Page 10 - The Value of Associations - AFI-LLC Newsletter March 2020

The Value of Associations - AFI-LLC Newsletter March 2020

News from Around our Profession
We are dedicated to sharing important news from clients, colleagues and friends about the
news - good and bad - from and about our profession. Our thanks to all who help
contribute. Feel free to email us with any news you have about you, your agency, your
association, and others...

Knowing Your Worth in a Bargain-Basement Market
(from Pursuit Magazine – authored by licensed PI Amy Lynn Burch of VA)
Perception is reality for most people, and the perception that “fast and cheap” will
do just fine has done lasting damage to the market for professionally-conducted background checks and due diligence
investigations. Even companies who should know better aren’t above being romanced by fast-and-nearly free
information on potential new employees or business partners.

One of the greatest challenges we face as professional investigators is communicating the value of our services to clients
in a marketplace glutted with mass-market information providers.
http://pursuitmag.com/knowing-worth-bargain-basement-market

Preservation Letters Tips
(from Rachel Roberts CLI of AGENCY in CO)
Keep in mind that businesses (or individuals) are under no obligation to preserve anything with this letter. It's essentially
a "pretty please keep this until I have an SDT" letter. Sometimes businesses will allow you to review the footage without
releasing it to you so you can determine if you want to sub.

Also, if you made note of their home surveillance systems, you could send preservation letters to the companies that
own the home surveillance (i.e. Blink cam goes to Amazon). Without the serial number of the device, it might be tricky
to identify the account. Keep in mind that if there are three Blink cameras up around a property, those are three
different device serial numbers that would need to be included in your request. I just had a case where law enforcement
only requested 1/3 camera serial numbers from Amazon (Blink) - that camera was dead, and Amazon didn't identify the
other two cams to law enforcement. They were surprised at the PEPG when we presented evidence they didn't have :)

State PI Licensing
What are the PI licensing requirements in each state? With thanks to our friends at Pursuit Mag – here is a continually
updated resource -
http://pursuitmag.com/resources/investigator-licensing

The Forensic Importance of Digital Images
(from Brian Ingram of Consulting Investigation Services in TX)
Great work (no surprise) and thanks for sharing this useful tidbit... always request original media - not renamed files,
prints, etc.

Defendant charged with Family Violence Assault, felony. Alleged victim submits photos to DA to “prove” her assertions.
Defense Attorney thinks something hinky and retains CIS to examine digital photos. The EXIF data inside photos shows
they had been edited and manipulated in PhotoShop.
Verdict – Not Guilty.

Missing Person: A Case Study in Investigative Ethics
From our friends at Pursuit Magazine...
Was excellent then - and a great reminder now!
-- add agency ethics and NCISS resolution, and background to reason
Great crowdsourcing think piece from the archives: An ethics researcher asks investigators how they would handle a
client’s deceptively simple request.