Saturday, January 9, 2010

Breaking into the field


Well, it's been a while since I last posted to my blog. I successfully completed my Certificate in Professional Investigation from BU, but since then my time has been completely monopolized by my "real" career as a psychologist. Now that I have my PI certificate, the big question is, "How do I begin to transfer my current skill set into a career as a PI?" It appears I am a bit stuck in limbo. I'm struggling with how to get some "real world" experience in professional investigation so that I can eventually get licensed as a PI. I will provide updates as I try to navigate my way into a new field.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

PI Podcast


Well, I've never actually followed a podcast before, but I found one today that I think will be very informative for those of us trying to break into the field of private investigation. I discovered it while perusing the United States Association of Professional Investigators website. The podcast is titled, "The Curbside Investigator," and it is narrated by Scott Stys, Owner at Sunset West Investigations in LA. The mission of the podcast is to educate the public on the role of a PI and to dispel some of the mystery surrounding the activities of a PI. However, I also found that it is very informative for individuals who are working in the field of professional investigation. For example, there was an entire podcast devoted to how to best market one's services and the importance of establishing a niche/speciality in the field. Another episode focused on health concerns for surveillance investigators (e.g. tips to avoid heat exhaustion and back pain while sitting in your car all day). Give it a listen and let me know what you think!

Crime Mapping


I started following a new blog today called SpotCrime.com Crime Mapping. SpotCrime is an online crime mapping company. The company gathers crime data from police records and local news sources nationwide and then uses this data to create online crime maps. It also has a partner site (UCrime), which maps crimes at over 100 University campuses--I'm sure parents sending their kids off to college would be especially interested in the latter site. I played around with both of the sites today and was rather impressed. It gives you the exact date, time and address of the crime, and you can look up the type of crime that was committed (e.g. assault, theft, vandalism etc.). In Massachusetts, your searches are limited to Boston, Cambridge and Springfield neighborhoods. Since I live in Somerville, it wasn't all that useful to me personally in terms of my neighborhood crime. However, I was able to look up nearby Cambridgeport, which informed me that there had been an assault at Brookline and Erie Streets on 8/31/09 at 6:13 a.m. I also looked up my sister-in-law's neighborhood in Roslindale. There was a higher frequency of crime activity in Roslindale, including multiple shootings, assaults and robberies that happened all within the last month. Note to self--call sister-in-law and tell her to watch her back! Good thing she and her husband have a very large black lab to stand guard. :-)

In addition, I was able to look at crime maps for Boston University, Harvard and UMass Amherst, among others. Fortunately, no serious crimes, such as assaults or shootings, were reported for any of those campuses. However, there were 11 thefts reported on the Harvard University campus. The thefts included mostly bicycles, but also a laptop computer and cash. Harvard students, guard your belongings-it may be time to invest in some sturdy U-locks!

Overall, a very useful site. I imagine both the public and police would find this information useful. I know that if I were looking to move to a different neighborhood, I would probably add this to my list of variables to consider.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Social Networking Sites-Not just for networking


I read an interesting article today posted on PInow.com titled,"Virginia Case Shows Importance of Social Networking to Investigations." The article highlights the important role that social networking sites play in private investigation. The article specifically focused on a case of a woman being investigated as part of a workers compensation case. Of course, the use of social networking sites for this purpose raises a whole slew of ethical concerns related to privacy. That being said, this article brought to my attention a new investigative tool for my growing toolkit. No longer will I view Facebook as simply a means for connecting with old friends, keeping tabs on my family members, or sharing pictures of my blind pug, Gus!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Women in Crime Blog


I recently started following a blog titled, "Women in Crime Ink." I have been really impressed by the quality and breadth of the posts on this blog, not to mention that all of the articles are written by professional women. The contributors come from a diverse range of disciplines, ranging from criminal justice (including a forensic artist and a criminal profiler) to private investigation, psychiatry and cold-case detectives. This blog offers a fresh perspective on high profile crimes featured in the media. I feel that this blog is worthwhile and successful in that it showcases so many different experts and offers new insights not necessarily offered through mainstream media.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

PI Professional Organizations

Ask a PI Response:

I received a response today from Editor-in-Chief, Jimmie Mesis at PI Magazine. I had asked for recommendations regarding professional organizations I should join to further my training/education in professional investigation. Mr. Mesis recommended three reputable organizations. Here they are:

National Association of Legal Investigators

United States Association of Professional Investigators

National Council of Investigation and Security Services

It looks like the United States Association of Professional Investigators is the only organization that allows student membership.

I must say that I was impressed by the prompt response to my query!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Ask a PI


I discovered a nifty little option today while perusing PI magazine.com. There is a feature called "Ask a PI," which allows you to have your questions answered by professional private investigators specializing in the subject matter requested.  All you have to do is send an email to the address provided. You can even specify whether your question is urgent or not urgent. They say that an urgent question is usually answered within 24 hours and a non-urgent question is typically answered within 3 business days. I submitted a question and marked it as not urgent, so I'll provide an update if I get a response.