For the free class tuition…Robin!

For an autographed copy of IT’S A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS/MIRACLE ON BANNOCK STREET…Laurie G!

Robin and Laurie, please send an email to cocowrites2@gmail.com, and let me know your full names (Laurie, please also forward your mailing address).

Everyone, have a wonderful holiday season! Colleen

Thanks for your questions!

Q: I have a question have you ever actually spoke with the people/person you are doing surveilance on? And if so, do you tell them who you are or do you use an alias? Like pretending to be someone in a bar who the person could pick up?

A: Well, we’ve been “burned” before by the people/person on whom we’re doing a surveillance, and it’s pretty much ended the case. I say “burned” because although we didn’t actually speak with them, they sure caught us surveilling them. No, we didn’t talk to them mostly because we weren’t that close.

But if we were in a bar, for example, surveilling someone and they started talking to us, we’d use a pretext (another identity) and maybe we’d learn something we need for the case in the course of the conversation. I once got “caught” by a neighbor who was watching me watching another house. The elderly gentleman walked right up to the car window and said, “Are you an investigator? I’ve been watching you for the last few hours and you seem to be scoping out this neighborhood.” So I lied. Said I was house-hunting, was worried about traffic as I had 4 kids who loved to get crazy on their bikes. We got into a lengthy discussion about the neighborhood, in the course of which I learned exactly what I needed to know about a certain neighbor.

Lengthy answer, but hopefully it answered your question.

I really enjoyed hanging with all of you today! Thank you, Plot Monkeys, too, for the warm welcome!

We’re putting names into our virtual hat…next we’ll announce who won a free class and who won free books!

Thanks for your questions! Below are our answers:

Q: How much of a PI’s work is done via computer and how much still involves nosing around and asking questions?

A: We thought about this, and decided approximately 65% of our work is done at the computer, 35% in the field, which can include nosing around, interviewing witnesses, visiting lawyers’ offices, meeting with clients, on-site investigations where we take photographs or measure a scene of a crime or an accident, etc.

Q: And when you are asking questions can you legally misrepresent yourself?

A: Depends on 1) who you’re asking questions of, and 2) who you’re misrepresenting yourself as. Regarding the former, investigators are required to disclose who they work for when they are speaking to witnesses for the opposition. Regarding the latter, it’s illegal to impersonate a police officer, doctor, or lawyer. In our state, a PI recently impersonated an officer (in the course of serving a lawsuit)–because the subjects decided to drop criminal charges, the PI was ultimately only subjected to a civil lawsuit.

Thanks for your questions! Below are our answers:

>>How much of a PI’s work is done via computer and how much still involves nosing around and asking questions?>And when you are asking questions can you legally misrepresent yourself?

Thanks,

I have a question. How much of a PI’s work is done via computer and how much still involves nosing around and asking questions? And when you are asking questions can you legally misrepresent yourself?

Thanks.