Be Your Own Detective - How to Make the Trash Run

I recently wrote a post about finding information in other's trash. I just wanted to expand a bit on that. First Jack wrote a great article on Dumpster Diving. He points out how con men get stuff from the trash to use.

I debated if I should give a "how to" on making a trash run. I decided to - whether to do it as your own detective, or what to watch for.

First - I want to point out that trash is considered abandoned property. Once the trash is taken to the curb, you no longer have ownership of it. The containers you do, the contents - no.

You will likely have a "target" for the trash run (unless you are a lousey crook that wants to commit identity theft). Find out from your city when the garbage runs are made. Now make your plans carefully.

The trash run is best made with a pickup truck or panel van. If your target uses trash bags - great! It makes it so much easier. Go by the target in the early morning hours after the trash is set by the curb. You can grab the trash bags and toss them in the back of the truck and take off to your sorting site. You will need a well ventilated garage or if it is not raining - a back yard can do. Spread out plastic (it WILL be messey!). Use latex or plastic gloves and go through the trash.

Have extra bags ready to toss out what you don't want. Invariably the best stuff with information is stuck to a dirty diaper or has puke on it. You can dry and keep the paper or copy the information with a pencil and note pad. If you have done this before you will understand why I do not say pen - they fail, or don't work, and you will likely want to toss it after the job is done.

After you are finished - you will want to roll up the spread out plastic and throw that away. If you are really worried about getting the crap (literally) on your clothes, there are throw away painters suits and such that are not that expensive. You can cover up with those first if you like and just throw them away when you are done. You can use regular shopping bags from Wal-Mart and duct tape to protect your shoes -very cheap , yet effective.

In some cases - you may need to purchase matching trash containers ahead of time and just swap them out. That is the easiest, Even if your target realizes the containers were swapped - it is more than likely too late.

So now you know how to make the trash run. Have fun!.

Giving Credit where Credit is Due

First, I thank all who have ever linked to this blog. In case I miss mentioning you here.


Here are the top Entrecard Droppers:
E-business Ideas 25
Use it Play it Test it 22
Health Nut Wannabee Mom 18
m r z h a n e b l o g 17
My Life At Ninety: Looking Back and Moving On 16
Prove Me Wrong 14
PC World 14
Asdquefty's Journal 14
What's new In? 14
High Quality Pictures 13

Special Thanks for Directing Others to my blog:

Blog Catalog (various places) 30
From My Blogger Profile (following comments) 21
www.doyoudiggit.com/ 10
SledChix She linked to my blonde joke 5


Other Known Linkers (not already mentioned):
DatMoney.com
DatPoetry
DatCurious.com
Rob's Megaphone
Infotblog.com
First Door on the Left
Ironic Surrealism II
Wunderful Wurld

Anyways - just spreading the love - if I missed your and link and failed to mention you, don't be mad, just tell me in the comments! I will correct the problem. :)

Be Your Own Detective - Investigation Mistakes to Avoid

Sometimes to be a good investigator may seem to be “cold hearted.”


I was thinking about “unsolved cases” and realized that the reason some cases remain unsolved was because of mistakes made early on in the investigation. One of the mistakes and investigator sometimes makes is they are worried about thing like hurting the feelings of family members or others related to the case. Another mistake is taking into account politics when conducting the investigation. Let’s look at these two factors-


Avoiding “hurt feelings”


The most popular case that comes to mind, where avoiding hurt feelings hindered the investigators is the JonBenet Ramsey Case. First, I am not finger pointing per say – I am not bad mouthing the investigators, it is easy to look back at a case, and comment on it compared to how things look like when you are in the middle of it. It is obvious though, that pressure from the press, and who knows where else, and avoidance of offending family members resulted in the investigators not looking as hard at family members as they could have. This is why I say and investigator sometimes has to be “cold hearted.”



The investigators knew that in the majority of child murder cases like this, a family member is the one who committed the murder. That is not always the case – there is the occasional serial killer or the pedophile that ends up murdering a victim to try to cover his other crime.


Taking in account politics:


Now in one way you need to look at politics in the case it may be a motive for the crime. On the flip side – you cannot worry about political repercussions in your case because you find something out. The biggest problem with this is the media. They always want to know , or feel they have a “right to know” about investigations before they are complete. It is normally just plain stupid to release any information about a case before the investigation is complete. There are a few exceptions: You may want to bait the criminal – call him out, so to speak. The other is, you may need to warn the public, or you may need the public’s assistance with finding a suspect or vehicle. Other than those two reasons – the best thing said about an ongoing investigation is nothing. Of course, private investigators violate the law if they discuss their cases with anyone (unless the client directs them to).


So what does all this mean to you if you want to be your own detective? It means that you may not always be popular while conducting your investigation. It is highly possible you will piss people off, or offend someone when conducting the investigation. Remember Death records are a sure-fire find for someone, yet people are sometimes offended if you check there.

Y'all stay safe!

Some Love and Reviews for Be Your Own Detective!

Well, I am astonished as to all the love this blog has received lately! There was mention of this blog in Blog Catalogs Blog (I know almost redundant huh?)

Then there was a great review at Doyoudiggit.com I am really impressed at how well written that review is! All I know is, it seems to pay off when you recognize other people's efforts and post about them. It seems that most of the internet is quite reciprocal when it comes to a little credit here and there.

A big thanks to both Blog Catalog and Doyoudiggit.com !

Know Your Rights When Interviewed - is it Wrong to Tell Someone?

I hope the title got your attention. I am not real good at those. What I figured I would do is turn the tables a bit. What if you are approached by the police and they wish to speak to you. What are your rights? How should you act? ... OK, flashbacks to the Chris Rock Video how to not get your a** kicked by the police) ... Seriously though, What would be wrong with a police officer giving the public pointers on this?

Well, apparently in Egypt, it is against the law.

(Omar Afifi) ...worked in the state security department and refused to torture suspects. After he quit the force, he decided to inform the Egyptian public how to avoid getting abused by security forces.

In March, his “how-to” expose hit bookstores - only to get banned. “How Not to Get Smacked on Your Neck,” was declared a “disturbance to public order” by the Egyptian government. Yet all the book featured were questions and answers informing Egyptians of their rights and how to deal with abusive police officers accordingly.

You can find the whole story here. It is strange what some governments think is a threat.

So anyways - why not give you some tips (so I can get banned in Egypt :P )

1. Be courteous/polite. I know when you are stopped either driving or walking by the police it is an inconvinience. You may be offended because you were not doing anything wrong and you don't look like a criminal. Still - be courteous - it can go a long way. You do not know what the police officer saw from his/her perspective. You may think you look suspicious too.



2. Answer straightforward. Do not be evasive - all that does is raise suspicion. Suspicion = further investigation.



3. What if the police want to "pat me down." If a police officer can in any way articulate (and he is not require to do that with you) a suspicion that you can possibly be armed or that you are a threat to the officer - the police officer has a right to a pat-down search. See Terry vs Ohio which has long stood up in US courts. My best advice is to comply. You don't have to like it, but show rewspect and comply. Noncompliance can lead to an escalation of force. (ie getting your a** kicked)



4. Do You have to answer? The answer is no. I suggest not being a jerk about it - simply say you choose your right not to answer. This may or may not lead to a longer detention. After all you were stopped based on suspicion, if you cannot help rule out the suspicion, the police need to use other means to investigate.



5. What if they want to search my car? Can I refuse? If a police officer asks you for consent to search - you are not required to give it, and there is no "punishment" for refusing the search - it is your right to refuse. In my experience many police officers made the mistake of asking permission when it was not needed. If the police suspect you are armed - they can check the vehicle for weapons (where you have access). If they have probable cause that there is contraband in the vehicle and it is a traffic stop - they can search the vehicle under exigent circumstances. No, a warrant is not required. Probable cause means the police can say you probably have contraband in the car - it is not sophisticated. If a drug dog alerted to the vehicle - they have probable cause.

Chances are if you are doing nothing wrong - simple cooperation is best. If you are doing something wrong - do not say anything - use your rights.

Stay Safe!

Be Your Own Detective - More Dumb Criminal Stories

I was going to make two different posts the last two days. Well, between power outages and lack of transportation to where I could properly log-on to blogger, my posts kept getting not quite done! So to play is "safe" I am posting stuff I have saved on my computer. Some days I can be almost clever.

Here are two more "award winning" dumb criminal stories!

First, there is the clever robber who was going to sneak away with his lights off!

Meet Joseph Williams, accused of robbing Kelly's Gulf in East Stroudsburg. Then he drove away with his lights off and ran a red light, which everyone knows is how you avoid drawing attention to yourself. Oh, and police say he's on the Gulf station's video. He's a star!

I found that story here.


Then there is the guy that was dumb enough to be caught by the same sting, not once, but twice!

Eddie Robert Ramirez, the loser deluxe charged with stealing a police bait car just five days after being released from prison for – guess what? – stealing a police bait car.

Prison sure taught him a lesson, didn't it?

I found that story here.

Sometimes, people make it so obvious that they get caught really easily. Then, of course, you have those who are clever enough not to stand out.

A Great Blonde Joke!

OK, I just could not resist posting this great blonde joke. Click here.

Blonde Joke

For a great blonde Joke go here.

Be Your Own Detective - Bring Families Back Together

OK, I have another real life story to tell you. It started off when a friend contacted me and said I bet you cannot find Joe (alias name).

Well, so far I have lost that bet. I wonder what I owe on that bet.

I found some old information on Joe, but nothing current. I had found his date of birth, an old address, old phone number. I just have not been able to track him down. I checked jail records and death records (morbid, I know). Those are the places you usually find folks that others do not think to check.


Now, for the turn in the story... My friend said that she had another person to find. This time it is her estranged father. I checked several public records and even some detective sites, only to have a dead end.


I tried using the Net Detective, but they are clever enough to know I was checking from Africa, and they do not let people in Africa use their services. (probably a really good thing).

I contacted the service department and told them my situation. They were able to verify that I am me (ok kind of a dumb statement, but true).

So thanks to the great customer service of the Net Detective, I was able to finally use it. The Net detective found the long lost dad.

Now daughter and father can be together for Father's Day! - Can I hear a heartfelt "awwww" - I am not being facetious either. OK, I know this story has a plug, but if you really want a "people finder" that works, and is a great deal - try the Net Detective.


Stay Safe!

My Squidoo Lens "Be a Phone Detective" has PR5

Horray for me! I have no idea how my little Squidoo Lens earned a Google PR5, but it did. Now all I have to figure out, is why it has a Google PR5 and this blog has a PR N/A. Go figure. There is more fresh useful information here, than on my lens, so who knows?

What is funny is all the folks that say "how to" get better page ranking or better recognition by Google all tell me things I already do for this blog, and any of that which is done by me for the Squidoo Lens, I have done 10 times as much for this blog.

Yay anyways... hopefully I will be back with more investigation stuff for you.

Be Safe!!!

Entrecard – The Things I Do to Get Traffic

OK, one day I found out about Entrecard. Now, I wish I could credit the person who showed this to me, but I really don’t know how I found the site. If you do not know what Entrecard is, basically it is sort-of a social networking site – that gets people to visit others blogs.

It works like this:
After you log in, you “drop” in on other people’s blogs. See the little square in the sidebar with “Get One” under it (it says “Drop” if you are signed into Entrecard). That is an “ad for another Entrecard-er’s blog. You can advertise on other blogs with credits earned. The more drops you do, the more credits you get.

The way that you know who has dropped in on you is by the drops inbox. I usually hit everyone at least once that has been into my inbox. If I pass by another blog some other way – and I see an Entrecard, I always drop on it.

Some people are addicted, for me, many pages load slow, so I do it as I am typing or reading other things. What I do, is I visit my inbox, and I hold down the Ctrl key and click on about 5 drops. This opens each one in a new tab. I type or read as the pages load. I am doing it right now as I am writing this post… gee aren’t I clever. So I take a few minutes at a time to do this. If I were to wait on all pages to load, I would be really frustrated with it.

So I came across a post on Brownie Mom’s blog. It is about what blog has an article or post that makes you read more than just glance at the blog. I guess her blog wins, because I stopped and read it. I am not sure I will do this every Saturday, but I am doing it today. ⌣




Entrecard does increase blog traffic – I guess it depends on how many drops you can make. I definitely get more visitors the more I drop. I also reward droppers by displaying links of recent droppers over there ▬►

I even drop on a Wordpress blog, even though I don’t use it, who knows maybe we will find something useful to trade between us.

Now some Entrecard-ers like to play hide and seek with their Entrecard widget. I will tell you, if I cannot find it, I won’t be back, unless I just plain like your blog anyways :P

One of the coolest things about Entrecard, is it introduced me to Blog Catalog by accident. I saw one of those recent visitor’s box things and decided I wanted one…

I know this is not a “Be You Own Detective” kind of post, just think of it as how I investigated ways to get more blog traffic! There are all sorts of helpful things in the side bar or on my home page to help with that.

All else is good, thanks for stopping by and be safe!!

Free Public Records Search Links - No Catch!

I have made a free public records links page, that I have been working on for some time. I am still not happy with the layout - but this page is more about information than fluff. I will leave the link up - right underneath my feedburner subscribe link.

Speaking of feedburner, I didn't even realize that I have 11 subscribers! Wow, for a guy that has been averaging about 30 visits a day - wow, I know big woop - I say sarcastically, I have a pretty good loyal following. Now for my readers, I am not dissing you guys. I have worked hard at getting listed in directories, etc (more than 200) for exposure. Maybe it just takes time, but it does get a bit frustrating when I work hard at this blog, and my other blog gets all the ratings, credit and "google love." Ok, my pathetic numbers are probably gonna drive off a few of my faithful stopper-byers, but hey, I am honest.

Maybe I should be like 'Chell and start calling Google the anti-christ or something. All I know is my N/A-ed-ness at Google tends to annoy me. I know page rank isn't everything, but you would thing a search on stuff would point to this blog instead of the other one!

I guess I should take what I can get.

If the Super Duper free links page doesn't help you in your search, maybe you could try my net detective link above or the searchbox on the blog. Yeah they cost, but they are cheaper than a real live private eye.

Be Your Own Detective and Social Network With Blog Catalog

This is an odd post for Be Your Own Detective. This is kind-of-sort-of inspired by two folks over at Blog Catalog. One has a great post about how great Blog Catalog is.

The other is Jeunelle . She had asked me to be a guest blogger about social networking and such.

Disclaimer1:
I am not all that good at social networking, and I do not claim to be an expert.

That said, here is what I do know. Blog Catalog has helped me tweak this blog to be better than when I started, I have received help from fellow bloggers and enjoyed some increased blog traffic from fellow BC-ers.

So maybe, just maybe you don’t know what Blog Catalog is. Well if you scroll down my sidebar, you will see a bunch of little boxes with faces/pictures of fellow BC users that have visited my blog. It is almost a way to spy on them (hee hee). Hey, I had to get some kind of detective/spy thing running through here!

Anyways, robertstevenson explains it better in his post about how it all works, so go by and see it. Yes I crammed his name all together for a reason.

I have met several “blog friends” at Blog Catalog, and it has been very positive. Sometimes we get into all sorts of discussions, some are even actually useful.

So if you are a BC-er, stoop by a sec and leave a comment. If not, you may want to stop by BC.

Gee, now I feel like I need to have a second post about more social networking.

--- Now the only problem is all the folks that I have left out of this post from BC...