Your time spent consulting with your prospective investgator can be the best investmment you can make.

Liston Investigative services will devote up to 30 minutes discussing your issues at no charge, looking at the specialties that are available and how those may be applied to your case.

Take a look at section 1 in the chart below. Before you pick up your phone or send an email, decide what the end results might look like.

Will the objective be to document the actual condition of a worker who claims to be injured? If so, then the final result could be video of the person performing similar tasks that they claim they can't perform.

Does your investigator perform that kind of work?

Have an idea in mind of how much time and money you are able to devote to accomplishing your goal. How does the agency's hourly rate fit into that budget? Will it get you there?
Your prospective investigator should be prepared to offer different ways to approach the issue.

Is time really on your side? The Rolling Stones might be completely wrong about that- if you have a hearing in a week, is there time to get the job done? How far ahead is the investigator booked with other cases?

Just like a busy dentist's office, busy PI agencies usually have cases already in progress before you pick up the phone. Frankly, I would be wary of a restaurant with no customers in it, or a dentist with no patients. Why is the place empty?

If a PI can take your case right now, is she dropping other cases? Or does she just have no clients?

Once you know what your end-product should look like, how much time you have, what your budget is, and some idea of the specialties needed to get it done, then you are ready to pick up the phone or send an e-mail.

Use your time talking with your prospective PI to get a feel for his or her communication style, ask about years of experience, what happens to any unused deposit, and if it seems that it's not a perfect match, ask for a referral to a colleague.

At this point, you'll be somewhere past Step one and into Step two:

Questions and answers especially for those unfamiliar with the realities of legal investigations

Is being a "DYI P.I." going to be the best way to go?

Here are some things to consider when undertaking the job of professional investigators.

Would you obtain my (wife, husband, somebody)'s phone records?

The information below could save you $250,000 and 10 years.

A recent search online yielded several wildly misleading articles and forum entries which are breathtakingly impressive in their ignorance of the law.

One claimed there is "...nothing like (New York's Data Security) Law at the national level...".
A marriage-help forum answer suggested, "Stand by the mailbox and intercept the bill."

Fortunately there is the Congressional Research Service's Selected Laws Governing the Disclosure of Customer Phone Records by Telecommunications Carriers to help point us in the right direction.
Download the .PDF file here.

The short answer is, unless you are named on the account or have permission from the account holder, Federal law provides up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for obtaining or selling confidential phone records without the account holder's consent.

For those wishing more in-depth answers, please refer to Title 18, US Code, Fraud and related activity in connection with obtaining confidential phone records information of a covered entity.

The good news:
All is not lost, however. If you are engaged in either a civil or criminal action, you may legally obtain confidential phone records with a court-issued subpoena.

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Could we hire you to break into my spouses' mailbox or emails?

The unauthorized interception and access to written or electronic communications and information is regulated by several federal laws including the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. 2701, The Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and 39 U.S.C. 3623, The Mail Privacy Statute- to name a few.
The short answer is, if you don't have permissions to access those things already and do not have a court order, then don't go down that road. DLIS will not break the law on anyone's behalf.

Value of illegally obtained information:
Washington State's RCW 9A.52, Computer Trespass, and RCW 9.73 Privacy Violations, advises that, "Any information obtained in violation of RCW 9.73.030... shall be inadmissible in any civil or criminal case in all courts of general or limited jurisdiction in this state..."
In other words, once you broke the law to obtain the information, it would be useless at trial, anyway.

Don't do it, nor work with anyone who says they will.
The good news, a court order may allow legal access. Rule of thumb: if your name is not on the envelope or email account, stop and contact an attorney! We can refer you to competant, licensed computer forensic experts who can help. Just give us a call or use the contact form here.

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Can I serve the summons and court schedule for my case personally?
The short answer is, no. But someone you know may do it if they are not part of the suit.

The State of Washington law says that you need an impartial third person to deliver the papers, commonly called "Serving Process".
It is possible for a friend of yours to serve the papers, however.

The court needs proof that the documents pertaining to your case were given to the people named in the legal action, as well as where they were served and by whom. This proof is established by means of completing an Affidavit Of Service. Depending on the court and schedule the Judge has set for the case, there will be a time limit on how long you will have to serve the papers and furnish the court with your Affidavit Of Service.

For more, see the Washington Revised Statutes (RCW) Chapter 4.28.080

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Should I try to find my defendant before I file, or after?
In order to file, you need not know for certain where your defendants are living. You may use their last known good address in your filing, and then go looking for them to make your service.

There is a big advantage to having your case officially on-record before you begin your search when you are asking an investigator to locate your missing defendant.
The case number will provide grounds the investigator may use to legally access special databases which require that there be a "permissible use" to access that legally-protected database.

Several Federal statutes govern the privacy of personal information which can help reveal where our defendant is located. Chief among those are Gramm-Leach-Bliley, The Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Drivers Privacy Protection Act, and Right to Financial Privacy Act.

The Good News:
DLIS specializes in finding and serving defendants in all types of court actions. Using propriatory databases and methods, I can save you time and get the job done after others have given up.

Some of our greatest sucesses have come from others' failures.
If you've tried to locate and serve your subject using other avenues, we are here to finish the job.

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What are some good low-cost data providers and search tools?

Argali White and Yellow Personal Edition tool

Pipl searches the most popular search engines all at once. We really like this one.

So what do I need to know to use these effectively?

Even the best databases can be useless if all you have is a person's first name. How many "Amandas" are there? TOO MANY! :-)

A lot of the success anyone has in a search will depend on how many unique pieces of information you have about your subject. We call this uniquely identifiable information.

Generally speaking, some things that help describe a person are a middle initial, an email address, a social security number, a drivers' license or the license plate of a vehicle you know your subject owns.
Each one of these is unique to the individual you are trying to find, and they help to eliminate the others -

Sherlock Holmes described his famous method of deduction this way: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Unique identifiers help you eliminate the impossible. Once you have as much unique information as you can get, the question becomes, what you do with it, in order to turn it into an address, or find someone who knows where your person is?
One of the best free tools we've found for doing address searches is called Argali White and Yellow. You can download Argali free Personal Edition tool here.

We wish that we could recommend a magic, FREE or low-cost data provider who had the minty-fresh information we all need. We'd list them here, as well as gladly use them, too- but there is no such thing that we are aware of.
All of the open-source "People Finders" we've tried cost us money and came up with not much more than you'll find for free with Argali or Pipl. Argali's free tools will allow up to 10 searches a month; subscriptions are very inexpensive.

The real databases such as DOL are restricted to professional license holders such as insurance companies and private investigators.

We have that access, And more. Through us, so do you. If you've tried the "Low Cost" data sources and run up $30.00, $50.00, in fees for useless dated results, it may be time for professional assistance..

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Will Someone do an hour's Surveillance?

No... well, maybe.

One thing for sure about surveillances: unlicensed people following someone have no defense against a stalking charge under the law. A licensed P.I. correctly performing his job does.

The answer about the time question depends...

1.) How much of an hour is left once your agents arrive.

-Because most professionals (DLIS included) start the clock when they leave the office for the surveillance, and the clock runs for the return trip too, a "one-hour surveillance" might be really short.

HOWEVER, If the point of the surveillance is to do a quick check of a property and photographs of what cars may be parked there, an hour could be all the time needed. Dave will work with you on special jobs such as this.

2.) Availability of agents to respond to the request. Timing can make the difference between a "yes" and a "no".

I schedule normal surveillance activities for a minimum four-hour period. There are other, very important considerations in real surveillance work, such as the longer you look, the more you are likely to see, and this produces the most value for our clients investment.

A good, professional surveillance is planned with care, involving our clients in the process to provide the agents with as much knowledge as possible and is timed to produce the best chance of obtaining useful results.

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