Our parent company, Beacon Network Investigations,  (BNI) remains open for business.  We look forward to providing for your investigational and informational needs. 888-992-3226, F: 800-563-0921, email: cases@BNIinvestigations.com.

We wish all of our readers and their loved ones a healthy, safe, sane and prosperous New Year!!

See you in 2010.

From Wikipedia:

The following is a List of United States extradition treaties :

L – List treaty
DC – Dual criminality treaty

Conversely, as horribly exemplified  in the Amanda Knox trial and conviction, when Americans are overseas, we shouldn’t presume our personal and legal rights as we enjoy them here in the United States,  translate equally in foreign legal systems.   One should always be aware of the local American embassy, consulate or missions contact information in destiny and travel  locations.  US Department of State Embassy global listing,

As always, travel  safe, especially during this holiday season.

- Adverse Witnesses

- Cooperative Witnesses

- Debtors

- Clients

- Heirs

The difference between a successful locate and an expensive failure is how much attention and care is given to a case.  Obvious, right?  But it has to be the right attention, which is a tight focus, and the proper care; to detail. 

The starting point in a successful locate is to gather as much information from the originating requestor as possible:

Name: AKAs, Extensions (Jr., III, MD, Esq…), Maiden form, prior marriage form

Address: Last known contact date at this address, form of contact, (e.g. mail, phone… ), contact outcome, ( i.e. returned mail, no response, etc.).

Phone Number:  Last known phone number, cell, landline, Skype, other internet phone.

Personal identifiers: DOB, SSN, TIN, DL#, Medicare/caid recipient? School i.d.?

Contacts: Family, friends, employers, coworkers

Prior lawsuits: If known, to include form of involvement.

Civil records: Is/was the subject married, divorced? Has s/he declared bankruptcy or have judgments, liens… against him/her?

Criminal records:  Almost every state now allows for an inmate lookup.  (If a person is missing for a considerable period of time, there are only so many scenarios, short of a bizarre abduction, to account for this disappearance: a move, death or incarceration.)

A good investigator will then form a profile of the missing subject and conduct an address history search which will generally yield a pattern.  (We’ll get to that in the next para.)  The address history may not contain the subject’s current address. (All databases, from DMVs to privately held, fee-based information companies operate within the limitations of data input regularity.  The subject may not release his/her most current address to an agency.  P.O. box registration is no assurance of a current address either.  If it is a planned moved, one simply has to apply and receive the P.O. box prior to moving and generate forwarding from the old address.)

Having created the profile, the investigator now looks for the pattern.  Is the subject constantly relocating?  Staying within a certain geographical area?  Is s/he beholden to a mortgage?   Has s/he foreclosed?  An address history search will also almost always reveal family member information. 

Once the profile and pattern have been formed and detected, the investigator must decide on a course of action. The approach will determine if the locate will be successful.   Each investigator has his/her own technique but there is a different methodology applied between “friendly” locates and those involving people who’ve intentionally chosen to stay or go off the grid.   A sharp investigator will know how to entice a friendly subject and not tip off an adverse one.   That knowledge comes with experience and skill and a great deal of curiosity. 

As a final step, an investigator may have to physically check an address to verify the subject’s address.  By arriving to this point, all other methods of locating have been exhausted but valuable knowledge on the  subject gained. (The location should be thoroughly researched before heading out to the field.  Showing up on a private road on 2 acres of land in the middle of nowhere is usually not going to result in a productive session.  Suggestion: Google Earth.  There should also be an established strategy to observe the location, discreetly,  within a restricted time span of when the subject’s presence is most anticipated.  If covert observation is not possible, the game plan must be thought out prior to, and include at least Plans A, B and C. )   Below; lack of a plan:

Finally, if your investigator returns with an address, ask that it be “verified”.  If there is  no confirmation that the subject is at the reported location, and the requestor is not made aware of the nonverification, a costly situation for the requestor may result, financially and with regard to negotiation stance.   If  the locate results are not verifiable, (and that occurs, although that number should be in the single digits, percentage-wise, in a competent investigator’s record), the requester will at least have that knowledge with which to make decisions.

BNI Operatives: Street smart: Net savvy.

1. Diane Schuler, the mom traveling the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway, killing 8 people in her car and the vehicle she crashed into head on. 

2. The NYPD has been recording the cell phone numbers of people calling 911 since 2003, creating a database of millions of cell phone numbers and tracking their owners in past and future investigations. 

The connection: According to the Schuler family defense attorney, Dominic Barbara, the NY State Police should have tried to intercept the Schuler vehicle the moment the first 911 call came in, considerably well  before she traveled 60 miles the wrong way.  The news of the NYPD cell phone collection has caused an uproar with many citizens protesting, along with what the civil liberties organizations are calling of a skirt-around-a-warrant maneuver by the police, stating they now would not call 911 in an emergency involving others, citing privacy concerns.  To revert to the initial article, this is going to be an interesting situation to follow if a grand jury is impaneled, considering the only person who could possibly have been criminally charged would have been the deceased driver, Diane Schuler. 

Today is voting day up on the Hill re: health reform. 

Find Thy Elected Officials:   Just type in your zip code and this site will supply you with the names and contact information for your legislators from the state level up.  This is a two click site with a host of other relevant features.

As always, be safe.

For those you fortunate enough to have the day off, relax and play our game.  Based on the above landing of Columbus depiction: please identify:

1. the judge

2. the defense attorney

3. the prosecutor

4. the defendant(s)

5. the case.

Most original wins.  We’ll have our response in tomorrow’s edition of our regular Beacon Bulletin, pushed back one day for holiday observance.  (We’ll also be announcing our new online order form capability and toll free numbers.)

Safe and healthy all,

The BNI Crew

As promised last week, we reviewed hundreds of attorney commercials and have below brought you, the best, the fair to muddled and the “Take 72…” lawyer video ads.:

PITCH PERFECT!

Hands down still the best trial law advertising piece out there.

Assessment:

1. To the point with contact info consistently displayed.

2. Uncomplicated speech.

3. Effective message relay.

NOT BAD FOR YOUR FIRST SHOT

Assessment:

1. Repetitive in certain parts.

2. Unclear message (client range is too broad - from indie tenant disputes to large commercial contract matters).

3. The logo and contact information is easily available at all times.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME:

Assesment:

1. Attorney’s contact info hard to find.  Should be in constant view along the bottom or embedded in the video.

2. The animation tells a story opposite of the attorney’s intended message.  The dog and kids for the most part are all playful, cute…

3. That message, that dog attacks can cause very debilitating and horrific damage to a victim, is not presented.

4.  Leash laws and prior notice should have been at the very least mentioned.

An effective video  legal ad should be a) deliver a clear message, plainly worded; clearly representing the firm’s specialty areas, b) 30 – 45 seconds long at max, c) have contact info present throughout the entire video.

TIP OF THE WEEK FOR OUR SUBSCRIBED READERS:  ONE TINY GADGET WILL TURN A 30 FOOT  SPACE AROUND  YOU INTO A PERSONAL CONNECTION ZONE – FOR UP TO 5 DEVICES – WITHOUT ANY WIRES, PLUGS, USB CONNECTS… IT CAN EVEN TURN YOUR IPOD TOUCH OR OTHER SUCH DEVICE  INTO AN IPHONE IF YOU LOSE OR MISPLACE YOUR MOBILE WHILE TRAVELING.

As always, stay safe.

from all of us here at Beacon Network Investigations. Inc.