Get Your Investigation Business on the Map with Local Search

You may have heard the term “local search” recently and wondered what it is and how it can help your private investigator business. Local search basically ensures that people can find your business online when searching for local terms such as “Private Investigator Denver” or wherever your business may be located. This is accomplished through optimizing your Google Places, Yahoo! Local and Bing Local profiles, and then submitting your business to Superpages, YellowPages, DexKnows, 411.com, WhitePages and more than 100 other sites. So when people search for your key terms, your business shows up.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how local search benefits your business and how the submission process works.

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How Private Investigators Can Use Written Reports As A Marketing Tool

Professional report writing is a skill that can be a killer for some private investigators. It must be composed only of facts and not contain wording that can be misleading or require interpretation.

Report writing skills are extremely important to your professional and personal reputation. When you do things correctly your reputation will remain intact. If you do things incorrectly, it may cost you clients.

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Social Media: A Multi-Purpose Investigation and Profit-Making Tool

“Tweeting’s for the birds,” a private investigator recently griped. “No way you’re gonna catch me on Twitter.”

If I told him Twitter, and other social networking sites, could attract new clients, aid finding people and evidence, as well as professionally brand his business, think he’d re-think his stance?

Successful PIs are good listeners. Cases have been solved just from listening to what people say about each other and themselves. When you funnel those words into digital gathering places, add indicators to locations and other information, and provide opportunities to promote and build clientele, the result is a multi-purpose investigation and profit-making social media tool for private investigators.


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Social Media Expert Offers Skip Tracing Tips for Private Investigators

Modern-day private investigators have more tools at their fingertips than ever before. Where they used to have to comb through phone books and interview neighbors, colleagues, ex-lovers, friends and family to track someone down, now they may need only log in to Facebook or Twitter.

They don’t even have to be in the same city, state or country as the person they’re tracking. A private investigator with a smart phone can theoretically run skip traces on subjects in Minnesota from a sunny beach in Hawaii.

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Glenn Mulcaire - The Man They Called 'Trigger'

Glenn Mulcaire always knew how to deliver. Watch the News of the World's former private investigator in happier times, scoring a tasty goal with the left. It was the first goal for AFC Wimbledon – the club formed after the old Wimbledon moved up to Milton Keynes. They called him 'Trigger' as a result of that.

And for die hard Mulcaire fans, you can hear the man speak at the end of the 2002 video. I think I can detect a certain easy charm there, which was no doubt helpful when he moved on to other things.

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PI ’close to solving E.Cape murder of Dewani family friend’

A private investigator has revealed he is close to cracking a case in which an Eastern Cape doctor was murdered several years ago.

Pox Raghavjee was shot dead in Bhisho in 2007.

It recently emerged he was family friends with Shrien Dewani’s parents. This prompted South African authorities to investigate a possible link between the Raghavjee matter and the killing of Dewani’s wife, Anni, in Cape Town in 2010.

However, Private Investigator Christian Botha said there is no evidence suggesting the link.


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Police Save Private Investigator from Client

NHLANGANO - There was drama as an irate taxi driver attacked and allegedly threatened to assault controversial private investigator Doctor Myeni.

The incident happened on Saturday at around 2pm and the prompt response of two armed Nhlangano police saved what could have been a nasty ending.

The furious man, who cannot be named for now as he has not been charged, is said to have stormed Myeni’s offices demanding answers over a case he was investigating and further accused him of interference.

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Ada County Commissioner Hires Private Detective

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A newly elected Ada County commissioner has hired a private detective to investigate a sitting commissioner.

Vern Bisterfeldt hired the detective last month to investigate Sharon Ullman.

Bisterfeldt tells the Idaho Statesman that e-mails he received prompted him to hire the detective, but he won't elaborate about the e-mails.

He also won't say what the detective has found, if anything.

Ullman says she welcome's the hiring of the detective because she has nothing to hide.


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News of the World Executive Suspended Over Alleged Phone Hacking

A senior News of the World executive has been suspended following a "serious allegation" related to phone hacking.

Ian Edmondson, the title's assistant editor (news), was suspended before Christmas, shortly after the Guardian obtained court documents which alleged he had asked private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to hack into phones belonging to actress Sienna Miller and her staff. Miller is suing the paper's parent company News Group Newspapers.

The News of the World confirmed in a statement today that Edmondson, who was hired by former editor Andy Coulson, had been suspended on full pay. Coulson is now David Cameron's director of communications.

"A serious allegation has been made about the conduct of a member of the News of the World staff," the paper said.

"We have followed our internal procedures and we can confirm that this person was suspended from active duties just before Christmas.

The paper added that it is carrying out its own internal investigation into the allegation and that "appropriate action will be taken" if they are found to be true.

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Private Investigator's License Takes Work to Obtain

Does the idea of sitting in cars for hours at a time, conducting computer checks and taking pictures with miniature cameras sound like fun? Before you go into the field of private investigation, be warned:

It's not as easy as it looks.

In Pennsylvania, you need to have worked for the FBI, state police, local police or a private investigator's office, according to Wanda Heitzman, who works for the Northampton County courts. But you can't be an active law enforcement officer and hold a private investigator's license, she says.

All applicants for a license have to be at least 25 years old and submit to fingerprinting. Then there's a background check from the district attorney's office, Heitzman says. No one with a felony conviction can get licensed.

"They go through everything with a fine-tooth comb and make sure everything's above-board," she says.

If it gets that far, applicants appear before a judge and provide proof that they're bonded for $10,000. "It's very seldom anybody's ever declined," Heitzman says.

While many investigators come from a law enforcement or military background, Matt Brown, owner of Lehigh Valley Detective Agency, started out working for another private detective agency for eight years before getting his license. He says the rigors of Northampton County's process helps ensure quality.

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Dewani Link in South African Doctor Murder Dismissed

Dr Raghavjee, 60, was carjacked and shot dead for no apparent reason during his drive to work in the Eastern Cape town of Port Elizabeth.

His widow Heather travelled to Cape Town to support Shrien Dewani when he and his new wife were carjacked and she was shot dead last month.

Police, who allege that Mr Dewani arranged a fake carjacking to have his wife killed, later suggested that there could be a link with the death of Mr Raghavjee because the families knew each other, and sent detectives from the capital Pretoria to investigate.

But Christian Botha, a private investigator based in the Eastern Cape commissioned by Mrs Raghavjee in June to look at her husband's murder again, said he was executed because he was about to disclose incriminating information.

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Retired Tennessee Police Officers Find Home in Private Investigation

Patrick Wells isn't intimidated by discreet techno-gadgets or the sophistication of the private investigation industry's up-and-comers in computer forensics.

The former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, with sideburns that stretch to his cheekbones, has a good-natured Tennessee twang and a bald eagle on his business card.

His technology includes a laptop computer and a tape recorder.

"They call it the ol' gumshoe," Wells, 61, said. "You've just got to pound the pavement. No amount of technology is a substitute for knocking on doors and putting in the legwork."

When a cop retires from the force, he never really stops being an officer. So many, like Wells, become private investigators.

In Davidson County, there are 70 private detectives who work for 135 firms, according to the state Department of Commerce and Insurance, which provides licensing to private investigators. There are 1,162 private investigators statewide, who work for 635 agencies.

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Rachel Uchitel, alleged Tiger Woods mistress, to be private investigator

Rachel Uchitel, the first woman outed as an alleged mistress of golfer Tiger Woods, told news sources she’s going back to school to be a private investigator.

During an interview with Fox News, Uchitel said “I decided to go back to school and get my private investigation license.”

PerezHilton.com reports that Uchitel told sources she recently had to use a Taser gun on someone.

“I’m going to work under my professor, Dale Gustafson, who runs DGA Detectives,” she said. She also noted she’d love to find missing people and recently tried to convince some of her friends to accompany her on a trip to Orlando to search for a missing girl.

Ironically, Uchitel also said she’s “scared of dating” and would never get involved with someone if he's “dating somebody or married.”

Uchitel can currently be seen on the latest season of VH1’s ‘Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.’

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Sienna Miller Seeks Damages From Murdoch Newspaper Over Hacking

Actress Sienna Miller is seeking damages from the U.K.’s News of the World newspaper for hacking the voice mail on three of her phones to get personal information, according to court documents.

Miller claims the newspaper, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., paid private investigator Glenn Mulcaire 2,500 pounds ($3,270) a week to eavesdrop on personal messages between her, her friends and business associates. The actress, who also works as a model and fashion designer, claims news editor Ian Edmondson approved the work contract.

Miller, whose movies include “Layer Cake” and “Factory Girl,” is seeking an injunction to restrain the newspaper from “using, accessing or attempting to access voicemail messages left for her or by her and from publishing or causing to be published any confidential information,” as well as “exemplary damages” according to a court document dated Nov. 30.

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Private Detectives on Megan Waterman Missing Woman Case

Private detectives hired by an international activist group are investigating the disappearance of a Maine woman once thought to be among the four dead women found in Gilgo Beach, the woman's family said Monday.

Relatives of Megan Waterman, 22, who worked as a prostitute and vanished after meeting a client in Hauppauge in June, said they worked with Avaaz - an online group advocating on climate change, human rights and corruption - to hire two female investigators in mid-November.

Suffolk detectives have turned up no evidence that Waterman is among the dead whose bones were found wrapped in burlap on Dec. 11 and 13 off Ocean Parkway, police say, but they have not ruled her out definitively. Monday, Suffolk police said there was nothing new in the probe of the bodies.

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Private Investigator Hunts Budgie Killer

The birds' owner, Andrew Pooley, 58, returned home on August 20 to discover that two of his prize exhibits, including Penmead Pride, had been killed and 21 others, worth £2,000, stolen.

The theft and destruction of the prize-winning budgies took place the night before the Cornwall Budgerigar Show – where Penmead Pride was crowned champion last year – leading to suspicion it may have been carried out by a rival.

Mr Pooley, from Delabole in Cornwall, has sought help from John Hayward, a former Thames Valley Police detective.

He announced today that he would offer a reward of around £200 for information leading to the birds' safe return or to the arrest and conviction of the thieves.

Mr Pooley said: ''Either somebody hates me a lot and wanted to kill that bird to hurt me or they've accidentally stepped on the birds.

''You can't explain to somebody how you feel. All my life I've been trying to breed a bird like this and I eventually got there.

''I had two or three like it to be honest, which were stolen and taken away from me and this one (Penmead Pride) was killed.

''I picked it up in my hand and I just couldn't believe that somebody had killed that bird – it's like me losing one of my children.''

Mr Pooley added that concern for the stolen budgerigars' welfare remains high.

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Bycroft Board to Hire Investigator to Check Workers Comp Costs

LISBON - Columbiana County Board of Developmental Disabilities members agreed Tuesday to hire a private eye to look into Workers' Compensation issues with employees.

Superintendent William Devon cited the high cost of employee claims the last few years as the reason for the action.

"I think we're exceedingly high," he said by phone.

The cost of claims last year was about $473,000 and this year's claims will go over $400,000. He explained that Boards of Developmental Disabilities across the state are generally the highest when it comes to Workers' Compensation claims.

Considering some of their clients can be hard to handle due to their challenges, it's to be expected, but he said recent years have been costly. The CCBDD has the highest amount for claims of all government agencies in the county.

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Wife of doctor murdered in South Africa calls on Dewani link investigation

The wife of a doctor murdered in South Africa has asked a private investigator to explore any link between her husband's death and Shrien Dewani, the British bridegroom wanted over the murder of his wife.

Heather Raghavjee asked Christian Botha to examine both cases to see if there was any connection.

The move came after the South African police said they were investigating possible links between the death of Dr Pox Raghavjee in 2007 and that of Anni Dewani in November.

Mrs Dewani was on honeymoon with her new husband Shrien Dewani in Cape Town when their taxi was carjacked and she was shot dead.

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The Undercover World of the Female Private Investigator

Going undercover to expose cheating partners, finding long-lost dads and recovering snatched kids is all part of the job for Anna Willson.

As a private investigator, she has found being a woman in what was a man's world is an asset because people tend to be less suspicious of her snooping.

The majority of her cases involve cheating husbands, though she's not keen on the idea of honey traps. But hidden cameras and fake identities are among the tools she uses, while social network sites such as Facebook have been a huge help for her spying.

Anna says her job involves digging into people's pasts as well but added: "I love the fact that every day is different and every new case is a challenge. My job is about wanting the truth."

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Simon Will Fight: Private Investigator Was Hired

NOBLESVILLE — Bren Simon has turned over documents pertaining to a private investigator that she hired to collect information on beneficiaries of her late husband Melvin Simon’s trust.

Revelations about the investigation came in a court hearing held today in a legal challenge to the Simon will.

It’s the latest step in the nearly year-long dispute over the late billionaire mall developer’s estate in Hamilton County.

Attorneys for Deborah Simon, who has sued her stepmother in the will dispute, said they want sanctions against Bren Simon for failure to promptly turn over the documents.

Bren Simon turned over those documents earlier this month; she was requested to turn them over last summer.

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Female Atlanta Private Investigator Uses Bounty Hunting Skills to Help Attorneys and the Public

Atlanta, GA, November 29, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Traici Sexton, M.A. is not your typical private investigator. In addition to her work as a criminal defense investigator, this Atlanta area female private investigator has tracked down bail jumpers, lost loves, deadbeat dads, debtors, runaways, kidnap victims, fugitives and more. From high profile hard-skip fugitives to tenants who have skipped out on rent and defendants in civil cases, Traici gives each case special attention that only someone with her experience and expertise can. “I find people sometimes in the most unusual ways. It seems to be more like a sixth sense and something that cannot really be explained or taught,” Traici remarks.

After more than six years traveling throughout the United States tracking down and apprehending bail jumpers for Georgia bondsmen, and three years instructing bounty hunting classes for the Georgia Association of Professional Bondsman, Traici is now applying her skills to help attorneys, landlords, financial institutions, corporations, and the general public. The change has not affected her numbers: she maintains a higher than 95% success rate since 2003 and has a reputation for being able to find people when others have failed. “One of the attorneys I regularly do work for refers to me as the “clean-up crew”, Traici quips,“I often find myself cleaning-up after other investigators who were not able to complete the job… and that is how I get most of my referrals”.


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Charges Dropped Against Craft Private Investigator

A Catoosa County judge has dropped the criminal case against a private investigator who worked for Tonya Craft.

Eric Echols was originally charged with three counts of influencing a witness after he was hired to do work for Craft on her child custody suit against her ex-husband.

Craft was acquitted on 22 counts of various child molestation charges in May.

The charges against Echols stem from an August 2009 conversation in the father of one of
Craft’s alleged victims said Echols threatened him. But a transcript of the recorded conversation between Echols and the father shows the men having a polite conversation.


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Private Investigator Says He's Uncovered Other Leads In Marmolejo Case

EL PASO, Texas -- The court-appointed private investigator in David Marmolejo's case claims he uncovered more than three leads, that, if followed, may prove Marmolejo did not kill his mother, Gloria.

Gloria Marmolejo's body was found in the Santa Teresa Desert in the summer of 2009. Her face was buried in the sand, her head wrapped in plastic and her shirt pulled up.

For days before the gruesome discovery, her son, David Marmolejo, mourned his mother in front of relatives, and in a news conference with media, in which his family asked for assistance in finding her.

El Paso Police later charged him with murder, and in his first trial, prosecutors argued he killed his mother because she disapproved of his romantic relationship with his significantly younger stepsister, Mariah Wilson.

Wilson was granted immunity for her testimony in the case against Marmolejo. She told jurors she saw Marmolejo hide his mother's body in the desert and that he described to her how he killed Gloria.

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Hawthorne Officials Mum on City Manager's Hiring of Private Investigator

Hawthorne residents who sought answers for why the city manager hired an unlicensed private investigator to nose around City Hall have been met with silence.

City Council members called Tuesday night for a closed-door meeting to discuss the issue, after residents asked for a public explanation for the secret investigation.

City Manager Jim Mitsch spent at least $8,000 in taxpayer funds last summer to hire unlicensed private investigator Edward Ortega to interview employees. But he has not explained why he hired the investigator or what exactly Ortega was tasked with uncovering.

"The council should do a thorough investigation of this matter," Olivia Valentine, a former City Council candidate, told the council on Tuesday. "The council promised the people transparency and should live up to its promise. The people have a right to know exactly what is going on."

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Hit-mom Private Eye Got Tough-Guy Language From 'Sopranos'

A private detective - who yesterday testified in a Long Island courtroom that accused hit-mom Susan Williams asked him to find a hitman - said he got some of the tough-guy language he used with Williams from an episode of ``The Sopranos.’’

Joseph LaBella said that when Williams, 43, asked him in a Carle Place diner to find someone she could pay to injure or kill her estranged husband Peter Williams, he said he responded that someone could ``beat him up with a bat, a pipe’’ and put him into a coma ``sipping through a straw in a hospital bed.’’

Under cross-examination, defense lawyer John Carman asked the retired undercover cop if he had switched into his ``alter-ego as a street thug?’

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