How to Select a Qualified Professional Investigator

• Licenses and Certifications

In most states, private investigators and/or their agencies must be licensed.  However, Colorado and Wyoming are not (also  MS, AK, SD and ID).  In the 2014 Colorado legislative session is again considering a reasonable mandatory licensure bill to replace the voluntary licensing program - which will also be repealed; either mandatory or no licensure will take place.  In Wyoming only the city of Cheyenne requires a license.  Please visit www.ColoradoLicensedPrivateInvestigators.com for updates and details. 

Like licensing, certifications require specific levels of education, training and experience.  Not all investigators carry special certifications; however, certifications are an indication of ability and professional standing that surpass licensing qualifications.

• Experience and Reputation

Ensure the agency and investigators have the education, training, skills and experience which are more likely to produce the results you expect and need.  This will also ensure that their work-product will stand up to the scrutiny of any legal challenge.

Subject Matter Expertise should be considered.  It is beneficial to seek and select investigators that have the respect and reputation amongst their peers to be selected to lecture, teach and author specifically on individual locates and related investigations.

• Reports and Affidavits

In general, and in consideration of disclosure and discovery issues, investigations should be concluded with a written report issued to the client detailing the findings.  In the event of further proceedings or legal challenge, the investigator must be willing to provide an affidavit detailing the process and investigative conclusions.  The willingness and ability to testify, as a fact witness or subject matter expert, should also be considered.

• Return on Investigation

All investigations are investments.  These must first be initially assessed by the client and investigator to determine, based upon their respective experiences, if the proposed assignment will likely be concluded with a positive Return on Investigation (ROI).  The ROI is the value of the investigation based upon the information provided, time and expenses, and results.

We hope you seriously consider our agency for your expert consultations and legal investigations in civil, criminal and probate litigation, with an emphasis on cases involving death and injury causation.  Please use this information sheet to assist in evaluating any investigative resource under consideration by your agency.

With kindest regards, Associates in Forensic Investigations, LLC

Dean A. Beers, CLI, CCDI – #PI-503
Board Certified Legal Investigator
Board Certified Criminal Defense Investigator
Certified in Medicolegal Death Investigations

Karen S. Beers, BSW, CCDI - #PI-502
Legal Investigator
Board Certified Criminal Defense Investigator
Certified in Medicolegal Death Investigations

Associates@Forensic-Investigators.com
(970) 480-7793

From our December 2012 newsletter at < AFI-LLC Newsletter - December 2012 >

IMPROVING YOUR MOBILE OFFICE INVESTIGATIONS AND ACTIVITIES?

Last month we began sharing some experiences from our RV travels. First, we offered that Autonet Mobile was a reliable mobile hot spot service. Unfortunately, the pricing plan shared with us in August was in error by their representative and it is very much not cost-effective. We have canceled our service.

We are looking for reliable and cost-effective hot spot service - any ideas?

RV life is different, and almost the same as being a professional investigator with the mobility we require. This month, storage and portable computing. But first, a communication tool we forgot to mention last month.

-- Toll-Free Numbers are not as essential as several years ago, but they may attract new clients. With Kall8 at  http://kall8.privateinvestigations.org you get several features, all online by you. One number can be your voice and fax, including voicemail and faxmail boxes with messages delivered to your email. You can program it to ring to any number, and also see who is calling. There is also a calling card feature - make inexpensive outgoing calls, identifying your toll-free number. There is no monthly minimum, only the low per-minute cost. You can also transfer (port) an existing number to Kall8. 

-- Portable Computing with netbooks, pads and tablets has grown in just the last two years since the major introduction of these devices. We started with using an Acer Netbook. Netbooks are handy for mobility if you have Windows based home or office PCs. This is reliable for mobile needs. But, when you are both mobile and stationary, with lots of travel - multiple devices is inconvenient. We recently opted for one device for our mobile, tablet and PC needs. The Lenovo Yoga is a Windows based PC ultrabook as light as netbook, sized to a laptop, as powerful as a desktop - and converts to a tablet. Wow - time savings with full function mobility.

-- Portable Storage is an absolute must in our profession. When traveling you have three considerations: 1) multiple computers; 2) online storage; 3) portable storage.

Network Attached Storage (NAS) is valuable if you have a stationary office. This provides external backup and online access to your records. When mobile, you may have to have multiple computers, and use remote access services to login to your office system. Our office is on wheels and with us, so that was not an option - but we'll address that next month. Multiple computers was how we initially started (as noted above). Using a netbook was easy when one of us was the passenger to work. But, transferring data to our desktop when stationary was too time consuming and troublesome. We solved that problem with our Lenovo PC/Tablets. We'll talk about networking your data next month.

Online storage is limited by access and bandwidth. If you have a Gmail account, the Drive is a good online storage. We don't use their suite of word processing, etc. due to limitations on bandwidth and access. We use DropBox at http://dropbox.privateinvestigations.org for online storage and transfer. You can download the app for your computer, tablets and phones - and set them up to synch between all devices. You can also choose to share a folder with another DropBox account - which automatically synchs their folder. This has been very helpful and time saving for us in our case consultations and reviews. If you have limited access or bandwidth, you may want to limit synching or temporarily use another solution.

For easy file transfer in your pocket, we recommend flash drives for easily transferring files between computers. This  Cruzer Flash Drive is a 128GB flash drive with installed programs for your mobile needs. For a more permanent solution, with portability, consider the Western Digital My Passport. This is a solid state USB drive - 1 Terabyte! You can plug this into your computer, network through your router, or use a network solution we'll talk about next month. This is about the size of a square hockey puck, so very portable - consider instead of a flash drive.

Watch our blog at www.MedicolegalPI.com for our mobile PI and travel tips.  For more information about what we use for our mobile needs, we feature these at http://amazon.PrivateInvestigations.org under 'Handy Gadgets'.

There are many opportunities to expand your skills, training and experience.  Some states and associations have continuing education requirements, so make sure you have that covered.

Here are a few we are familiar with...
-- Boston University Professional Investigation Program (www.professional.bu.edu/programs/professional-investigation/) -- the program director, Tom Shamshak, and the guy whose book it is developed from, Brandon Perron, are both good friends.  Terri Brindley, a PPIAC member that may be at the meeting, took the class.  Although I have seen the components, she can best answer about it.  This is probably the most complete package, and expensive.
-- Criminal Defense Investigation Training Council - www.defenseinvestigator.com.  This is Brandon Perron's group with several online studies.  This may be geared to criminal, but almost any investigative technique in the criminal field can be used in civil and others.  You will find in these studies that Brandon is passionate, almost beyond description.
-- PI Training (http://pitraining.privateinvestigations.org) -- Scott Harrell, who developed this course (very detailed) is also a good friend.  It is text-based, comprehensive and covers a lot of material for being in business.
-- PI Education (www.PIEducation.com) is also from Scott Harrell and has approved text-based CE approved courses on specific subjects.  Karen and I developed 'Death Investigations for Private Investigators' (www.MedicolegalDeathInvestigations.com) for him and are working on another course for PIs.  These are approved in 14 states that require CE.
-- S2 Safety & Intelligence Institute (http://S2Institute.privateinvestigations.org) -- the program director, Tim O'Rourke and several instructors are also good friends.  This is a unique experience - a blend of video instruction given with a presentation, a course manual is downloaded.  Most of these courses are approved and/or required by FL for licensing.
-- PI Institute of Training (http://www.piinstitute.com) -- the program director, Kelly Riddle, is another good friend.  These are inexpensive and approved for the CE in TX.

For books, go to http://pibooks.PrivateInvestigations.org.  These include some of the top picks, including those for various certification programs - they are the best of the best and written by the best of the best.  Of course, we have to include our own -- Practical Methods for Legal Investigations (CRC Press - www.PracticalMethodsForLegalInvestigations.com) and Professional Investigations:  Individual Locates, Backgrounds and Assets & Liabilities (self-published, now an eBook - www.ProfessionalLocateInvestigations.com and soon in softcover exclusively at www.PIBookStore.com, our friends Jimmie and Roe Mesis. 

The PI and attorney ethics chapter from our books is so important that it is free - http://ethics.forensic-investigators.com.

You will need a good method, easily adaptable, to manage your cases...
A good package for case management (not software - MS Word based and customizable) is The Case File (Paul Purcell -- yes, another good friend) developed this over 20 years ago and I tested the pilot out, still have and use it.  Paul also puts out a good marketing newsletter.  http://picasefile.privateinvestigations.org.

It is the policy of AFI-LLC to not officially make any political statements or endorsements as an agency.  In our line of work, it is hard not to think about death and injury causation - it is our subject matter expertise.

The mass murder of children and adults - students and faculty - at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT on December 14th 2012 is traumatizing to the general public.  We have extended our personal and professional condolences.  We cannot know or understand the trauma this tragedy of one deranged person has caused - from the victims to families, from faculty to emergency responders, and the community at large.  Similarly, we cannot offer a uniform and single solution to an empirical problem that is like the hydra - a monster of many heads.

In death investigation, you must determine the underlying event that triggered the series of events leading to, and finally causing, the fatality.  As an example, a person became intoxicated at an establishment after work, got behind the wheel of his vehicle and began his drive home on a road well known to him.  Being impaired, he did not stop at a stop sign and proceeded through the intersection, being struck by a vehicle that was exceeding the speed limit.  The driver of the impacting vehicle was not seatbelted and was pronounced at the scene.  The intoxicated driver was transported to the local hospital with serious injuries, and released at a future date.

This, and similar scenarios are very common - one of the most common causes of death in our country.  This scenario may seem simple to many - a drunk driver.  However, the Cause of Death would likely be blunt force trauma as a result of being the unrestrained driver of a vehicle in a motor vehicle collision.  The other contributing factor, the motor vehicle collision, was first initiated by an impaired driver who did not obey a traffic control device.  What are the other issues in this scenario?  Drinking until intoxicated at an establishment, driving while intoxicated, disobeying a stop sign; followed by an unrestrained driver who was speeding.  Were it not for the first event - being intoxicated, in can be said that the intoxicated driver would have likely stopped at the stop sign on the road he frequently traveled.  It can also be said that the other driver would not have received the fatal injuries were he not speeding and were he restrained.  The criminal and civil courts will sort out who is responsible and to what degree (contributory negligence).  The concept is that several factors contribute to one event, each requiring separate analysis and unemotional solutions.  Just as one tragedy impacts many, each of those are different in cause and effect.

Specific to shootings, there are several contributing factors - but you must start at the beginning, with the attacker, and work to the end of the traumatic event.  There are countless considerations - from mental status of the attacker, to premeditation and access to weapons.  From there it begins at the location - from security to the reactive protocol of the occupants.  An active shooter is someone that is free to kill until stopped.  Once armed, the next goal is entry to the facility, followed by their destructive actions until stopped and/or the victims evacuate otherwise protect themselves.  In the course of the active shooting, what protocols are in place to prevent, deter, warn, evacuate and defend?  Should tire spikes be at the property entrance to prevent unauthorized vehicles?  Should the facility be secured to a higher level?  Is there a warning system - similar to a fire alarm - to concurrently warn the occupants and local law enforcement (just as your home and business alarms do)?  Is it better to contain the occupants or evacuate?  Is it better to contain the shooter or not?  Should the facility be under armed protection?  Our federal buildings are protected, but our most precious - our children, are not.

What about gun control by legislation?  Usually the first reaction to such tragic events of injuries and death is to legislate, ban or otherwise control firearms is nothing short of an emotional, personal and subjective in manner or intent.  As an analogy, based on our experience, the most controlled and regulated product in our country are prescription drugs.  The abuse and illicit use of prescription drugs are on the rise - and more frightening, the deaths from the abuse and illicit use of prescription drugs are higher than the rise in use.  The abuse of a prescription drug is the use outside of the directed dosage.  The illicit use of a prescription drug is the acquisition and use by a person for whom that drug has not been prescribed.  Youths take them from their parents medicine cabinet, college kids buy and sell them, and adults do the same - no one is immune, and they are seen as 'harmless' because they are prescription medications (as opposed to drugs).  From manufacture to distribution, from the doctor writing the prescription to the consumer and the pharmacy - complete regulation and control.  Yet, the abuse and  illicit use resulting deaths rise.  Our position of this analogy, like the motor vehicle collision example above, is that the the multi-headed hydra monster does not have a single issue or solution.

What of more control and regulation of firearms?  Has it been or would it be effective?  A mass shooting is defined by the FBI as a single shooting incident in which four or more people are killed.  If five are injured and one killed, not a mass shooting.  If the shooter kills one, two or three - before killing himself or being stopped, not a mass shooting.  So, to stop 'mass shootings' one needs to only reduce the number of incident deaths to three or less.  The goal would be to stop them before any deaths - but if there is a delay in recognizing the threat, warning of the threat, reporting the threat and then finally addressing the threat - the incident could be several minutes and victims.  Each of these steps need addressed.  What of the mental status of the attacker?  With the defunding of mental health treatment and institutions over the years, many that need this help are not getting it - and are left to self-regulate and self-medicate their debilitating disease.  It cannot be relied upon that they will see a mental health professional, get their medications or take them as prescribed.

Finally, federal law prohibits a person that has been treated or is being treated for a mental health issue to purchase or possess a firearm (this is a synopsis).  When did the rise in mass shootings and access to firearms begin to rise?  After the above referenced defunding mental heath programs and institutions in the 1980s and 1990s.  Because there is no history of treatment or institutionalizing for the high percentage of those afflicted, it is left to the judgment of the firearms seller to complete the transaction or not - they have that discretion and use it.  Moreover, most of the firearms used are not purchased, and if so not near the date of the incident - they have either been stolen or owned for a long period of time.  Related to this, 'cooling off periods' are proven ineffective.  Recent studies support that that the instruments used to kill are also multi-headed hydras:  "suicide, murder and violent crime rates are determined by basic social, economic and/or cultural factors with the availability of any particular one of the world’s myriad deadly instrument being irrelevant” Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy [Vol. 30 No. 2 Spring 2007]   649 - 694

So, what of an armed person at a school or other public building or business?  The issue of training and protocols, etc., are very important, to be addressed another day.  What of the concept of an appropriate and effective immediate reaction to stop the imminent threat?  Let's look at some examples in our history:

Mass Killings Stopped by Armed Citizens
There are several documented cases where armed citizens have stopped mass attacks by gunmen. Let me list a few: The Pearl, Mississippi school shooting was stopped by the vice principal Joel Myrick with a Colt .45, The Appalachian School shooting was stopped by two students with handguns. Both of the above incidents were stopped by the armed citizens threatening the shooter without firing. Pearl High School link
Appalachian Law School link

Plans to slay everyone in the Muskegon, Michigan, store and steal enough cash and jewelry to feed their "gnawing hunger for crack cocaine" fell apart for a band of would-be killers after one of their victims fought back.
Muskegon Shooting link

The mass church shooting in Colorado Springs was stopped by the shooter being shot by a church member with a CCW permit.
New Life Church link

The Santa Clara gunshop shooting in 1999 was stopped by an armed citizen after the shooter declared that he was going to kill everyone. Police found a list of intended victims in his car. Only the perpetrator, Richard Gable Stevens was shot.
Santa Clara Gunshop link

The December, 1991, Aniston, Alabama defense where a CCW holder stopped armed robbers who were herding employees, customers, and his wife into a cooler. He shot both robbers, killing one.
Aniston Shoney's Shooting link

July 13, 2009, in Virginia at the Golden Food Market: The gunman tried to shoot several people, was stopped by a CCW carrier.
Golden Food Market Shooting link

Just recently, in Early Texas, armed citizen Vic Stacy shot and stopped a deranged man who had just murdered two neighbors and was firing at police with a rifle. Stacy made a very long shot with his revolver, three times as far as the perpetrator was from the police officer, who had an AR-15 type rifle.
Early Texas Peach House Shooting link

What Were Not Mass Shootings?
Abraham Dickman had a history of anger against employees of the AT&T store in New York Mills, New York. On May 27, 2010, he walked into the store with a .357 and a list of six employees. He shot the first employee, but was stopped from further attacks when Donald J. Moore, an off duty police officer who was allowed to carry his own handgun when not on duty, drew and fired his .40 caliber, killing Mr. Dickman before he could fire any more shots.
AT&T store link

College Park, GA, May 4, 2009.

Two gunman entered a party and ordered the men separated from the women. Then they started counting bullets. “The other guy asked how many (bullets) he had. He said he had enough,” said Bailey.

When one of the assailants prepared to rape a girl, a student was able to access a handgun and engage the two attackers in a firefight, driving one off and killing the other before the thug could rape his girlfriend.

“I think all of us are really cognizant of the fact that we could have all been killed,” said Bailey.
College Park link

Another off duty police officer stopped the Trolley Square shooting with his personal handgun. He stopped the killing and contained the shooter until police reinforcements arrived and ended the situation.
Trolley Square Shooting link

Winnemucca NV shooting, 25 May, 2008

The shooter, Ernesto Villagomez, entered the Players Bar and Grill and killed two people. He reloaded and was continuing to shoot when a citizen with a concealed carry permit shot him and stopped the killing.
Winnemuca Shooting link

Parker Middle School Dance Shooting

14 year-old Andrew Jerome Wurst Killed one person and wounded three others when he was confronted by James Strand who subdued Wurst with a shotgun and held him until police arrived.
Parker Middle School Dance Shooting link

Destiny Christian Center Shooting, April 24, 2012

Kiarron Parker rammed his car into another in the church parking lot, got out and attempted to kill multiple church members. He was only able to kill one before a member of the congregation, the nephew of the lady killed, and an off duty police officer, drew his handgun and shot Parker, stopping the killing.
Destiny Christian Center Shooting link

Tyler Courthouse shooting, 2005 While police officers were involved in this shooting before and after Mark Alan Wilson intervened, no more people were killed after he shot the shooter, who had body armor, and who was able to return fire and kill the CCW holder, Wilson.
Tyler Courthouse Shooting link

The above list is from a colleague, who did not otherwise contribute to this blog.  The relevance of the list is to demonstrate the option of being personally armed.

Unfortunately this is the time of year in which suicides increase. Please read and share this article by Karen concerning this tragedy and might help a loved one and save a life:  "Understanding Suicide and its Prevention"

This was first published 12/17/2012 on our blog and in conjunction with our friends at Pursuit Magazine.  It is not something anyone wants to think about - at any time of year - but there is an escalation in these tragedies - homicides, suicides and homicide / suicide incidents.

The New Year is quickly approaching, and let us all hope for a better year.  Even if your year was great, it doesn’t hurt to strive for better.  Life can be extremely hard on us, and some have a more difficult time coping than others.

Although the Christmas/Holiday season is a joyous time, people still have a hard time coping with the let down, the bills, the broken relationships and even the beginning of a New Year.  While some people look to the future on a positive note, others see only dread and feel overwhelmed with the sense of “here we go again”.

Many people know how burdensome life can be; many have struggled with depression and the feelings of despair.  While most people are able to seek the help they need, others feel the help just isn’t there, and nobody would understand them anyway.

Our agency has been conducting equivocal death investigations since 2002, and in this time frame we have seen more suicide deaths than any other deaths.  We have compiled the information contained in this article to assist in educating people on some of the aspects surrounding suicide deaths.

Suicide has no boundaries and it does not matter what age, race, ethnicity, sex gender, sexual orientation, career status, monetary status or where you live; it can strike at any given moment.  Those who believe suicide affects only certain types of people have been living with their heads buried in a fantasy of beliefs, not reality.

We have seen time and time again similarities between suicides even though the mechanism used may be different.  The list of questions goes beyond what is listed here, however a few of the repeated statements we have seen are as follows < click here for full article on PursuitMag.com > (Understanding Suicide and its Prevention - Equivocal Death Investigations).

**********
Karen S. Beers, BSW, CCDI, earned her Bachelor's in Social Work from Colorado State University (Magna Cum Laude).  She is a Colorado Licensed Private Investigator (#PI-502) and also a Certified Criminal Defense Investigator (CCDI) and certified in Medicolegal Death Investigations.  Her background, education and experience with victim advocacy and counseling are valuable assets in working with families and victims of traumatic events.

As a death investigator Karen was involved in the investigations of all manners of deaths and incidents, training under three Forensic Pathologists.  From 2004-2006 she investigated and assisted with numerous death cases and scenes, and assisted with forensic autopsies.

Following graduation from Colorado State University was an extensive internship at a youth counseling and rehabilitation facility.  She is also a member of the Criminal Defense Investigations Training Council.  Karen has been professionally published with 'The Basics of an Autopsy Report' (PI Magazine, Dec 2011) and 'Understanding Suicide and its Prevention – Equivocal Death Investigations' (PursuitMag.com, Dec 2011), ‘False Confessions and Accusations’ (PursuitMag.com, Feb 2012).  With Dean she co-developed 'Death Investigation for Private Investigators', an online continuing education course for www.PIEducation.com.

Karen is a member of the Criminal Defense Investigation Training Council and the National Defender Investigator Association.

One of the best selling investigative books available and a valuable resource addition to every investigator's library!

The legal investigator provides checks and balances to ensure that no evidence is being forced upon a theory, and that no theory is being forced upon the evidence. Practical Methods for Legal Investigations: Concepts and Protocols in Civil and Criminal Cases presents legal investigators with a step-by-step process that reveals how to methodically find and report evidence in every aspect of the investigative process.

Dean’s Investigative Protocol is designed to find the facts that prove or disprove criminal charges, civil allegations, or elements thereof. The book includes case studies that clearly detail how the process of the Investigative Protocol applies to every assignment of the case and to the case as a whole. Comprehensive and methodical, the system provides a map to the truth.

www.PracticalMethodsForLegalInvestigations.com and save 20% with this discount code - 083MA

This is the promotional video that we filmed at Mount Rushmore for Dean's book.  We thought it was the right place! 

'Practical Methods for Legal Investigations: Concepts and Protocols in Civil and Criminal Cases'

Last month we began sharing some experiences from our RV experience.  First, we offered that Autonet Mobile was a reliable mobile hot spot service.  Unfortunately, the pricing plan they shared with us in August was in error by their representative and it is very much not cost-effective.  We have canceled our service.  We are looking for reliable and cost-effective hot spot service.

RV life is different, and almost the same as being a professional investigator with the mobility we require.  This month, storage and portable computing.  But first, a communication tool we forgot to mention last month.

-- Toll-Free Numbers are not as essential as several years ago, but they may attract new clients.  With Kall8 you get several features, all online by you.  One number can be your voice and fax, including voicemail and faxmail boxes with messages delivered to your email.  You can program it to ring to any number, and also see who is calling.  There is also a calling card feature – make inexpensive outgoing calls, identifying your toll-free number.  There is no monthly minimum, only the low per-minute cost.  You can also transfer (port) an existing number to Kall8. 

-- Portable Computing with netbooks, pads and tablets has grown in just the last two years since the major introduction of these devices.  We started with using an Acer NetBook.  Netbooks are handy for mobility if you have Windows based home or office PCs.  This is reliable for mobile needs.  But, when you are both very mobile and very stationary, with lots of travel – multiple devices is inconvenient.  We recently opted for one device for our mobile, tablet and PC needs.  The Lenovo Yoga is a Windows based PC ultrabook that converts to tablet and is as light as netbook sized to a laptop as powerful as a desktop – and converts to a tablet.  Wow – time savings with full function mobility.


-- Portable Storage is an absolute must in our profession.  When traveling you have three consideration:  1) multiple computers; 2) online storage; 3) portable storage.

Network Attached Storage (NAS) is valuable if you have an stationary office.  This provides external backup and also online access to your records.  When mobile, you may have to have multiple computers, and use remote access services to login to your office system.  Our office is on wheels and with us, so that was not an option – but we’ll address that next month.  Multiple computers was how we initially started (as noted above).  Using a netbook was easy when one of us was the passenger to work.  But, transferring data to our desktop when stationary was too time consuming and troublesome.  We solved that problem with our Lenovo PC/Tablets.

Online storage is limited by access and bandwidth.  If you have a Gamil account, the Drive is a good online storage.  We don’t use their suite of word processing, etc. due to limitations on bandwidth and access.  We use DropBox for online storage and transfer.  You can download the app for your computer, tablets and phones – and set them up to synch between all devices.  You can also choose to share a folder with another DropBox account – which automatically synchs their folder.  This has been very helpful and time saving for us in our case consultations and reviews.  If you have limited access or bandwidth, you may want to limit synching or temporarily use another solution.

For easy file transfer in your pocket, we recommend flash drives for easily transferring files between computers.  This Cruzer Flash Drive is a 128GB flash drive with installed programs for your mobile needs.  For a more permanent solution, with portability, consider the Western Digital My Passport.  This is a solid state USB drive - 1 TeraByte!  You can plug this into your computer, or networked through your router.  This is about the size of square hockey puck, so very portable - consider instead of a flash drive.

Watch our blog at www.MedicolegalPI.com for our mobile PI and travel tips.  For more information about what we use for our mobile needs, we feature these at http://amazon.PrivateInvestigations.org under 'Handy Gadgets'.


About Dean and Karen:
Dean and Karen are full-time RV Investigators (Team Beers) with their office based in Colorado.

Dean is a subject matter expert in the areas of death investigation and personal injury causation. He is the only Board Certified Legal Investigator (CLI) in northern Colorado, a faculty consultant and Certified Criminal Defense Investigator (CCDI) and is also a certified Medicolegal Death Investigator.  He continues to speak extensively on investigative techniques and principles and has authored multiple peer-reviewed white papers, and self-published "Professional Investigations:  Individual Locates, Backgrounds and Assets & Liabilities" and recently published "Practical Methods for Legal Investigations" (CRC Press)  He currently consults nationwide as an expert in criminal defense homicide and civil equivocal death investigations.

Karen has been a Legal Investigator and research specialist, since 1996. She has a Bachelor's in Social Work from Colorado State University (Magna Cum Laude) and in 2011 earned the designation  Certified Criminal Defense Investigator (CCDI).  Together they operate Associates in Forensic Investigations, LLC.  In addition to her skilled interactions with troubled youths, she trained and worked as a Deputy Coroner at the Larimer County Medical Examiner's Office.  This background provides essential skills and knowledge in their Personal Injury, Negligence and Death investigations and consultations in Colorado and nationally.  In addition, she has written for prominent professional investigation journals and was instrumental in the revisions and contributions to both agency books, as well as the co-development of "Death Investigations for Private Investigators" for PIEducation.com