Be Your Own Detective - Great Investigation Tools

This is our list of investigative tools you can use to conduct you own investigations. Whether you need a reverse phone number lookup, a reverse address finder or a complete background investigation. These tools can help you find just about anyone in the US, in some cases even more. We included descriptors by each one - obviously you will not need each one. If you find one you like, but you aren't sure, just bookmark the page you may use later. You will find many overlaps in these services, so choose wisely.

The National Cell Phone Registry The leading provider of online phone searches. Our powerful tool searches multiple databases of Landline, Mobile and Unlisted Phone Numbers to bring you the most up-to-date and accurate data.

CourtRecords.org You can check all kinds of court records here, both civil and criminal.

Federal-Records.org The public records search site that specializes in Federal Court records.

FindPublicRecords.com THE public records search site in one convenient location. Search records throughout the country.

GovernmentRegistry.org Effortlessly lookup different reports in many records categories available 24/7 and downloadable to your computer. Coverage area includes all of the United States

InstantBackgroundReport.com FAST, ACCURATE, AND USER-FRIENDLY live background reports. We have spent millions of dollars to acquire our own data and public records databases, so that you get what you are looking for - quickly and efficiently! Our industry leading detailed background reports include phone numbers, possible relatives, properties, civil actions for selected states, plus a new integrated instant criminal and sex offender record check summary, including names, details, state of offense, selected offense types (includes sex offenders and terrorists).

Investigate123.com Lets you utilize a network of multiple data sources from thousands of sources, public and private, quickly and conveniently right to your screen. Find the information you are seeking without the need of hiring a professional investigator.

Net Detective - Professional background and people search system. This is the same tool used by many private investigators across the US.

PhoneRegistry.com A powerful tool that searches multiple databases of Landline, Mobile and Unlisted Phone Numbers to bring you the most up-to-date and accurate data.

ReverseMobile.com The original reverse cell phone lookup site. We have records for more than 70% of all cellular numbers and over 95% of unlisted phone numbers in the US.

Phone Detective This is the most complete reverse cell phone lookup we have found on the web. Tests show that it is 98% effective in finding cell phone records and 97% effective for unlisted numbers.

SSNRecords.org This is one of the few online search sites available for Social Security Numbers.

New Not So Secret Driver's License Search

Sshhhhh!! Don't tell anyone about this absolutely free site!

You know what is great about me having my own "Be Your Own Detective" site? Well, my mom sent me this really cool driver's license lookup site in my email.

It is not a complete background check or instant background search or anything like that, but you will see an electronic display of your driver's license (if you run your own) It touts itself like this:

National Motor Vehicle License Organization web site - offering a free searchable database of over 121 million U.S. driver's license photos. Search using the box below.

It is totally free! I suggest you check it out immediately! This is one of those sites you will want to pass to all of your friends for sure!




And yes, I do have a sense of humor :))

It Is So Easy a Pig (Boar) Can Do It!

So you want to be able to catch a bad guy? Check out what these wild boars did:

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police pursuing a car thief through a dark forest turned rescuers when the man became cornered by a family of angry wild boar.


Officers caught the man's passenger after the pair rammed into a squad car on a cross-country chase and leapt from the stolen Opel, police in the eastern city of Schwerin said.

But they initially lost track of the 18-year-old driver during the night-time pursuit when he fled deep into the forest.

"Then he ran into the family of boars, and the head of the family squared up to him," a police spokesman said on Friday. "So he stood there, put his hands up, and called for help."

Officers rescued the man from the boars, then arrested him.

I found the story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/germany_boars_odd_dc

That is right - and now I am expecting all the "pig" jokes and such. Poor traumatized crook huh? I guess just another dumb crook. At least one outsmarted by wild boars.

Old But True Story - No Need for a Background Check

What seems to be many ages ago, when I worked for the Sheriff’s Department, I went to this burglary call. A small convenience store in the country had been burglarized. - Yeah, we say burglarized, even though burgled is technically correct.

The front window next to the door was broken and items had been taken in what appeared to be “in a hurry.” Only really important stuff, like beer and cigarettes had been taken. Maybe some magazines had been too. That was the obvious stuff anyways. I really don't remember if Slim Jims and chips were stolen.

At the time, we did not know if any cash was gone. There was a busted open case of Old Milwaukee Light with a couple of cans left behind, so obviously the thief had impeccable taste in beer. :)

Of course, one more item was left behind in the parking lot - a checkbook. Guess what we found when we went to address on the checkbook? The guy’s car was in the driveway, still half- loaded with stuff from the store. You know we had a sense of humor – we told him we were there in reference to his lost checkbook. We had a nice pair of matching Smith and Wesson bracelets for him too.

So, to be your own detective is not always rocket science, as often the people you are checking on are closer to the bottom of the “food chain” than the top.

Be Your Own Detective - Know Someone by Their Trash

First, I am going to show you a story that was on the internet.

WINTER PARK, Fla. -- It was called a criminal's dream come true -- a trash bin full of documents containing private information.

A tip led authorities to the trash bin just off U.S. Highway 17-92 in
Winter Park.

Investigators said it was stuffed with sensitive information like divorce papers, W-2 forms, Social Security numbers and bank statements with account numbers on them. The attorney general's office called in the Winter Park Police Department to collect the paperwork.

"There's a lot of personal information in these documents contained, and
it's serious as to how they get out here and why they are here. We need to find out and back track why they got here," Winter Park Police Department Capt. A.S. King said.

Authorities said the documents apparently came from cases handled by local
law firms, including the DeWitt law firm, Sarah Arnold Esq., and Mediation Services of Central Florida.The attorneys will be required to inform former clients that their private information may have been compromised. You can find the article here.

OK, I did not show you this story, to tell you to be careful about your trash (though you should). I put it here to show you that the trash run is one of the most effective ways to get information on someone. You would be surprised at what can be found in your trash, even if you shred all of your credit card and bank statements. Seemingly innocuous things like junk mail reveal things about you. Often it has your full name, or phone number whether or not it is listed.

The main point is - if you want to know someone, check out their trash. Not only will you know their name and stuff, but what they like to eat, smoke, and drink, if they do all of those things. Oh yeah, and watch out for lawyers :P

Once you get some good info, you can use something like Government Records.com to check them out further. :))

(I did have to plug something, it has been a while)

Be Safe!!

Dumb Law Makers, Dumb Crooks, and Dumb Cops

Dumb Law Makers:

New York Wants To Punish Criminals For Incriminating
Selves On YouTube

We've been seeing plenty of stories lately that incorrectly place the blame when people film themselves doing something illegal and put that video online. This should be something where politicians and the police should be thrilled. After all, it makes it that much easier for the police to find them, arrest them and convict them of a crime. If people are so stupid to post evidence of their crime in public, then isn't that a good thing?

Yet, politicians who incorrectly like to put the blame for the crime on the video of the crime, come up with harebrained proposals like a new one in New York that will make putting a video of yourself committing a violent crime online a felony in itself (above and beyond whatever charges you might face for the violence). Think about that for a second. New York politicians are basically telling people that they'll get charged with even greater crimes if they decide to incriminate themselves by posting evidence online. This makes no sense. The reasoning behind the bill is that politicians believe people are committing these kinds of crimes for the publicity in the first place.

The thinking is that such crimes wouldn't happen at all if they couldn't be put online. However, that's rather meaningless. If someone is going to commit a violent crime -- punish the violence itself. Not the fact that the idiots handed over the evidence as part of a publicity stunt. If the (small number) of idiots who commit violent crimes and post the videos online are getting caught and arrested for the violence itself, shouldn't that act as enough disincentive?

Dumb Criminals:

Criminals lend a hand to law enforcement

You'd think people would have enough sense to leave
illegal drugs at home when they go to the courthouse. But no.

Last week, St. Clair County bailiff Josh Pea arrested a man for carrying illegal drugs -- the third such arrest in less than a week. "I just like my weed," the man reportedly said as he was carted off to the St. Clair County Jail.

Well, we like it when stupid criminals make law enforcement's job so easy. These sort of arrests happen all the time at the courthouse checkpoints.

Maybe it's time for Sheriff Mearl Justus to invite criminals in for free athletic shoes as he did some years ago. Based on what goes on at the courthouse, they'd no doubt fall for it again.

Dumb Cops:

Guns missing from Houston police room
© 2008 The Associated
Press
HOUSTON — For months, maybe years, people with criminal backgrounds had access to secure areas of the police station, including a property room from which 30 guns disappeared within six months, according to internal police documents.

The documents, obtained by the Houston Chronicle, indicated that lax security created an environment ripe for theft.

No one has been charged in the gun thefts, although police suspected telephone repairmen who admitted stealing other items, and a temporary employee who had access to the property room while awaiting trial on aggravated robbery charges.

Police say they have improved security including adding cameras, and they plan to open a new, $13.8 million property room next year.

Is there anyone whop can tell me why the police had a temporary employee watching the property room that was awaiting trial for aggravated robbery?

He Should Have Checked Her Background Before He Dated Her

Here is another example that you may want to be your own detective and check out the person you are dating with a background check. This is from an April 17th Story.

A 52-year-old career thief and mother of six was convicted yesterday of secretly stealing thousands of dollars from her boyfriend and stabbing him to death before his body was found burning along an Anne Arundel County road.

Two weeks before her trial was to begin, Cynthia J. McKay entered a guilty plea to charges of second-degree murder and felony theft, ducking a possible life sentence in a crime that ensnared two of her sons. She now faces a maximum penalty of 30 years.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys involved in the case said piecing together not just the death of Anthony Fertitta, whose body was found ablaze not far from McKay's Millersville townhouse in February 2006, but McKay's past made the case one of the most complicated they had ever handled.McKay's previous husband died in a Christmas Day fire in 2002, and she pleaded guilty in 2003 to stealing more than $200,000 from a Catholic seminary in Baltimore.

With her plea yesterday, she has been convicted a dozen times, spanning more than 20 years and several counties.Released from prison in July 2005 after stealing from an elderly Delaware woman, McKay moved to Millersville and began dating Fertitta in the fall.

The 50-year-old UPS driver and warehouse worker did not know he was dating a convicted con artist, prosecutors said.

You can find the rest of the story here. Remember to Stay Safe!

Some People are so Stupid - No Need for Background Checks

There are those in this world, that you do not even need to use a background check, or background investigation to see that they are criminals. I found this story here. I thought you would enjoy it. :))

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhuanet) -- A Vietnamese man in Norway who believed that mixing cash with a special liquid could double its value suffered in fact a loss of 35,000 U.S. dollars, according to media reports Monday.

This unidentified man was told by a 32-year-old Frenchman that if he mixed the real cash with blank bills and then marinate them in a special liquid for one night, he would have double the amount of the cash. The gullible Vietnamese believed the Frenchman's story and gave him 180,000 kroner (35, 000 U.S. dollars). But when he prepared to collect his money the next morning, both the cash and the Frenchman disappeared.

"He has given a statement that leads us to believe that he really believed this was possible. But we are of course having a hard time understanding how someone could actually believe such a tall tale," police officer Ragnar Ingberg said. Early on March, the Frenchman was arrested while trying to leave Norway. He is set to stand trial in a lower court near Oslo next week. But his lawyer claimed that his clinet is extremely surprised to be charged with something that was so incredible.

So anyways, I guess there are times when you do not need anyspecial service - like with the Vietnamese guy there.

Be Safe!

Instant Background Checks - What No One Really Wants to Know

What no one really wants to know, is that the new really nice guy they just let move in to the complex, is really a convicted felon. Or maybe you don't really want to know that the receptionist you just hired is on probation for theft by check. She seems nice enough and she is pretty, and visitors seem to like to interact with her.

The reason you do not want to know these things is simple. It is too late! You already like the guy that moved in to the complex. You like the new receptionist and the customers like her too. So why did you wait to run a background check? Did you procrastinate? Were you too cheap? Are you too cheap to prevent theft from your own business? I know it wasn't time. Remember, the title of this post is about INSTANT background checks. If you are reading this, you have no excuse to not conduct one. All you have to do is fill out the box on the right and start. It really is not that hard to do.

Maybe you do not like the way that one works, well then click the Net Detective link above. They both have a quality product and are easy to use.

But wait! I know that I cannot refuse to hire someone just based on a background check! That is not really the case, you can simply ask and confirm the information in the background check in the job interview.

Anyways, it is your money, your security. If you trust your gut, that is fine with me, but why not take out a little insurance (so to speak). It will be the best 30 bucks you spent this year. :)

Stay Safe!

My New Lens is on Squidoo: Be Your Own Detective

I made a Be Your Own Detective Lens, hopefully to send more traffic to my website. Google seems to love Squidoo lenses, no matter what their squidoo ranking.

Anyways, it isn't much really, just another way to try to generate a bit more traffic and recognition.

P.S. If you are a squid - please rate my lens :)) <--shameless plug

Be Your Own Detective Surveillance Tip - Conducting Moving Surveillance

OK, we are talking about the tail. If you have a TV detective car like a fancy sports car or classic muscle car, you will be noticed in a heartbeat. TV badguys are blind to such thing, but not real life people.

Not like this:

Not even like this:

This still won't cut it.

Maybe something like this...

Or maybe like this:

If at all possible have a team of at least two, if not three chase vehicles. With one car it is very hard to not be "made." With multiple vehicles you can pass the car off you are following to each other.If you cannot do that, try the following tips: (get it, following tips? - I know, bad!)

The first tip is to have a nondescript car of nondescript color. Like the pewter color sedans and such. A four door is better than a two door. In Texas, and some other places a pickup or Suburban is as "non descript" as the next car. No brite color cars with distinctive features - so those of you with your "pimped out" rides with spinners are out of luck.

The next tip is to use cover. Not hard cover as in a gunfight, but cover as in keeping vehicles between you and the car you are tailing. If they pull into a parking lot or down a neighborhood street, try to avoid using the same street and entrance. Be aware of traffic light problems. Pay attention to where the vehicle you are following is going, you may be able to parrallel it in some cities.

The point is, it is nothing like TV, do not be too close, but sometimes in traffic with signals, you need to be close enough to make the lights.

...and most of all, Be Safe!

Surveillance Tip - Static Vehicle Surveillance

When you want to be your own detective, sometimes you need to conduct static vehicle surveillance, you must be far enough away and inconspicuous. If you can see them, they can see you.




You can get close if you have the proper surveillance vehicle (like the ones shown). Otherwise, you will stand out like a sore thumb.














Here are some common things that give you away: On hot days, air conditioner condensation pooled under the vehicle. On cold days, the heated exhaust can be seen from the running engine. What am I saying here? If you need to keep the engine running - you are likely to be noticed. Where I am from in South Texas, you cannot sit in a closed vehicle in the Summer and survive. The temperature will get hot enough inside most cars to cook meat. So you will need special equipment or to keep the car running with the A/C on to keep from being cooked alive.

Here are some handy tips:

• So, stay way back. If possible become "invisible."
• An appropriate magnetic sign (like a cable company or termite service) with a hard hat and worker's vest can make you much less of a worry to people who do see you parked.
• Have a pee bottle. Yeah you may have to wait a while and a pee bottle can be a life saver.
• Do NOT take a big Gulp or other ginormous drink with you (see above).
• Make sure your camera/video recorder has good batteries
• Have a pen and pad handy to take notes. (on a clipboard is better and it goes with the hard hat)
• If you have a team (can be just a friend) Switch vehicles and locations.
• If you can park in a crowded parking lot, that gives you great cover, and you are a lot less likely to be noticed.
• The Best Tip - do surveillance from a building instead of a vehicle.

Note: if the Police come to check you out, you are busted. You may want to tell them what you are doing, since being a stalker is against the law. If they look in the car and see the notes and the camera, they are likely to know what you are doing. You could make up a story about suspecting that your spouse has a girlfriend/boyfriend in the neighborhood (unless that really is what you are doing). Or you could say you were supposed to meet someone about buying a dog. The main point is, if the Police check you out - you were standing out, and you need to try something else.

I hope these tips help you to "be your own detective"

Stay Safe!

Reverse Phone Detective VS Reverse Mobile

VS

OK, I am posting this head to head comparison for only one reason. Reverse Mobile has updated thie "home page." What is so special about that? You can now search for a cell phone number by name - not just as a reverse lookup.



Reverse Lookup Comparison:



OK, head to head, Reverse Mobile and the Reverse Phone Detective seem to match up pretty equally. The main difference, is if you want to only check one number - the Reverse Phone Detective Reverse Mobile is still your best bet. It will give you the complete report for only $14.95. That is less than Reverse Mobile's one time fee.

However, if you are looking to find someones cell phone number and you only have a name - then you need to use Reverse Mobile. I like what they did to the site, I only hope this little tid- bit helps you out.



Remeber, there is no such thing as a free reverse cell phone number lookup. You will have to pay for it someplace. If you need to do that - One of thses two is the way to go :))



Stay Safe!

My Entry in a Blog Contest to Get Free Traffic

I decided to enter in a contest here. If I win any of the prizes, I should get all sorts of cool free stuff. I am not really familiar with all of teh sites listed below, but I sure will now. Apparently advertising on those sites gets you a lot of traffic.

Here are the sites:
DatMoney.com

Carlocab.com

Garryconn.com

Theuniversitykid.com

Theblogentrepreneur.com

Bloggernoob.com

Blogaboutyourblog.com

Piggybankpie.com

Jonathanvolk.com

Winningtheweb.com

Etienneteo.com

Yimto.com

Adesblog.com

Blogpremiere.com/forum

I have no clue if I stand a chance, but why not go for some free advertizing?

Stay Safe!

PS: I have no idea what the picture has to do with the contest.