Posted by Bill on May 11, 2008
Virginia Clerks of the Courts are scanning court records allowing electronic access to court documents normally seen only in the paper file in the clerk’s office. Lawyers have expressed concern about their client’s personal information in the court records will be seen by anyone on the Internet.
Read the whole story here: Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Bill Lowrance
President Piava
Information Insights Inc.
Posted in Investigations, Public Records, Research, Virginia, attorneys, lawyers, private detective, private investigations, private investigator, private investigators | Tagged: Circuit Clerks, court records, digital records, Investigations, private investigators, Public Records, Virginia | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on May 10, 2008
A recent read of BBC News reveals that the Italian outgoing government published every Italian citizens declared earnings and tax contributions. Well, as you might guess there was a public “negative” response and the information was taken down after being on the tax authority’s web site for 24 hours.
Probably the most sacred information to Americans is tax return information. It is a grievance felony to release tax return information without proper authority. Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 6103 provides that all tax return information is confidential, private and may not be released or disclosed without specific statutory authority. The IRS cannot turn over tax return information to anyone, government or private sector, without following specific procedures and statutory provisions.
There are certain exceptions and situations allowing the IRS to release tax return information.
However, there are important exceptions that you should be aware of.
IRC 6103(d) provides that return information may be shared with state agencies responsible for tax administration. The state agency must request this information in writing, and the request must be signed by an official designated to request tax information. It should be noted that the IRS and almost all states have signed memorandum of agreements relating to specific enforcement programs.
IRC 6103(i)(1) provides that, pursuant to court order, return information may be shared with law enforcement agencies for investigation and prosecution of non-tax criminal laws.
IRC 6103(k)(6) allows the IRS to make limited disclosures of return information in the course of official tax administration investigations to third parties if necessary to obtain information that is not otherwise reasonably available.
IRC 6103(l)(1) provides that return information related to taxes imposed under chapters 2, 21, and 24 may be disclosed to the Social Security Administration (SSA) as needed to carry out its responsibilities under the Social Security Act. Chapter 2 relates to self-employment income and does not normally concern employers. Chapter 21 concerns social security and Medicare (FICA) tax, and chapter 24 deals with income tax withholding.
The IRS may therefore share information with SSA about social security and Medicare tax liability if necessary to establish the taxpayer’s liability. This provision does not allow the IRS to disclose your tax information to SSA for any other reason. SSA employees who receive this information are bound by the same confidentiality rules as IRS employees. Therefore, they generally cannot disclose the information to state social security administrators, state officials or other Federal agencies.
IRC 6103(e)(6) and (c) provide for disclosures to powers of attorney and other designees. If you are notified of an audit by the IRS, you may want to have someone other than the authorized officer of your entity represent you or participate in the meeting. You may bring any individual you wish into the discussion, in person or by telephone. You may give oral consent to speak with a third party if necessary to resolve a Federal tax matter. However, oral consent does not substitute for a power of attorney or a legal designation, and the discussion is limited to the issue for which the consent is given.
Well, so much for the highly technical aspects of the Internal Revenue Code. Have you read it?
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights Inc., McLean, VA
Posted in FOIA, Investigations, PI Chatter, attorneys, lawyers, private detective, private investigations, private investigator, private investigators | Tagged: confidentiality, Internal Revenue Code, Investigations, IRS, private investigators, taxes | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on May 8, 2008
Our good friends, Jimmie and Rosemarie Mesis, publishers of Click Here PI Mag, recently mailed out the June PI Magazine issue. Most everyone knows PI Magazine is the best international publication about professional investigators. PIAVA got a very good posting of PIAVA’s news for the last few months. If you do not subscribe to Click Here PI Mag, the leading international professional investigators magazine, you should do so.
Hal Hendershot, one of our members and a computer forensics expert at Crucial Security, Chantilly, VA, was featured in a photo above our news article–a very good picture too.
Further, PI Mag published two short articles written by PIAVA President, Bill Lowrance.
PIAVA had a good day in public relations yesterday.
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights Inc., McLean, VA
Posted in Investigations, PI Chatter, PIAVA, Virginia, private detective, private investigations, private investigator, private investigators | Tagged: Investigations, PI Magazine, private investigations, private investigator | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on May 1, 2008
Smile because soon everywhere you travel, even through airports, you will be under surveillance. Washington, DC, announced today implementation, Read Surveillance Camera Story, of an around the clock monitered camera surveillance system (up to 5000 cameras). The camera feed will go to the central office of the DC Homeland Security to be monitored by people. Of course, no one knows who will be monitoring, when, how or what. Will some errant monitor peek into your apartment window? There are serious concerns by some DC Council members about lack of planning, security and privacy.
The story points out that NYC and Chicago have 3000 and 6000 cameras, respectively, out there monitoring activity. Right now most security cameras are pointed to public areas in various parts of the cities. Will cameras soon be placed in residential neighborhoods? Personally, I do not want one on my street.
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Posted in Investigations, PI Chatter, PIAVA, crime, law enforcement, police, private detective, private investigations, private investigators, surveillance | Tagged: Chicago, DC, Homeland Security, Investigations, NYC, private investigators, security, surveillance | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 27, 2008
Most private investigators conduct surveillance (see wikipedia surveillance) in various types of cases. Probably the two most common types of cases needing surveillance are divorces and workers compensation cases. Surveillance may play a role in many types of cases from crimes to background investigations.
In a normal case, a private investigator will plan and organize a surveillance before actually going on site to begin. To conduct a professional surveillance, the investigator must identify the subject, gather background information (names, addresses, car registration, friends names & addresses, hobbies etc), visit and map out the surveillance site, determine the best time and place for the job, check out equipment making sure it works, provide backup equipment and batteries and gather the essentials to carry while on the job.
In most cases, the investigator records the surveillance with digital photography, either still or video. In every surveillance, the professional investigator will know and observe federal and state laws relating to a person’s privacy. For example, in Virginia there is a law against stalking. VA Code 18.2-60.3.
The stalking statue prohibits engaging a person and placing the person in reasonable fear of death, criminal sexual assault or bodily injury. The law provides an exception for law enforcement officers and private investigators licensed in Virginia. The knowledgeable Virginia private investigator knows that his or her surveillance will not violate the stalking statute.
In addition, Virginia has a statute prohibiting the unlawful filming, videotaping or photographing of another person (VA Code 18.2-386.1). One of the principles of the statute is to protect ones reasonable expectation of privacy. Under this statute, it is unlawful to photograph someone, without their consent, if the person is in a dressing room, bathroom, bedroom, or some other location where one expects privacy.
So, it appears that surveillance photos are within legal parameters as long as such photos or video do not violate a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy.
Thanks to Legal Andrew.com we have some references to more reading on a photographers right to take photos, see Bert Krages Article, an article by Bert Krages, Portland attorney, and his book Legal Handbook for Photographers.
In the meantime, keep taking snaps legally.
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights Inc., McLean, VA
Posted in Investigations, PIAVA, attorneys, law enforcement, lawyers, police, private detective, private investigations, private investigators, surveillance | Tagged: digital photography, privacy, private investigators, stalking, surveillance, video, Virginia | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 23, 2008
From VA Lawyers Weekly
The Issue: “Whether VA police officer violates the Fourth Amendment by making an arrest based on probable cause but prohibited by state law.”
A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the illegality of a search under Virginia law does not require the suppression of evidence seized during the search.
Writing for the court in Virginia v. Moore, Justice Antonin Scalia said in that the high court long has held that probable cause to arrest justifies a search. Virginia is free to make exclusion of evidence seized in violation of Virginia Code Sect. 19.2-74(A)(1) a remedy for an arrest that is illegal under state law but allowed by the Fourth Amendment, Scalia said. The state has not done so, however, and the Fourth Amendment cannot be used as a remedy for an act that does not violate the constitution, he wrote.
The case from Portsmouth involved the arrest of David Lee Moore on a charge of driving without an operator’s license, a misdemeanor for which state law required his release on a summons. Although the attorney general’s office conceded that he was arrested in violation of state law, it contended that the search did not violate the Fourth Amendment because police had probable cause to search Moore. The search produced 16 grams of crack cocaine and $516 in cash. Moore was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights Inc., McLean, VA
Posted in Investigations, PIAVA, Virginia, attorneys, crime, law enforcement, lawyers, police, private detective, private investigations, private investigators | Tagged: criminal law, drugs, Fourth Amendment, police, private investigations, search and seizure | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 22, 2008
A federal appeals court, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that a search of a laptop computer’s hard drive and contents is acceptable under the fourth amendment of the US Constitution even if special agents with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had no reasonable suspicion of a crime or criminal activity.
The unlucky defendant in this case arrived at LA International Airport after a twenty-four hour flight from the Philippines. A Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer saw the defendant standing in line and asked him where he traveled and the purpose of his travel. The guy told CBP that he had been in the Philippines for three weeks visiting friends. CBP found a laptop, flash drive, separate hard drives and several compact discs in his luggage. Unfortunately for this guy, CBP booted the laptop and found a couple of files on the desktop labeled “Kodak Pictures” and “Kodak Memories.” Being curious, the CBP officer opened the files finding images of what they believed was child pornography.
ICE agents were called in and they questioned the guy and examined his laptop for several hours. ICE seized the laptop and equipment, but let the guy go on to his destination. Two weeks later, he was indicted by a federal grand jury for various interstate child pornography charges.
The defendant argued reasonable suspicion was required to search his laptop at the border because it is distinguishable from other containers of documents based on its ability to store greater amounts of information and “its unique role in modern life.” He argued that “laptop computers are fundamentally different from traditional closed containers,” and analogizes them to “homes” and the “human mind.” Arnold’s analogy of a laptop to a home is based on his conclusion that a laptop’s capacity allows for the storage of personal documents in an amount equivalent to that stored in one’s home. He argues that a laptop is like the “human mind” because of its ability to record ideas, e-mail, internet chats and web-surfing habits.
This was a great legal argument, but to no avail. The Ninth Circuit did not buy it and correctly set out the law of border searches. Almost anything goes except some bodily instrusions, but not all.
The lesson learned is “do not break the law” and more importantly know that your laptop or other storage devices are subject to search when coming into the US from overseas. In fact, the courts have ruled that you must turn over any password to allow a search.
Read the opinion Click Here
Read a summary of the story and case Here at Law.com
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights Inc., McLean, VA
Posted in Investigations, PI Chatter, PIAVA, crime, police, private detective, private investigations, private investigators | Tagged: border searches, CBP, computers, DHS, ICE, laptop, Ninth Circuit, pornography, private investigations, search warrant | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 18, 2008
Congressman Bennie Thompson, D-MS, is chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Congressman Thompson is publishing a newsletter on information for contracting opportunities with DHS.
He states:
In this edition of the newsletter, you will find information on existing opportunities with the Department,
the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR), and the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA).
I began this newsletter to alleviate the gap that exists between the need for information about opportunities available at the Department and the ability to locate and disseminate that information in a timely and user-friendly manner. Similarly, my experience has taught me that the gap between need and ability also affects businesses in their quest to interact with the Department. A small business owner may have a concept for a product that will address an important homeland security need, but lack the resources necessary to bring
the product on-line. A large company may not have developed the original concept, but may possess the resources necessary to transform a prototype into an available product. The gap between concept and production can be bridged by providing each party with the type of information they need to create a product that fills a critical need.
This newsletter is intended to bridge the gaps that keep information unavailable, sidelines worthwhile businesses, discourages full participation, and permits vulnerabilities to continue.
DHS Newsletter April 08
DHS Newsletter March 08
Thanks to bespacific for this tip.
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights, Inc. McLean, VA
Posted in Investigations, PI Chatter, contracts, private detective, private investigations, private investigators | Tagged: Congress, contracts, Department of Homeland Security, private investigations, security | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 15, 2008
Many private investigators, amateur & professional, spend many hours looking for people. Professional investigators need to find witnesses for court cases, adoptions, heirs and many other reasons.
Many individuals look for old friends, classmates, or other people they knew in the past.
Here is an interesting web site by Marcus Zillman giving many resources on the Internet for Finding People.
While you explore the finding people site, check out his Virtual Private Library™.
This is another information source worth exploring.
More posts will come up today, I hope.
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights, Inc. McLean, VA
Posted in Investigations, PIAVA, Public Records, Research, private detective, private investigators | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 14, 2008
PIAVA’s monthly meeting is scheduled for April 16, 2008, in Northern Virginia.
This month we have as a speaker Kevin Peterson who is Vice Chair of the ASIS Information Asset Protection Council. He is principal and co-owner of Innovative Protection Solutions, www.innovativeprotection.com, and he is a Certified Protection Professional with over 20 years of experience in Federal Government and commercial environments. ASIS is the largest organization for security professionals, with more than 35,000 members worldwide. He will be talking about ASIS, in general, its HQ here in Alexandria, VA, the research facilities in the library at the ASIS HQ, and about the benefits of being an ASIS member.
PIAVA members start arriving at the meeting location about 6:30 p.m. for social networking. We sit down for dinner about 7 p.m. Our meeting and speaker begin about 7:30 p.m. If anyone is interested in attending the meeting as a guest, please e-mail or call me at the information in upper left corner of this page.
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights Inc., McLean, VA
Posted in PI Chatter, PIAVA, private detective, private investigations, private investigators | Tagged: meeting, PI Chatter, PIAVA, PIAVA members, private investigators | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 12, 2008
This is a great article about social networks. by Nelson Doyle, a high tech blogger. Learn all you want to know. BTW, research in social networks often turns up much needed information for investigators. Click here: Social Networks
Also, check out social networks “bookmarking” groups at Social-Bookmarking Communities
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Posted in Investigations, Research, private detective, private investigations, private investigators | Tagged: bookmarking, Investigations, private investigators, Research, social networks | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 12, 2008
When and if any of us get to a situation in which we need a lawyer, how do you choose one? Of course, you want an attorney that will represent your interests and fight for you. In Oregon there are at least two attorneys who will fight for their clients. You can read the whole story here: Oregon Live Story
The first few lines of the story are:
“There are plenty of fights between attorneys in the Multnomah County courthouse every day, but rarely do they include actual blows.
That’s why jaws dropped last week when two attorneys duked it out in a first-floor hallway in front of a crowd of spectators, including a few county sheriff’s deputies and Portland traffic cops.
Attorneys David Lawrence and Aaron Matusick had been in landlord-tenant court Thursday for a hearing and began shouting at each other when they left the courtroom, according to witnesses and officials who investigated the fight.”
Hey, that’s my lawyer!
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Posted in Investigations, attorneys, lawyers, private detective, private investigations, private investigators | Tagged: court, fight, Investigations, lawyers, private investigators | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 8, 2008
Posted in Investigations, Public Records, Research, attorneys, lawyers, private detective, private investigations, private investigators | Tagged: Canada, databases, Investigations, private investigators, Research | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 8, 2008
Posted in Investigations, attorneys, law enforcement, lawyers, private detective, private investigations, private investigators, surveillance | Tagged: data mining, Investigations, law, privacy, private investigators, surveillance | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 8, 2008
LLRX.Com, llrx.com, has posted a very good article on new legal challenges to fingerprint evidence. The article is by Ken Strutin (JD, MLS) who is an experienced law librarian, criminal defense attorney, and well-known writer and speaker. Mr. Strutin is the Director of Legal Information Services at the New York State Defenders Association.
He lists many legal resources, case law and fingerprint standards located on the Web. The next time you are confronted with potential fingerprint evidence think about admissiblibity of such evicence.
Click here Fingerprint Evidence
See a counter view at Reliability of Fingerprint Identification
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights Inc., McLean, VA
Posted in Investigations, Research, attorneys, crime, law enforcement, lawyers, police, private detective, private investigators | Tagged: admissible evidence, courts, evidence, fingerprints, private investigations, private investigators | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 7, 2008
Sabrina Pacific, publisher of llrx.com, recently updated her “Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide.” The Guide has links to dozens of research areas from search engines to webstie trackers. If you do research to find information on the internet, check this out: CI Guide
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights Inc., McLean, VA
Posted in Investigations, PI Chatter, PIAVA, Public Records, Research, attorneys, lawyers, private detective, private investigations, private investigators | Tagged: competitive intelligence, Investigations, private investigator, Research | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 7, 2008
One of the best public records online search systems is SearchSystems.net. We have a link to Search Systems in the left column. Search Systems says it has the “largest, most up-to-date and reliable directory of public records and best resource for background checks and criminal records on the Internet. Online since 1997 and ranked Number for public records since 2001, SearchSystems.net continues to be by far the best resource of business information, corporate filings, property records, deeds, mortgages, criminal and civil court filings, inmates, offenders, births, deaths, marriages, unclaimed property, professional licenses, and much more. Easy access to billions of records!”
Recently, Search Systems put up a Criminal Records Search Guide on its web site. See Criminal Records Search Guide.
The Guide contains a lot of good information about criminal records such as how and where you find them, catagories of records, searches for records and the truth about a national criminal records search. If you need to search a lot of public records, sign up for a SearchSystems.net account.
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights Inc., McLean, VA
Posted in Investigations, PI Chatter, PIAVA, Public Records, Research, attorneys, fraud, lawyers, private detective, private investigations, private investigators | Tagged: criminal records, Investigations, private investigators, Public Records, Research | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 5, 2008
PIAVA member and vice president, Ed Hruneni, vice president of Investigative Services, American Security Programs, is having a private investigator continuing education program on investigating insurance fraud. PIAVA member, Ken Mitzkovitz of Detect Inc. in Alexandria, VA, will present a two hour program in his speciality–insurance fraud investigations.
Ken has over 22 years of investigative experience primarily related to insurance investigations. Ken will also give great tips on conducting a surveillance in insurance investigations. Attend this program and learn how to prepare a fraud investigation.
The program will be on Saturday, April 19, 2008, 10 a.m. until noon, at American Security Programs, 22900 Shaw Road, Dulles, VA 20166. The cost is $35 per person. To register call 703 834 8900 or email hr at securityprograms.com.
See insurance-investigations flyer.
Also see “Red Flags” of Insurance Fraud Insurance Fraud–Red Flags
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights Inc.,
McLean, VA
Posted in Investigations, PIAVA, crime, fraud, private detective, private investigations, private investigators | Tagged: fraud, insurance fraud, Investigations, private investigators, red flags | No Comments »
Posted by Bill on April 5, 2008
Ann Fourt, excellent PIAVA member and CPA, outlines tax changes for 2008.
There have been a number of changes in the tax law for 2008 that business owners and private investigators should be aware of. The following allowances or limits have changed beginning January 1, 2008:
The tangible property expense allowance (Section 179) dollar amount for assets purchased and placed in service during calendar year 2008 is increased to $250,000. This is an economic stimulus measure and dollar limit applies only to 2008 assets placed in service for business use. Section 179 is not applicable to automobiles or trucks and vans, but is available for most other tangible assets, such as furniture, computer equipment, cameras, microphones and surveillance gear, or other gear.
For calendar year 2008 only, there is a special first-year depreciation allowance totaling $10,960 for automobiles and $11,160 for trucks or vans purchased and placed in service in calendar year 2008.
The standard mileage allowance for business use of an automobile in 2008 increased to 50.5 cents from 48.5 cents in 2007. Be sure to keep contemporaneous records of your business and personal use mileage as your accountant will need to know the total mileage driven for each vehicle as well as the business mileage.
The self-employment earnings ceiling for Social Security tax is increased to $102,000 in 2008, breaking the $100,000 threshold for the first time. There remains no earnings ceiling on the Medicare tax.
Homeowners who lose a home to foreclosure in 2007, 2008 or 2009 may qualify for relief under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007. This Act allows taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of indebtedness on their principal residence that would otherwise be taxable. Lenders report the fair market value of the house and the amount of debt forgiven to the borrower and the IRS on Form 1099-C. Debt reduced through mortgage restructuring as well as debt forgiven in connection with a foreclosure qualifies for this relief. Up to $2 million of forgiven debt is eligible for this exclusion ($1 million if a married taxpayer files a separate return). Form 982, which the IRS began accepting electronically on March 3, is used to claim the exclusion benefit. The rules are complicated, so consult your tax advisor for further information.
Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
Information Insights Inc.
McLean, VA
Posted in Investigations, PI Chatter, PIAVA, Research, private detective, private investigations, private investigators | Tagged: equipment, Investigations, IRS, private investigators, taxes | No Comments »
Virginia Clerks of the Courts are scanning court records allowing electronic access to court documents normally seen only in the paper file in the clerk’s office. Lawyers have expressed concern about their client’s personal information in the court records will be seen by anyone on the Internet. 
