carry some sort of self defense with you, like mace and always be aware of what goes on around you. Keep video surveillance in your home and work place, and stick to well lit areas.

Taking preventative measures will help you avoid a criminal act against you or your family from taking place. Be aware of what goes on in your neighborhood and be safe at all times.

What to Do in The Case of Hostile terminations or Hostile Threats in the Work Place

2009-01-30T08:00:00.001-08:00

At some point in time an employer may have to figure out what to do when faced with a hostile terminations problem, or even hostile threats in the workplace. There may come a time when an employee accuses another co employee of verbal and hostile non verbal conduct and as head of the company you will need to take some kind of action to protect employees and ensure work security.

Acknowledge the Complaint
The first thing you need to do is acknowledge that there is a problem. You cannot ignore a complaint about a threat that is given to one of your employees. You should immediately investigate the problem, because if you leave it alone, you could end up with a tragedy on your hands.

Start Investigating
As an employer you need to start some sort of investigation and find out whether the reported threat or hostile behavior, or hostile termination is credible, then you need to decide on an action to be taken by the company. Whoever you do get to help with the investigation needs to be familiar with employment law and should be able to conduct a professional inquiry to get all the factual information.

Protection
At this time you need to decide on whether you need to suspend the employee who has the complaint made against him. It really depends on what the offense was. Was it just a hostile termination of another employee or was it actually a physical threat against someone.

Should You Involve the Police?
If you find that there is a credible threat or that the hostile terminations accusation is credible then you may want to involve the police authorities. It really depends on what the threat to the company was.

The Results of Your Investigation
Often the best recourse is to hire a professional investigative service like that of Nickels private investigations. This way you can stand back and find out if the threat is real or not. If the investigation should find that there is credible information and threatening behavior, then you should be ready to take some sort of action like:

• Issuing a verbal warning • Issuing a written warning • A suspension • Termination • Compensation for a wrongful termination

An investigative company like Nickels private investigations will offer documented information which should be preserved in case of any type of litigation.

Help Minimize Robbery and Violent Crime in Businesses

2009-01-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

A robbery is a violent crime, it can be one of the most dangerous crimes committed in the United States today. Studies have show that armed robbery is increasing drastically every year, and thousands of people become victims. The following are some tips we at Nickels Private investigations have found helpful in making a clients business more secure, and helps them protect the safety of their employees and their customers

Remain Located in a High Traffic Area
Robbery and violent crime tend to happen less frequently in areas that have lots of activity. Keep a pay phone nearby, so that if someone notices a crime being committed, he can easily report it.

Remain on the Lookout
Teach your employees to be alert and to watch what happens outside and inside the business. Politely ask loiters and people that just hang out to leave. If you see suspicious activity, call 911. Don’t worry about it being a false alarm or not. Pay attention to cars that park around your business. You want to be able to report everything if there is a robbery or violent crime committed at your business.

Good Lighting and Visibility are Essential
You need to offer as much visibility as you can. Make sure your business can be seen from the street and that there is enough visibility inside the store. Make sure that the register area is visible from the street. Be sure this visibility is available both in the day and at night.

Keep your Parking Lot Secure
Some stores make getting away harder for criminals and so deter robbery and violent crime from happening on their premises. You can do this by only allowing parking in front of the store, keeping only one exit from the parking lot, fencing the area on three sides so the robber cannot escape easily, etc.

Don’t Keep Large Amounts of Cash in the Register
Holding large amounts of cash only make your business look more attractive to robbers. We at Nickels private investigations have seen many robberies that could have been prevented if the owner had a policy of keeping small amounts of cash in the register.

In many instances robbery can be prevented if a business owner implements safety measures which deter robbers. Without these measures business owners end up losing more than the small investment they would have to make to ensure the business’s safety.

Robbery Violent Crime Comes in Many Types

2009-01-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

If you are ever charged with robbery or violent crime, it can turn your whole world upside down. It will change your future, and the future of your spouse, your parents, and your children. Robbery is a serious offence and there are many different types of robbery you could be charged with.

As a definition robbery is when you take someone else’s property with violence and without consent. This can be done in several ways and the charges will vary depending on the type of robbery violent crime that was committed.

Armed Robbery
This is similar to a normal robbery but a weapon is used. The weapon is not a deadly one because this would be classified differently. The weapon can be anything from a bat to a small knife.

Aggravated Robbery
This is a robbery violent crime where a deadly weapon is used, something like a gun or another type of weapon that could kill a person. This type of robbery could change your entire life and the life of your family.

A Mugging
This is a type of robbery that takes place in a public place. The robber will take your belongings by threatening force. It usually happens in a dark alley or a place in a corner. They have serious consequences.

Nickels private investigations has used much of the FBI statistics to find out as much as possible about who is victimized by robbery violent crime. For instance, people that are under the age of 50 are more likely to be victims of a violent robbery. Those that are over the age of 50 usually only have property robberies and are not harmed in any way.

The best way to avoid a robbery is to take preventative measures, and increase your personal security. Carry some type of self defense product, don’t walk alone at night, keep to lighted areas. Use video surveillance in your home and business

Two Good Examples of Racketeering anti trust Crimes

2009-01-03T10:06:00.000-08:00

Racketeering anti trust is defined as operating some sort of illegal business transaction to make profit. It is usually performed by a well structured group of people. It includes fraud against other businesses and other people and even governments.

Probably one of the best cases which demonstrates racketeering and anti trust crimes is the case that relates to the tobacco industry. In 1999 the tobacco industry was accused of racketeering, and public deception with regards to smoking. The charges stated that the tobacco industry created a public deception and tried to cover up the dangers of smoking.

In 2006 the U.S district court ruled that the tobacco industry had lied and deceived the public about their product in regards to the terrible health effects smoking has on people.

The ruling says that the tobacco companies continued to deny and change the information that the surgeon general found. Instead they used words like, ¨low tar, mild, natural, and others that minimized the dangers of smoking. All of these counter measures that the tobacco industry took for more than 20 years are considered racketeering anti trust crimes.

Another such more recent case of racketeering anti trust criminal investigations, is the case brought against Direct TV for its anti piracy campaign. In this case DirecTV is being charged under the racketeering act for bringing legal threats against people who by smart card programmers or related products from web retailers. It turns out that the person who purchased such equipment wanted it to develop a secure PC for his medical office. Then he became astounded when direct TV accused him of being a pirate and was fined $3,500. He paid it to avoid litigation but soon followed with his own suit using the racketeering anti trust laws.

As you can see we at Nickels Private Investigations come across many different racketeering anti trust crimes and they are as varied as night and day.

Personal Protection Can be Very Important When Dealing with Stalkers

2009-01-03T10:03:00.000-08:00

Personal protection is on a lot of people’s minds of late. With the increase in robberies, stalking, and kidnappings many of Tom Nickels clients seek out some kind of personal protection option because of a problem with stalkers or strange people.

There is a huge problem with stalking these days especially if a person is well known within the media, or a public figure of some kind. Stalkers are strange beings and so it is difficult to understand their patterns.

It is a crime to follow people around or to harass them through any means, and if you are being stalked and seriously thinking about personal protection and other options you need to think about whether or not you are willing to report the problem to the police, or whether you want to contract a Private investigative company like Tom Nickels, to collect proof of the stalking.

You also need to think about whether you have enough evidence. In order to take action against someone that is stalking you, there has to be enough evidence and this is one of the reasons you would want to hire a company like that of Tom nickels private investigations to find the evidence you need to convict a stalker. Especially if you are well known in the media world, and if you are known to be a little eccentric then you really need strong evidence including pictures of the stalker trespassing or following you around.

Once you have informed the police and you have publicized the fact that there is a problem with someone, you must avoid the stalker at all costs. And you may have an even bigger problem with copy cat stalkers and Paparazzi, or people that make jokes about the problem. This is why it is so important that you have hard evidence that you are being stalked.

Other things you should try is to avoid communication with the stalker and seek personal protection, by either hiring someone to be with you all the time or varying your routine and not showing up or doing the same thing over and over again, so that the stalker can figure out what your regular routine is.

Proving a case against a stalker can be very difficult that is why you should seriously consider getting personal protection and hiring a private investigative company to collect evidence for you.

Sexual Age Discrimination Is Difficult to Prove

2009-01-03T09:59:00.000-08:00

We at Nickels Private investigations see lots of sexual age discrimination cases come our way, and this is probably because lots of proof is needed when fighting this type of case. Sexual age discrimination is becoming a larger problem, than it ever was before in the American work place. This may be because a lot more of us are in the work force or because we are living longer more productive lives. You might even want to ask: Aren’t there federal laws that prevent this from happening? The answer is Yes! But it’s not so ¨cut and dry¨ as that! Even though there are both federal and state laws in place, which are supposed to protect you from both sexual and age discrimination, it still happens and it happens almost every day. It is an issue that plagues our society and one which is difficult to address.

The issue is quite complex, and so it is often hard to prove sexual, or age discrimination. That’s why you need both a Private detective and a good attorney if you fear sexual age discrimination.
According to both federal and state law an employer can’t refuse to hire a person, give him a promotion, a raise, certain terms or conditions just because of your gender or your age, but often employers do discriminate and use other terms for the reasons. This is probably the reason why it’s hard to prove age and sexual discrimination.
Exceptions to the Law
• Although companies cannot really force most employees to retire, there are certain employers in certain job fields that can force an employee to retire based on their age, and these jobs include law enforcement, firefighters and some highly paid corporate executives.
• The law also forbids an employer to advertise using certain age preferences, unless age is a job qualification or necessary for the certain type of business.
• It is not illegal for an employer to ask an applicant for his age or date of birth, but it is not seen very favorably either. The employer needs to give a legitimate reason for asking for a birth date.
• Benefits cannot be denied to an older worker but those benefits can be significantly reduced based on an employee’s age. But the costs for an aging worker need to be equal to those paid for a younger employee.

Waiving your ADEA rights
In some cases an employer may ask you to waive your ADEA rights in order to work there. The waiver is enforced but it must meet certain criteria first. It must be put into a written agreement, and it must refer specifically to ADEA rights. At the signing of this contract the employer also needed to inform you in writing to consult an attorney before signing.

Using Sexual Age discrimination to Replace High Wage Earners.
Here things get a little tricky because it is not illegal for an employer to replace a higher wage earner with a lower wage earner. But as is often the case, this means replacing an older worker with a younger one, and many companies use this excuse to be able to get rid of its older workers. This is breaking the law but the employee needs to show that it was because of age that the employer fired him.

As you can see proving this type of case is not as easy as it looks, that is why it is important that you get the help of a good PI and an attorney.

White-collar crime has to be proven

2009-01-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

We at Nickels investigations see many different types of investigations, but one we tend to see a lot is that of white-collar crimes. These type of crimes are non violent in nature, and usually committed by a government official or a business executive type. This type of person does not commit a crime using guns but they take place using a type of deception. The evidence that needs to be collected for this type of crime is all paper based.

The following are the types of white-collar crimes that can take place:

1. Bribery – It happens when someone demands or takes some kind of bribe
2. Larceny – In this type of crime someone takes a property without paying for it.
3. Embezzlement involves the taking of money, personal property or property without the owners consent. The person has usually been entrusted with this property.
4. Fraud – This occurs when a person uses deception to get classified information or when deception is used to steal something.
5. Perjury – The act of lying under oath in a court proceeding
6. Extortion – this is just another word for blackmail
7. Obstruction of Justice – This is where a person interferes with an official criminal investigation.

The above are the basic types of white-collar crimes that exist. Of course, part of our job is coming up with the proof that such crimes were committed.

White-collar crimes can be prosecuted at both a state and federal level and if convicted the suspect is charged with very large fines and in many cases some jail time.

When a person is accused of some kind of white collar crime, he needs to hire an attorney and just as the accuser, needs to prove his innocence. Most corporations that believe there has been a white-collar crime committed will hire the Tom Nickels private investigation firm to find prove of the crime.

Two Good Examples of Racketeering anti trust Crimes

2008-12-16T11:40:00.000-08:00

Racketeering Anti Trust Crime Categories Can Be Varied

2008-12-12T05:10:00.000-08:00

In the late 1930's White collar crime was defined as ¨any criminal act committed by a person of respectable origins and high social status in the course of his occupation.¨ Today experts believe this definition is a little too narrow. Now a White collar crime is any crime that deals with finance, fraud or money that is committed by a respectable person. In general white collar crimes are non violent crimes committed in the corporate world, like that of racketeering anti trust crimes.

Racketeering has been around for a long time and usually involves large crimes involving organizations. This may take the form of an organizations monopolization of a product, an employee force, gambling, prostitution, computer gambling, etc. The following is a list of different types of white collar crimes that occur today.

• Insurance fraud
• Tax evasion
• Racketeering anti trust
• Credit card fraud
• Computer and internet fraud
• Bribery
• Counterfeiting
• Embezzlement

White collar crimes are usually non violent but they are still very serious and cost the nation close to $300 billion. Nickels private investigations has seen a wide variety of punishments for this type of crime. Fines can go into the millions of dollars, as those that were imposed recently on the spam king, and can also include long periods of jail time.

White collar crimes are not always done simply by individuals. In fact, racketeering anti trust crimes are usually committed by large companies, as in the Enron situation. In situations like this, it is not only the corporation that is affected but their families, and other employees who don’t even know about the crime. Often these people find themselves financially hurt by criminal offenses that their company took.

If you are accused of a white collar crime then it’s important that you hire a good criminal attorney and the right private investigator to prove your case.

Racketeering anti trust Violations Come in Many Ways

2008-12-12T05:08:00.000-08:00

Violating racketeering anti trust laws is the act of operating an illegal business and scheming to create a monopoly in a certain sector of business. This type of crime is encompasses a very broad area including, bribery, illegal gambling, sexual exploitation of children, computer scams etc.

Racketeering and violations of anti trust laws are usually associated with organized crime. To start a racketeering scheme it usually takes more than just one person, usually a large group as in organized crime groups.

Many people, businesses and even governments can be affected by racketeering anti trust crimes. Examples of this type of crime may include counterfeiting, trading in alcohol, cigarettes. It can also include offering illegal services like drug trafficking or prostitution.

Nickels private investigations has worked on many cases where the charges are racketeering. It can also be considered a white collar crime, as when money laundering or extortion charges are brought against a subject.

In most professional investigations involving racketeering anti trust crimes a private investigator is usually hired, to find information and interview witnesses. This type of crime is complicated because the criminal organizations that engage in racketeering anti trust crimes usually have legitimate businesses too, which they use as cover for their racketeering acts.

Some racketeering acts may not come from the usual criminal sources. In fact some anti trust violations come from regular businesses. These companies may not practice racketeering on purpose, but when they try to monopolize a market or work in conjunction with another group to fix prices on a product then they are also violating antitrust laws, and practicing a kind of racketeering.

Antitrust laws have been in place since the 1890's and they were made to protect competition in the market place and thereby keep the prices low which benefits consumers. Violations of these antitrust laws include fixing prices, allocating consumers between more than one business, which should be competing with each other, rigging contract bids, etc. This type of violation is a crime and we at Nickels private investigations see many cross our way. Fines for this type of crime can be as high as $400,000 or may even involve jail time.

Racketeering anti trust Violations Come in Many Ways

2008-12-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

Violating racketeering anti trust laws is the act of operating an illegal business and scheming to create a monopoly in a certain sector of business. This type of crime is encompasses a very broad area including, bribery, illegal gambling, sexual exploitation of children, computer scams etc.

Racketeering and violations of anti trust laws are usually associated with organized crime. To start a racketeering scheme it usually takes more than just one person, usually a large group as in organized crime groups.

Many people, businesses and even governments can be affected by racketeering anti trust crimes. Examples of this type of crime may include counterfeiting, trading in alcohol, cigarettes. It can also include offering illegal services like drug trafficking or prostitution.

Nickels private investigations has worked on many cases where the charges are racketeering. It can also be considered a white collar crime, as when money laundering or extortion charges are brought against a subject.

In most professional investigations involving racketeering anti trust crimes a private investigator is usually hired, to find information and interview witnesses. This type of crime is complicated because the criminal organizations that engage in racketeering anti trust crimes usually have legitimate businesses too, which they use as cover for their racketeering acts.

Some racketeering acts may not come from the usual criminal sources. In fact some anti trust violations come from regular businesses. These companies may not practice racketeering on purpose, but when they try to monopolize a market or work in conjunction with another group to fix prices on a product then they are also violating antitrust laws, and practicing a kind of racketeering.

Antitrust laws have been in place since the 1890´s and they were made to protect competition in the market place and thereby keep the prices low which benefits consumers. Violations of these antitrust laws include fixing prices, allocating consumers between more than one business, which should be competing with each other, rigging contract bids, etc. This type of violation is a crime and we at Nickels private investigations see many cross our way. Fines for this type of crime can be as high as $400,000 or may even involve jail time.

Personal Protection Can be Very Important When Dealing with Stalkers

2008-11-21T07:10:00.000-08:00

Insurance Fraud Investigations Need to Be Brought Forward

2008-11-21T07:04:00.000-08:00

When you have an insurance case and you fear insurance fraud then you should request the insurance fraud investigations department from your insurance company and talk to them. There are thousands of opportunities for fraud in the insurance business and many people are looking to make a quick buck this way. In the US alone it is estimated that insurance fraud has reached as much as $80 billion a year.

Most people think that this type of loss only affects the insurance company, but that is not so. The loss is reflected on the higher prices on every one of our claims. Today the role of insurance fraud investigations officers in Maine, NH, Vermont and Mass., is becoming more and more important as more cases are arising.

Tom Nickels Private investigator and other insurance fraud investigations specialists work on assessing the validity of any insurance claim, discouraging fraud and bringing these criminals to court.

The type of investigations done in insurance fraud is different for each case and depends on the insurance and the type of claim that is being made. For instance, if the claim refers to medical health insurance, then the private investigations will focus on the patients medical history. The investigation will look at the billing and see if there are any abnormalities in the billing. The private investigator will look at service records and see if the practitioner has had other cases that also seem to be fraudulent.

If for instance, the case revolves around an auto insurance claim, then the insurance fraud investigations will look at the damage estimates and compare them to other similar claims. The investigator will look at the damages that are being claimed, the amount charged for repairs.

Thanks to technology that is now available to Nickels Private Investigations and others related to insurance fraud investigations, the time between reporting the claim and getting a result. Still the lure of getting quick money from an insurance claim is very appealing to criminals, so always be on the lookout for a scam.

What Types of Insurance fraud investigations are There?

2008-11-13T08:13:00.000-08:00

Insurance fraud is one of the largest crimes in the U.S. today and insurance fraud investigations take up a great deal of law enforcements, and insurance adjusters time. It costs an insurance company billions every year. It is estimated that about 10% of all insurance claims are frauds. The money that is stolen in this type of fraud costs everyone money.

How Does Insurance Fraud Take Place?
There are many ways insurance fraud happens and we will go over a few methods here.

Home Insurance Fraud
For example fraud in home insurance may take place in the following way. Let´s say a person files a robbery report. He states that the thieves cam in and took the stereo and the TV, but he might also hide the computer and other equipment and report them as stolen.

Auto Insurance Fraud
There are well organized automobile insurance scams out there. A criminal will follow someone in a car and then speed up in front of them and slam on the brakes so that the person has a rear end collision. The driver is usually very nice, he may approach you and then ask you if you need help, he will call a towing service, and a body repair shop he has stored on his cell. He will also call a lawyer for you. What you don’t know is that this driver has been hired by the car shop to provoke the accident. The doctor, attorney and tow shop are probably in the scam too. Don’t make deals with repair shops from anyone you have had a collision with, and read all the fine print before signing any papers.

Fake Insurance
You may be short on money and be looking for a great insurance deal. This goes for all types of insurance, you look in the newspaper and find that perfect deal. You buy it,. Sign the papers etc, then two months later you need to make a claim and come to find out that your insurance policy is fake.

There are many other such cases that we at Tom Nickels professional investigator services have dealt with. It is estimated that insurance fraud costs close to 80 billion dollars a year, and that raises everyones insurance by as much as $1000 a year. Insurance fraud cost the company, the consumer, and law enforcement time and money. If law enforcement did not have to spend so much time on insurance fraud investigations, they could spend more of their time prosecuting other types of criminals.

Insurance fraud investigations Cost Us Money

2008-11-07T06:05:00.000-08:00

Insurance fraud is a very common and a very destructive crime that happens every day. This is the second most common white collar crime, only to be surpassed by tax evasion. Insurance fraud investigations cost the nation millions of dollars a year, and still many fraud cases are not even investigated.

This type of fraud is becoming more expensive for policy holders and becoming a bigger problem each year. In fact, insurance fraud investigations make up a large portion of the work load for the Tom Nickels private investigator agency.

Insurance fraud is when a person tries to get financial restitution on an insurance policy by deception. It happens when a person makes a ¨false claim on his insurance. It can happen on all types of insurance coverage including, automobile, healthcare, fire, home and life insurance.

Studies have shown that almost 10% of all claims are fraudulent. Of all the insurance fraud investigations done by Nickels private investigations, health insurance fraud seems to be the most common. Every year this type of fraud costs the policy holders about $58 billion dollars. Some of these cases are not outright fraud, but are highly exaggerated claims which cost policy holders just as much.

The Insurance Research Council has estimated that 1 in every three bodily injury claims in car accidents are some form of fraud. People believe that when they file a false claim, they are only hurting the insurance company. This idea is the furthest thing from the truth. Every claim that is filed is reflected on the whole industry, including the final consumer. The cost of insurance fraud and insurance fraud investigations is what causes your policy to become more expensive every year.

It is estimated that insurance fraud costs the average consumer almost $1000 a year, this is about $80 billion a year. If we could control this problem that $80 billion a year could pay for one medical examination a year for every individual in the U.S, it would pay for 32 million CT scans, or over 16 million days in an intensive care unit.

Insurance fraud is very destructive and it gets worse with each passing year, and every one of us is a victim to this type of crime.

How can a Private Investigator Help in Witness Location?

2008-10-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

Private investigators play a key role in law suits. Many people including attorneys need professional investigators to do witness location, and these key witnesses could help an attorney win an important case.

In most cases, you can’t just go out and find a witness yourself. You need to access information that is not available to the general public. Information that is only available to those in law enforcement, attorneys, and private investigators. Often your attorney may have access to the information, but just doesn’t have the time to locate or interview a witness himself.

Private investigators in Maine, as in most of the country have to be licensed to access certain information. Only a licensed private investigator like Tom Nickels professional investigator has access to certain information sources that the general public does not. They are experienced in searching public records, commercial databases and other areas that are difficult to navigate and then difficult to read.

Many commercial databases in Maine, NH, Vermont and Mass, and most of the U.S. require that a customer be: law enforcement, insurance company, a private investigator, or an attorney, and these clients must show proof of their license before being able to access the data base. Most attorneys just don’t have the time to do witness location that is why they hire professionals like Tom Nickels professional investigator services.

Large corporations, insurance companies, and attorneys often hire private investigators to find witnesses, interview them, do background investigations, surveillance, etc. Attorneys need private investigations done by an outside source to help them prep for their case. The attorney just doesn’t have the man power or time to do the witness location and interviews he needs for the trials, and so he hires a good private investigator.

If you are going through a difficult legal case and need help interviewing witnesses, finding them and preparing for trial, then you need one of the best professionals in the business, and that would be Tom Nickels Professional investigator.

More and More Homicide investigations Involve Knives

2008-10-20T07:01:00.000-07:00

Remember the 2001 terrorist attack, where they purportedly used box cutters to get through airport investigations? Today it is quite common for homicide investigations to handle cases that don’t involve fire arms at all, but instead involve the use of tactical knives.

So now knives are no longer just used for sports activities, but long bladed serrated tactical knives are turning up in many urban homicide investigations. Even many civilians are using these knives as a form of self defense.

Why the Increase in use of Tactical knives?
Professional investigations in Maine, NH, Vermont and Mass., Have found that both criminals and private citizens are choosing this type of knife because it is light weight, easy to hide, and the blade length comes in different sizes. There is no mistaking these knives for just sports oriented activities, they now have serrated edges and perforated finishes which means they can be mortal and are the weapon that is looked for in many homicide investigations.

At Nickels Private Investigations, and those that are in law enforcement have seen many crimes committed with many different kinds of weapons. In fact, law enforcement official see any kind of knife as a ¨crime just waiting to happen.¨

Is it a Good Idea to Carry this Type of Knife?
Anyone who practices a sport activity like hiking, boating, camping, or swimming appreciate the ease with which these types of knives can be used, and whether you use one or not, for this type of activity is up to you.

On the other hand if you intend to carry one as a means of self defense, well any private investigator can tell you that there have been more accidents, criminal activities and homicides caused by knives than ever before in history. We have witnessed many homicide investigations were a tactical knife was the weapon of choice and in some cases it was the victims own knife that was used.

Homicide Investigations Now Involve Children

2008-10-12T06:31:00.000-07:00

It seems the more we grow as a society, and the more knowledge we acquire, the more violent a society we become. What has happened to our world? Today the US sees more violent crime committed than ever before. According to the FBI records a violent crime is committed every 22 seconds. Those of us that work in homicide investigations never seem to get ahead and there is always one investigation coming right after another.

There was a time when schools were safe. They were a place we sent our children and we knew that every day these children would be there and would be home. Today we at Nickels private investigations know that it just isn’t so. We could send our children to school and they may end up being victims of a school shoot out, or worse, the perpetrators.

Many of our children are involved in homicide investigations. These children are violent. They have little respect for others and even less for property. We see cases of extreme vandalism everyday. Student homicide has become common place. Our cities and towns, and our children are suffering because homicides are on the rice and because many homicide investigations center on our children.

What is happening to our nation? Vandals and children thinking of killing and suicide! Worse, they publicize fights and speak of their behavior on the internet. They lash out at rules, regulation, and school systems. Everyday we see more homicide investigations involving children, and these children go to prison. What will they end up being like as adults?

Some of these children even work in groups and many adults know some of the terrible behavior and things their teens are getting into. There is no particular type of teen who ends up being a criminal or killing others in his school or at another child’s home. It may even be the smartest kid in school.

This is a serious problem, and an issue government, schools, parents, teachers and everyone in our society should be dealing with. We need to find out what these children are feeling and why they are committing these atrocious crimes, and how we can help them and stop them.

Children aren’t born killers. They have some serious psychological and emotional issues to get to this point. We all need to be involved with our children. It needs to be a community effort and we need to address the problem before law enforcement or private investigators have to conduct student homicide investigations!

Homicide investigations are Complicated

2008-10-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

Homicide investigations can be quite complicated depending on what the accusations are. Technically a homicide is when someone kills another human being. There are a few different categories in criminal homicide. These are murder, manslaughter, patricide, matricide, justifiable homicide, and others. We will try to go over a few of these for you and make a little clearer.

Murder
This is when a person kills someone intentionally. We at Nickels Private Investigations have found that homicide investigations of this type, rise every year.

Manslaughter
This crime is divided into several groups. There is voluntary and involuntary man slaughter and homicide investigations determine which kind the offender commited based on the facts they find.

Patricide and Matricide
These are names that are used to describe who was killed in a homicide. In this case Patricide is the term used when the father is killed, and matricide when the mother is killed.

Justifiable Homicide
This is where a person is killed in defense. This type of homicide is considered self defense. When the private investigator is brought in to find all the facts regarding this type of homicide and it is found that it is justifiable, then it is recognized as self defense and the person is cleared. If for instance, someone came into your home with a gun and tried to harm you, and you killed him. This would be considered justifiable.

At any rate when a homicide is committed there will be a homicide investigation and often law enforcement requests the help of a private investigator like Nickels private investigations.

Get Protection with Video or Film surveillance

2008-10-12T06:23:00.000-07:00

Video and film surveillance has become an effective cost efficient way for both the private and public sector to protect themselves against crimes. Professional investigations where video evidence is presented, have a much easier time in solving and prosecuting a crime.

In the last ten years digital cameras have become smaller and less expensive. It used to take a lot of work to network these video or film surveillance cameras, but today, thanks to the internet, wireless hubs and streaming videos, these transmissions are very inexpensive and not as technically difficult as they once were.

The use of video surveillance to help detect and prosecute a crime has increased a great deal in Maine, Vermont and Mass, as well as most states throughout the U.S. Just recently we have heard about how video and film surveillance was key evidence in the job termination of a woman who was trading Coca Cola secrets.

The video surveillance caught Joya Williams going through files and looking for documents, then placing them in her purse. If there is a trial that results from the incident, the surveillance evidence will play a vital role.

In the public sector, many states use video surveillance to combat crime. Law enforcement feels that the video surveillance systems placed in public areas help ward off potential criminals and aid in terrorism prevention.

The truth is that you want to install video and film surveillance in your home, your office, or your business. Those places that have this type of equipment have less of a problem proving their case, should any legal problem arise. As many people as we see at Nickels investigations, we know that those that have video or film surveillance can easily convict a suspect when a crime is committed, and many potential crimes are eliminated when others know that there is video surveillance on the premises.

Corporate Investigations are Tricky Business

2008-09-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

When it comes to corporate investigation, things have gotten a little sensitive. Welcome to America... In fact, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that is imposed today on corporations has made the corporate world more leery of all types of investigations. That is why my practice always needs to tread very carefully in this area. There is a law called respondent superior, and to a degree is unfair to the corporate industry, and you will see why in a minute.

I have been hired by many lawyers on cases I cannot discuss with the general public but suffice it to say I have run into that "word" on a number of occasions. Get this, the reason why corporations are so leery is when a crime is committed by an employee, acting as a representative of the company , the company is held responsible for the crime, whether the company knew about the crime being committed or not, through the respondent superior act. Nice huh?

The corporate world knows that when respondent superior is used in a case against them there is really nothing they can fight back with, and so most cases are settled out of court. The truth is that, to the court system, it doesn't matter if the law breaker is a high managerial officer or not, and it doesn't matter if the company had intent or not. This is why this law is unfair to the corporation, and why the corporate world is so scared of an investigation. Then again.. take a look at what it has done to the banking industry as of late. All the bail outs? Again Welcome to America.

The professional investigator will many times find the investigation blocked by the corporation, no matter what the investigator is investigating. On a number of occasions I have has often found a corporate door slammed in my face, so don’t ever expect a corporation to be open and honest or to furnish information about an investigation easily. This is why performing corporate investigation is so sensitive; you really have to do it without the corporation in question finding out what you are doing.

Truthfully, the corporation is almost always viewed as the villain and rarely gets much sympathy. And now with corporations working on different continents and in different countries, everyone agrees that the respondent superior needs to be re examined and companies should be able to use a “good faith defense” against the actions of unscrupulous employees.

With that said keep in mind that any corporate investigation are a tricky business and if you take one on as an investigator it will be very sensitive, and expect no help from the corporation. In fact, you should probably expect the corporations to block all your investigation leads.

Computer related Crimes Will Diminish in Time

2008-09-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

The internet was first assembled as a collection of interconnected networks. It was an experimental network that started in the mid 70´s, but now it is an international infrastructure which supports many different disciplines. Because it has become so important, and so much information travels through the network computer related crimes have also started and even increased in the last ten years.

We have learned to depend on the internet for our daily activities, just as we depend on roads, deliver systems, electricity, etc. and that is what makes the internet such an easy mark for criminals.

But what criminals don’t consider, is that just as users of roads, water reservoirs, and telephone networks users want the internet to be safe, and are working hard at minimizing computer related crimes.

Today there are two real problems that plague the internet world. The first is considered a computer related crime, and it has to do with virus creation, theft, misconduct, malicious conduct with others. But the second problem is that of a lack of knowledge and awareness when it comes to computer technology security. The worst is that not even the computer experts have the knowledge they need to control the problem.

IT experts have no idea as to what is considered ethical and permitted behavior on the internet and it should be a part of their education. IT professionals need to be able to make objective ethical decisions based on educational knowledge about certain behaviors on websites and over the internet.

In the end, we at Nickels Private investigations believe that to take better control of computer related crimes we need to promote awareness, understand what is happening and get our expert programmer to know how to nip this type of behavior before it gets too far. This needs to be done soon because this type of criminalistic behavior is growing in leaps and bounds.

Corporate Investigations are Tricky Business

2008-09-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

When it comes to corporate investigation, things have gotten a little sensitive. In fact, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that is imposed today on corporations has made the corporate world more leery of all types of investigations. That is why Nickels Private investigations always needs to tread very carefully in this area. This is called respondent superior, and to a degree is unfair to the corporate industry, and you will see why in a minute.

The reason why corporations are so leery is because when a crime is committed by an employee, acting as a representative of the company then the company is held responsible for the crime, whether the company knew about the crime being committed or not, through the respondent superior act.

The corporate world knows that when respondent superior is used in a case against them there is really nothing they can fight back with, and so most cases are settled out of court. The truth is that, to the court system, it doesn’t matter if the law breaker is a high managerial officer or not, and it doesn’t matter if the company had intent or not. This is why this law is unfair to the corporation, and why the corporate world is so scared of an investigation.

The professional investigator will many times find the investigation blocked by the corporation, no matter what he is investigating. Tom Nickels has often found a corporate door slammed in his face, so don’t ever expect a corporation to be open and honest or to furnish information about an investigation to you easily. This is why performing corporate investigation is so sensitive; you really have to do it without the corporation in question finding out what you are doing.

Truthfully, the corporation is almost always viewed as the villain and rarely gets much sympathy. And now with corporations working on different continents and in different countries, everyone agrees that the respondent superior needs to be reexamined and companies should be able to use a “good faith defense” against the actions of unscrupulous employees, but until then any corporate investigation you take on as an investigator will be very sensitive, and expect no help from the corporate world. In fact, you should probably expect the corporations to block all your investigation leads.

Here are a couple of links if you are interested in the latest Corporate Investigation news.

http://corporateinvestigations.98664.free-press-release.com/
http://www.doarlaw.com/CM/Custom/news.asp
http://www.pillsburylaw.com/bv/bvisapi.dll/portal/ep/programView.do/channelId/-8583/pa/1605/programId/536898063/programPage/%2Fep%2Fprogram%2FpublicationList.jsp/tabId/1/pageTypeId/9204

Computer related Crimes Will Diminish in Time

2008-09-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

Different Types of Computer Related Crimes

2008-09-18T05:04:00.000-07:00

When we hear about computer related crimes, we think about the story line of movies. It just seems to surreal. But the truth is that this type of crime is being committed everyday and these criminals are not necessarily these great computer gurus.

Computers are being misused everywhere and the number of cases where corporate computers are being hacked into, financial information access is increasing. Lets not even go as far as these more difficult crimes, we are also talking about hate mail, blackmail, maligning someone through the internet, all of these are computer related crimes.

Tom Nickels professional investigator knows first hand that government agencies just don’t have the man power to deal with all computer crime. In fact, they cant even deal with the huge number of pedophiles who use the computer to find their victims.

Although the growth of computer related crimes far outruns the ability of law enforcement to keep up. We are getting better and there are law in place that define what a computer crime is, and the legal system is working hard to enforce punishment on offenders.

Computer crime involves many different offenses probably the most common offense is that of unauthorized use of a computer. When you use a machine and don’t have authorization to do so, and that machine is protected by a password then you are committing a crime and it is considered a class A misdemeanor.

Following that, the next most popular computer related crime is Computer tampering. This offence can take place in a variety of manners. When you intentionally alter or destroy data on someone else’s computer without permission, you commit this offense.

If a person intends to commit a felony or has previously been convicted of a cyber crime, and has caused damages for more than $1000 the person may have even committed a class E felony.

Other computer programs involve destroying data and destroying a program causing thousands of dollars in damages. In this case a person is guilty of computer tampering in the first degree and it’s a class C felony.

Nickels Private Investigations has seen a tremendous increase in computer related crimes in the last ten years. They are especially hard to investigate and difficult to convict because of the technological knowledge law enforcement and investigators must have to gather they evidence.

Client and Trade Secrets are Important to all Businesses

2008-09-04T06:06:00.000-07:00

Lots of companies or even people thinking of starting their own business have a lot of questions about protecting their information, their inventions, and their overall intellectual property. These are a companies client and trade secrets. Many company are made up almost wholly by this intellectual property.

What is Intellectual Property and How to Protect It

Intellectual property is your ideas, information, research and knowledge you have that make your product special. This can be you logo, your business name, a special slogan, software, an invention, special advertising, etc, anything that is your special mark.

Client and Trade Secrets are Even More Specific and Private

This is any information that may include a specific drawing, formula, program, product, process, technique or pattern that gives a business a certain advantage over others. Of course if it is to be considered a client and trade secret, then you the business owner need to do everything possible to keep it that way. That means employees need to sign contracts promising not to divulge any trade secrets to any competing company. A good example of a trade secret is the Coca Cola formula.

We at Nickels Private Investigations have just come across a great example of a violation to trade secrets law. Again a case involving Coca Cola, an administrative assistant at the company was caught on video going through documents and files looking for information she was giving to Coca Cola’s competition Pepsi. Needless to say, she was let go and charges may be brought against her.

Now that We’ve looked into trade secrets, let’s talk about Copyrights and why you might need them. Many clients ask Tom Nickels Private Investigator whether he thinks copyright procedures should be done or not. The truth is that anything that is yours in particular, a book, art, websites, magazines, plays, movies should be copyrighted.

When you get copyright protection then you, the author, get exclusive rights to economic compensation for your work. Without copyrights you have no way of protecting yourself.
To get a work or a project copyrighted you have two requirements.

1. Your project or work needs to be tangible. It needs to be written on paper, or recorded on some format.
2. It must be original and creative.

Once you have had something copyrighted then your work is completely and legally protected from being stolen or copied.

A Partnership Dispute can Arise from Even the Best Partnerships

2008-09-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

It is a sorry state of affairs when business partners are in discord, so much, that it causes a partnership dispute, and most of us in the private investigations business probably wouldn’t be in the business, if the partnership had been established in the right way to begin with.

When partnerships start out, the members are usually friends, family and know each other. That is why many partnerships are based on the “handshake” theory. While that’s great for the friendship, it may not be great for the partnership at least not 10 or 15 years down the road.

I can’t tell you the number of cases I’ve worked on here at Nickels Private Investigations where the partners were highly emotional, and problems arose solely because there was not a written partnership agreement.

So, if you are thinking of starting a partnership, or in the middle of a partnership that doesn’t have a formal agreement made up. Do one now! It will save you a lot of work and you a lot of money.

1. Be sure you put all of your agreements in writing. You don’t want to be stuck in a situation where you agreed on a handshake, and then 20 years down the road you find yourself in a partnership dispute with no evidence, no contract, no nothing!

2. When you have an agreement in writing, if things go sour, the partnership dispute can be resolved fairly easily.

3. When you are forming your corporation, be sure that you use the right balance of power in the business. The following example will demonstrate an inbalance in a partnership.

Let’s take an example of a case we at Nickels private investigations have been working on. Two men got into a partnership dispute after 20 years of being in business. They did sign an agreement which made the dissolving of the partnership fairly easy, but what they didn’t do was balance the power of the partnership out well. In this partnership the two men were 50% owners but there was a three person board, made up of the two men, and one of the men’s wives, which in the end created an unbalance of power. What they should have done is actually chosen a third unbiased partisan for the board member, like an attorney or an accountant instead of a family member.

Get Protection with Video or Film surveillance

2008-08-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

Computer related crimes are Growing

2008-08-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

The computer age has brought many benefits to all of us. It allows us to complete transactions quickly and efficiently. It lets us access information with the click of a button, and generally it makes our lives much easier. But with the rapid changes and growth of that technology, come bad things too. Computer related crimes have also increased, and we see crimes today that we have never seen before. Because this is relatively new we don’t have many solutions.

There has been some study done into this problem, and most of the information we have, has been provided by private security companies like Nickels private investigations and others. Many private security companies have done investigations, and found some solutions for risk management by large industry. As mentioned, these studies have given us solutions, but many of these have remained unpublished and are only focused on one particular area of technology.

The most popular high tech crime usually happens over the internet. The internet has opened up many different opportunities for hackers and scam artists and has caused new problems for law enforcement and professional investigations. What is so astounding is the size and the number of targets that can be found on the Internet. A thief can attack easily, quickly and at a low cost, and he can affect thousands of people at once. Victims may never know what hit them, who it was, or even know how to defend themselves against these attackers.

The most common types of computer related crimes involve credit card fraud. Most internet transactions are completed with credit cards and because the information goes over the internet, it becomes very easy for a criminal to get access to your credit card numbers. There are two ways criminals get access to your credit card, they steal it over the internet, or they use credit card number generating software.

Merchants are getting their sites more secure but Internet crime is on the rise and these criminals are finding new, more advanced methods of attacking. Ok, so you might think you will be safe if you just don’t use your credit card online. But we at Nickels private investigations, and other companies like ours, have found that most of the stolen credit card numbers used online actually come from credit cards used in physical stores. In fact, very few of them actually come from online. The problem is that any waitress, clerk, cashier, hostess, or customer service representative can pick up an old receipt, statement or number.

There are other ways to get a hold of credit card numbers using computer technology too. There is even free credit card generating software online that criminals can use to create valid credit card numbers. All a criminal has to do is use a free email account and a bogus address and he is able to make illegal purchases online.

Everyone needs to be aware of computer related crimes and keep personal information encrypted especially if you keep credit card information of clients or other people. If you believe you have been targeted then you should contact the Internet Fraud Complaint Center and report the crime.

The IFCC a division of the FBI deals with internet and computer related crimes. They aim to:
• Develop effective strategies that deal with Internet Fraud
• Reduce economic loss caused by internet fraud
• Identify Internet crime trends
• Track fraud and offer analyzes and support to law enforcement agencies.

White-collar crime has to be proven

2008-08-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

At Nickels investigations see many different types of investigations, but one we tend to see a lot is that of white-collar crimes. These type of crimes are non violent in nature, and usually committed by a government official or a business executive type. This type of person does not commit a crime using guns but they take place using a type of deception. The evidence that needs to be collected for this type of crime is all paper based.

The following are the types of white-collar crimes that can take place:

1. Bribery – It happens when someone demands or takes some kind of bribe
2. Larceny – In this type of crime someone takes a property without paying for it.
3. Embezzlement involves the taking of money, personal property or property without the owners consent. The person has usually been entrusted with this property.
4. Fraud – This occurs when a person uses deception to get classified information or when deception is used to steal something.
5. Perjury – The act of lying under oath in a court proceeding
6. Extortion – this is just another word for blackmail
7. Obstruction of Justice – This is where a person interferes with an official criminal investigation.

The above are the basic types of white-collar crimes that exist. Of course, part of our job is coming up with the proof that such crimes were committed.

White-collar crimes can be prosecuted at both a state and federal level and if convicted the suspect is charged with very large fines and in many cases some jail time.

When a person is accused of some kind of white collar crime, he needs to hire an attorney and just as the accuser, needs to prove his innocence. Most corporations that believe there has been a white-collar crime committed will hire the Tom Nickels private investigation firm to find prove of the crime.

Anti money laundering Regulations are Extremely Complex

2008-08-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

We have all heard of money laundering but what is anti money laundering? AML is a term that is used in the financial and legal world for the procedures used by financial institutions to report, or prevent money laundering. These procedures were set in place after September 11, 2001 attacks, and are a part of the patriot act.

Every single financial institution, and, or, company in the world, is now required to investigate and report any transaction that might be money laundering. This means they need to investigate any strange or suspicious financial transaction.

Proving anti money laundering is very challenging, because Banks must also comply with the Bank Secrecy act of 1970, which requires a financial institution to protect the privacy of their clients. Now with new technology, enforcing Anti money laundering regulations has become even more challenging. There are constant and extreme changes in the information technology field, and financial transactions that were impossible to complete before, are now commonplace. Because of this, there are many software programs on the market that help financial institutions, and private investigators like Tom Nickels professional investigator
Investigate this type of crime, but it is still very difficult because of the constant change.

Money laundering is fast becoming an issue that many businesses have to deal with too. Companies that receive international wire transfers, receive digital money transfers. Companies that deal with gambling, international trade, cellular phone money transfers all have to be careful with money laundering issues. The rules and regulations for money laundering issues are becoming more complex as today’s technology becomes more complex and world globalization expands.

If you suspect money laundering through your company then you should investigate the problem. This year alone there were over 400 million dollars in fines issued because of breaches in the anti money laundering laws. Contact Tom Nickels professional investigator if you suspect money laundering through your corporation.

Private Investigation Training

2008-06-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

You may be asking "what does it take to become a private investigator?" Or you may be wondering what sort of training you need. Proper private investigation training ahead of certification is necessary for any individual, who is thinking of making a career in private investigation. The United States Bureau of Labor forecasts the sector of private investigations will foster significantly in the next 5-7 years.

As a private investigator in the marketplace it’s highly recommended that you enroll in private investigation training from a well-recognized school, college, or university with an excellent status in the private investigation industry. I personally have a criminology background including working as a sheriff New Hampshire.

Requirements and Standards

To enroll for a private investigation training the most vital things you will require is a General Education Development (GED) certificate or a High School Diploma. These are two basic educational qualifications. There are certain schools and universities with good reputation that prefer to admit candidates, who have some kind of private investigation training experience, like law enforcement, and preferably a criminal justice background.

Next, move towards the U.S. Department of Labor web site to get some details regarding precise information on every state's individual requirements, job opportunities, earning potential and training requirements. You will get specifics and find updated details on prospects in the industry of professional investigation.

You may aim on schools that target their private investigation training in helping the interested candidates do well on a state level for the private investigation examinations. If you obtain a diploma from a private investigation training institution, then you might find job limited job opportunities.

Next, you may extend your search via the Internet, since there are online universities that provide the opportunity to receive the training over the Internet. Try to use more online resources to find and learn more about private investigation training universities in your area or state. Or call your local universities and colleges, you would be amazed at how popular this field has become.

After finding all the major training institutions, contact each one personally to find out the essentials of their application criterions, training requirements, and educational qualifications.

Once you have made a decision and want to possibly go that particular school or learning institution then let me suggest you contact the training institution and obtain testimonials from ex-students. If possible, contact the students and ask them about the professionalism and authenticity of that private investigation training institution.

However, if you train under the aim to become an authorized private investigator from a reputed institution, then certainly your marketability including ability to start your own Private investigations firm is larger. As the head of Tom Nickels Professional Investigations I can tell you I have and still do work for lawyers, corporations, privately held companies, and individuals. I hope this little bit of information can give you a better understanding about your future and potential while researching reputable institutions and learning centers that offer private investigation training.

Pre Employment Screening

2008-06-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

Pre employment screening is an essential hiring activity for most employers, who prefer avoiding lawsuits and hiring someone that is prone to or has made mistakes in the past. Sometimes as a professional investigator I am asked to do a pre-employment screening on top executives.

The main reason Pre-employment screenings are done is not only to avoid lawsuits but also results in a safe workplace, by considerably reducing the risk of hiring an ex-con. That is not to say most don't slip through the system, but it does alleviate some of the trepidations involved when hiring teachers, bank tellers, and other ethical and secure level positions.

According to professional research, about 25 percent of the job applicants lie about something in their past or on their resume. Many times, the lies are normally regarding previous work including positions work to education accomplishments, while sometimes the lies are graver including the misrepresentation of monetary accomplishments made, or reason for leaving another job. Sometimes Professional investigators are hired in order to minimize confrontational terminations if that issue would ever arise.

The Importance of Pre Employment Screening
Employers usually perform pre employment screening to put off the applicants who have something to hide. One thing I noticed when dealing with pre-employment screening while in the field as a private investigator is that people with falsified qualification or criminal backgrounds will not submit a job application, if they expect that a pre employment screening will be performed.

Pre employment screening, also displays due attentiveness. It demonstrates that the employers have taken all the necessary precautions to get rid of improbability in the hiring process. Additional pre employment screening also promotes honesty among the applicants at the time of the interview.

Majority of the employers also carry out background checks as a part of their pre employment screening procedure. These checks involve the examination of the applicant's background, comprising of criminal record history, educational achievements and credit history. Some employers also maintain psychometric testing and drug testing, as a component of the pre employment screening process. This process includes scrutinizing a person's academic records, credit records, driving records, workers payment details, criminal records and personal references.

All employers looking to perform a pre employment screening process have to apply for the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to attain an individual's background details. This Act is not just limited to credit reports, but additionally includes the consumer reports.

However, pre employment screening does not assure the discovery of every dishonest applicant. Nevertheless, it reduces the probability of an employer, mistakenly hiring a bad employee. Examining the background of a prospective applicant will definitely, minimize the threat of careless hiring and lower the legal proceedings involvement.

These days, it is possible to out source pre employment screening to private investigation firms that deal completely with this issue. These professional investigators take about six days on an average to give a general report on the applicant.

Surveillance Technology now and in the future

2008-06-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

This article is a basic 101 on what’s available in surveillance technology field today and where technology is allowing us to go in the future. I am sure you have heard of some pretty amazing things when it comes to criminals being caught by surveillance cameras. All you have to do is watch TV there you can witness shows like world’s dumbest criminals to crimes caught on video’s, or projects like A Surveillance Camera Town etc. If you are my age though you look back and remember things like Get Smart gadgets and Agent 99.

They had things like a phone in a shoe, cameras on tips of pens, and stopwatches doubling as radars, and of course your necessary Russian spy finders. Okay so maybe that was a few years ago and whether these gadgets work or are used today by private investigators is another story. Keep in mind the reason why these gadgets have become more sophisticated is crime has become harder to detect when on the Internet. However with the Patriot Act one cannot help but wonder how busy Uncle Sam really is and how much we as a nation don’t really know. Suffice it to say surveillance technology is making it easier, to deter and catch sophisticated crimes from ever becoming 100% successful.

The surveillance equipment technology is advancing at an extremely rapid pace that even I cannot keep up with this field. These days, surveillance equipment is present in almost all the public schools, retail stores, airport terminals and gas stations in the Unites States. There is a huge variety of surveillance technology, which is available in the market. Surveillance gear ranges from Internet based equipment and wiretapping phones to state of the art facial characteristic recognition mainframe software called biometrics.

Surveillance gear makes the world considerably more convenient for people who help in protecting other people and their belongings. It’s used as a tool to put criminals away or set them free. This of course makes it very complicated for people who want to commit crimes. More and more people are reaping the benefits of surveillance technology since this advanced equipment is becoming easily accessible to the general small business owners and the public. I am sure you have seen these parents that set up nannies or housekeeper. I mean really what is this world coming to when you cannot trust your own housekeeper?

The Importance Of Surveillance Technology:

The fundamental concept of surveillance equipment in the work place has become an unspoken law, or they have video's blaring right at you. There is no doubt it helps in scanning people thoroughly. The essence of it is, that criminals, bank robbers, and shifty employees etc. will have to think twice before planning to commit a felony. Especially since they are seen and identified. If you are a criminal with ethics (oxymoron) then you know the old saying “you do the crime you pay the time”. It is impossible for a surveillance camera to scan everything simultaneously however when it does pick up unlawful activity, it provides a huge amount of help to the police and the security in distinguishing the offenders.

These days the highly sophisticated surveillance gear operates in the same manner thus preventing crime. Several small businesses in an effort to save money generally set up dummy surveillance cameras that actually do not scan anything. They do not even work but they act more as a defensive measure against potential assailers.

One key reason for the use of surveillance gear is to actually deter criminal acts and secondly, if they do occur the surveillance footage is a paramount tool in finding out who, when and how. Lets face it there wont be denying it was you on the video, especially if you work there. The only difference may be that internal security will decide whether to use it’s legal policies such as firing you immediately to prosecuting you to the full extent of the law. Basically offenders will find themselves without a career, or in prison for life in some cases. But that’s another article.

Apart from the examples mentioned earlier parking garages, shopping malls, financial institutions and office buildings all these normally use video-based surveillance gear for protection and prevention of expensive losses caused by higher crime rates.

Doesn’t that leave honest people wondering why crime has been escalating? It’s called the rich get richer and the poor well you know the rest. As a private investigator in New Hampshire I get cases from all over the north east, amazingly most are solved with the use of sophisticated equipment and great investigative work.

Isn’t technology grand

2008-05-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Computer Forensics

Computer forensics or cyberforensics is a relatively new discipline in the world of computer security. It is a type of investigation, wherein the cyber experts gather digital evidence and present it in the court.

The aim of computer forensics is to carry out a structured and detailed investigation without disturbing the documented links of evidence. It helps recognize what happened on the computer at the point & time including who was accountable.

Computer forensics investigators follow the systematic procedures to seize the culprit. The procedure involves three phases for retrieving the proof from the computer system or any storage medium. These phases include acquiring phase, analyzing phase and reporting phase.

Description Of Phases

First, the computer forensic experts isolate the system so that evidence is not contaminated. Then they create a digital replica of the system's hard drive. After, making the replica of the hard drive, the experts lock it and store it safely in the secure storage to maintain its accuracy.

Thus, evidence collection is of utmost importance because it helps in apprehending the culprit.

The analyzing phase comprises of using different techniques and forensic applications to investigate or study the hard copy. They search for any hidden files, folders, unallocated spaces in disks, deleted messages, damaged and encrypted files.

In reporting phase, the computer forensic experts verify the findings, details with the original copy and document it in the finding report. Computer forensics experts then present this report in the court for actual litigation.

Conclusion

Although, federal agencies use computer forensics to keep track and seize the terrorists or hackers, its use in the private organizations have also increased tremendously. Individuals seek help of computer forensics in case of identity thefts, to prevent hacking of crucial information from security systems and so on.

Computer forensics experts carry their investigation by trailing the computer criminals. However, locating such criminals is not an easy task. With advancement in technology, online criminals have become more sophisticated and advanced. Therefore, computer forensics experts are constantly creating and upgrading their software to tackle and alleviate the computer crimes. Last thing to keep in mind is if it has been built it can be broken. Ah technology isn’t it grand!

Background check

2008-05-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

Background check reveals true information of individuals, which otherwise may not be readily accessible. Most organizations and individuals will opt for background checks for a variety of reasons. It discloses a clear picture of the individuals, their character, professional lives, financial status, public history and criminal records, once it has been attained.

The question is who conducts background checks? You have to understand that third party organizations or private detectives conduct background checks, or so we are told “legally”. Now if you live in the US then you are familiar with the patriot act so I won’t get into to much detail, suffice it to say for the sake of this articles you can go and check that little ditty on your own time. I have supplied you with a link.

Back the crux of this article. Past records, are used in particular details such as SSN (Social Security number), qualification certificates, and residential address, driving license copy to unearth the information of the individual.

The price structure and the depth of the background check differ from one agency to another. However, there are certain online background check firms that offer quick and basic information of the individuals. However, a complete background check requires court papers, a warrant in some cases and it will require a longer time frame to compile the details. Needless to say that’s has a higher price tag too.

Background Check by the Employer

Although, people use background check to know about their friends, business partners, spouse, its use is still limited. However, most organizations adopt this method to verify the employment details of the individuals. Again keep in mind your privacy is a very tricky topic in this country. So make sure you know your rights, and speak to a professional if you think your privacy has been tampered with.

When individuals apply for jobs, they stand a good chance that the prospective employer will conduct a background check to have a look into the professional as well as criminal record of the potential applicant. Sometimes, individuals switch several jobs in one year and this makes employers wonder, what could be the real reasons behind that little song and dance.

Most job applications have a release waiver at the end of the applications, if you have filled out enough employment applications you know the one I am talking about. It’s always in very small print and goes one for about a page about how they want to protect your privacy as well as theirs etc etc. This is where the individual fills in their personal information. The organizations then use these details and either hires an outside source to do the background check or they may be a large enough corporation where they have their own in house attorney do it for them.

Most government agencies will do this automatically along with a drug test. It has been known that they have and will hire private detectives to conduct background check on potential employees. These checks are important because individuals with criminal records can and will eventually become a liability for the company. Moreover, corporations will have to face any legal proceedings for not doing a thorough background check of the individual before offering sensitive positions.

If you want to know more take a look at my website where I have years of experience and can help you with your direct questions regarding this topic. Any comments you may leave will be looked at by me and I will try to respond within 24 hours of your questions.

Why a Private Investigator?

2008-03-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

Here I am once again trying to explain things to people. But I have to tell you don’t expect excellent writing since that’s not what I do. I am a Private Investigator. Answering questions and putting pen to paper, for a writer is easy if one is familiar with the topic or wants to learn about a certain topic. Or so I am told. Some may even have resources and methods they alone have access to of how they can gather information. However writing about Private Investigations and what exactly does a private investigator do becomes a daunting task if this is your field of expertise and industry.

Let me first engage you in a small history class of Private Investigations. The first known private investigations firm was founded in 1833 by a French crook, soldier, and criminal privateer by the name of Eugène François Vidocq. It was called Le Bureau Des Renseignments (Office of Intelligence). Needless to say most who worked there were also criminals. Vidocq is known for making the first plaster casts as well as introduced record keeping, ballistics, and criminology. It was not until 1850 that Allen Pinkerton established the first detective/security guard agency in the US that this form of discipline was born then slowly perfected around the world.

In the United States this is a thriving industry. There are more Private Detective agencies here than anywhere else in the world. Sadly enough it’s due to lack of good police work, the desire to have answers if you are a suspicious spouse or partner and the demand in high profile cases where there services are required. In most cases Private investigators specialize within certain industries. Whether they are working in criminal cases or civil cases. This is where specialization comes into play. I personally have been working on high profile cases which I am not at liberty to discuss, however suffice it to say computer forensics and due diligence have played a major role in my success rate. In today’s market technology is key. Access to top surveillance equipment along with strategic thinking and many years of experience are but a few disciplines one will master throughout their career.

In order to understand what why and how we do things one must consider what type of personality would want to do this for a living. Consider your sense of adventure and your sharp Sherlock Holmes thinking throw in a little bit of espionage and charm shake it around with some criminal background and an understanding of how criminals and law breakers think and you have a successful Private Detective.

A normal day for a private investigator or as most like to call them a PI can verge on the extraordinary, fascinating, mind blowing, and yes even boring. We are hired to locate people, to serve people to protect them, sometimes to just watch them. That in itself can be fascinating or absolutely boring, but it’s a job that has allowed me to travel the country and the globe that I enjoy.

In conclusion my expertise and 30 years of working in this industry has given me some happy memories and some not so happy ones. I get involved with each case personally, from small details to finding new ways of using the resources available to me. The breakdowns for specializations are best described in 4 categories. From Criminal Investigations to Corporate Investigations, Insurance Investigations, and last but not least Civil Investigations.

If you were interested in Criminal Investigations, then you would be dealing with Homicide Robbery Sex Crimes Racketeering. If you want to get into Corporate Investigations, then you would deal with Security issues to Consulting on Sexual Discrimination, Acquisition, Profiling, and White Collar Crimes. For years I worked as an Insurance Investigator and had to work on cases that involved Workers Compensation, Liability Accident – Auto/Fire. The last is the bread and butter of this industry Civil Investigations, this involved Divorce, Child Custody/Recovery Statements to name a few.

About the author: Mr. Nickels expertise as a Deputy Sheriff was gained while working for New Hampshire’s Strafford County and Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department from 1982 thru 1987. In 1987, Nickels Professional Investigations was established in Manchester, NH and is licensed in Maine (ME), New Hampshire (NH), Vermont (VT) and Massachusetts (MA). We’re always ready to help you with your investigative needs.

Beware Stalkers on the loose

2008-03-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

As a private investigator I am asked to do some very odd things. Sometimes paranoid people have a tendency to exaggerate their situation because they want attention on the other hand there are some real life situations where my clients have been stalked. Before I get into all the things to watch out for let me explain what “stalking” is: When someone is following you physically or harassing you for an extended period of time. In each state there are varied jurisdictions of what this act could and should include but for the sake of this article we will touch on the general term and actions that would fall into the “stalking” category.

• Following someone repeatedly
• Contact made by phone letters or any other means of communication that is unwanted.
• Closely watching, observing someone for sometime.
• Any family contact, or friends, and work associates, etc.
• Cyberstalking seems to be the latest with the Internet.

Nowadays people can get any personal information from their computer and search on the Internet in order to gather personal details without their consent. Information from work place, school, home, cell numbers in order to use against the person being stalked.

In 2000 federal Department of Justice preformed a study that one woman in 12 will be stalked during her lifetime. This figure is startling when compared to the current FBI Statistics that 1 in 3,000 will be raped. The sad truth is many of these women are familiar with their stalkers. Stalking is gender neutral but the vast majority of stalkers are male. Many are also in denial that this person would ever do anything to put them in harms way. Some don’t even believe it until the investigator shows them proof, whether in a video or information that will shed light on their situation. In order to better understand if you are a victim of stalking I have included 5 tips to watch out for.

1. Loitering around your neighborhood or business
Do you see the same guy around your home or workplace? Someone that doesn’t belong there. Maybe they park next to you or you are constantly seeing them at a store, you see them at the gym or you happen to bump into them at a parking lot. Look there may very well be a coincidence, but there is no reason for you to see the same person at all the different places you frequent.

2. Someone watching you
This is different than a “lurker”. The watcher will keep an eye on you from a distance. They will gather personal information from people who are close to you. I have seen people actually hire a private investigator to do the nasty deed for them. They will get private details from you. As far as women go they also have a sixth sense when it comes to someone watching from distance. It’s a sickening feeling; if you are a woman you know what I am talking about. You cannot put your finger on it, but you just feel it.

3. Repeated calls
Not from someone you are seeing that’s just checking in on you but from someone you know casually. Why are they constantly calling you? Odd behavior. The scary ones, are when they just hang up, or are silent on the other end. Threatening to call the police may be a good tactic, but more often than not if they are psycho then it may instigate a situation you are not ready to handle.

4. Manipulation.
The stalker is looking for some way to interact with you. They may have contact by using legal measure like frivolous lawsuits. Some could be on the range of ridiculous. Some may even threaten suicide if you don’t return their affection. If you are being manipulated with this sort of behavior call the police.

5. Cyberstalking
These are the ones that send you several emails a day, or private messages when you are at work. Some will even send you links to inappropriate website. Some may only know the victim from their online profile. The good news is most law enforcement agencies have cyber-crime unit that are prepared to deal with those types of stalkers. I am sure you have seen one or two shows on TV where this has become apparent in today’s society. I am not saying don’t participate in online social networking but please make sure all your personal information is protected.

Pervasive Stalking is often subtle in fact; the stalker is almost betting that his actions are merely demonstrations of affection. If you are experiencing or are put into any of the above aforementioned situations the best thing to do is contact your local police immediately. Keep a record a daily journal of the different situations. Dates, times, and places you have seen this person this will give you more credibility when you are talking to law enforcement.