Tools

Tools of the investigations trade, from surveillance gear to proprietary databases

Secret Santa: A Guide to Holiday Social Media Investigations

During the holidays, social media can offer a trove of open-source intelligence for investigators. If you’re researching a social media feed in July, you may find little more than memes, political posts, and maybe a few pool or beach photos. What you might not find is useful information to include in a report. But the

Shanea Brodhacker

28409

The Platform Everyone Forgets: Pinterest as an OSINT Resource

A juror who went quiet everywhere else left a small but potentially meaningful trail in an unexpected place. During a high-stress trial, our team was monitoring the public online activity of seated jurors within the scope authorized by counsel and the court. One juror appeared to be following the judge’s instructions carefully and staying off

Heather Hernadi

27951

AI for Private Investigators: Applications, Limitations & Ethical Considerations

It’s time for investigators to adopt artificial intelligence. But it’s important to do it intelligently — with a mind to ethics, privacy, and transparency. For professional investigators, AI is now a tool we should be adding to our toolbox — along with the search engines, calendars, invoicing, transcription, and investigative databases we already use. It’s

Dean and Karen Beers

27868

Public Records: The Most Powerful Tool in a PI’s Kit

Tips from a reporter-turned-private investigator to make your public records requests more likely to succeed. The Bandidos’ lawyer had a problem. He was defending several members of the motorcycle club and needed a list of police officers who’d been decertified over a specific period. A routine public records request wasn’t going to cut it. At the

Steve Miller

27376

This Software Transformed Our Productivity, Efficiency, and Security

We needed a productivity platform to help us communicate better, organize records, and store sensitive materials. For us, Microsoft 365 was the answer. In our field, technology can be a double-edged sword. We rely on spreadsheets, documents, emails, and chat apps to run our day-to-day operations, but juggling multiple platforms can quickly become a nightmare

Richard Ring

27266

Virtual Employee Interviews: To Record or Not?

Modern tech makes it easy for corporate security pros to video-record suspect statements virtually. Should you do it? Among other takeaways from the pandemic, we learned some hard lessons about fraud — and the practical need for investigative interviews in the interest of fiscal responsibility. Tech tools such as Zoom, Webex, and Google Meets have

Bruno Pavlicek

26785

What Big Data Misses

I still like Big Data! But there are big gaps in what it sees. It’s your job to know that. Ø FRAUD LAWSUIT Ø TIME SHARE CONDOMINIUM Ø VACATION RENTAL IN THE CARIBBEAN Ø 4 BUSINESS AFFILIATIONS These were all key findings in a recent research assignment. I didn’t find them in any of the

Robert Gardner

23223

Preventing Tragedy: The Four Universal Firearm Safety Laws

Had these laws been followed, the tragedy on the "Rust" set would have never have occurred.

Clay Kahler

23153

How to Authenticate Surveillance Video Time and Date Stamps

Capturing image metadata from the camera to imprint a date and time stamp on your surveillance video requires a few extra steps and third-party software. Here's how to do it.

Rod Thompson