Oakland Needs More Video in Public

On Monday, two incidents came up that involved the same subject. The one was international and macro, the Boston Marathon bombing, and the other was micro,my new case of a client robbed at gunpoint in Oakland's Glenview district. Video surveillance, or lack thereof, link the two.

Authorities identified the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing likely within 48 hours and no more than in three days. I don't know the exact video source that led to the images but assume it came from multiple sources, stationary cameras in buildings, cameras facing the street from businesses and certainly private video at or near the finish line. 

Contrast the most galvanizing, sensational, international crime incident in the last decade with my client's case. He had dinner at the very nice Marzano in Glenview, made a right up Park Boulevard and then a quick right walking to his

car on Wellington at about 9:00 p.m. April 10.

He sensed danger. Sure enough, two men in hoodies blocked his way and one brandished a handgun. They took his wallet with all his credit cards, cell phone, briefcase, etc. For whatever reason they did not demand his wedding ring. Perhaps the whole incident took a minute or two. The victim, an attorney, quickly grasped the situation and gave up his stuff. Maybe it saved his life.

The Glenview District exudes charm and boasts about seven restaurants in a two block area. It has become a destination for restaurants and foodies in Oakland, now known nationwide for it's restaurant scene. (Oakland is a city of 400,000 people and characterized by its dozen or so funky commercial districts.)  Oakland is beset by crime. Crime defines Oakland. You can't have two or more Oaklanders coming together without them swapping stories of crime victimization. "Oh yah, lived here for 20 years and three stolen cars, a stolen motorcycle and a burglary? How about you? But I love the weather and the restaurants and being close to San Francisco." 

The robbers hit the Glenview victim very close to the Blackberry Bistro, which was closed for the night at the time. Glenview also has many single homes and apartments right next to where the robbery occurred. But no video cameras captured the incident because there weren't even any City cameras or business video cameras or likely residential cameras in the area.

The lack of video cameras in this upscale area strikes me as odd because in 2012 Oakland had 2,159 robberies at gunpoint. That's a staggering amount, almost six robberies at gunpoint a day. And that's only the reported amount, so likely double it for a more accurate figure. If Oakland can't keep its commercial districts safe it's doomed. I live in Oakland so I  know of which I speak.

COST EFFECTIVE TOOL

Video may or may not deter crimes but it is a hell of a weapon for catching criminals. Just ask Boston and the FBI. Video in Boston led to the identification which resulted in the capture. Not only that, but authorities found more weapons and bombs the brothers had and likely thwarted further attacks and casualties.

Video and cameras are like using DNA in criminal cases. It's science. It's fact. It can not only rule people "in" but has the power to exonerate. You can refer back to it again and again and get it right. Apparently, the City spends about $35,000 on cameras down in Frutivale and some other neighborhoods off International but that's not enough. I bet you could put cameras in every major commercial district for about $500,000, or the annual cost of three full-time officers with benefits. And, it's a fixed cost.

Oakland could catch more criminals with a good public camera system. Why do you think banks and casinos have such good video systems? It's time for people to get on board with cameras in public. YOU ARE IN PUBLIC AND HAVE NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY. It's an evolution. Remember when some were freaked because the internet would actually give you door-to-door directions to someone's house? And then, oh my God, Google started actually taking pictures and images of people's streets and yards. We have all adjusted to this. If you are in your house you deserve and get your privacy.

Many residents have already gone high-tech in neighborhoods because they know police can't give timely responses. One resident who installs the cameras for his street called it "Neighborhood Watch 3.0." Read the Chronicle article on it.

When I started in the business I used to investigate cases and places such as gas stations and convenience stores used to have crappy VCRs and cameras and would only keep video for a week.

In the Glenview robbery case, I have been to the stores and gas stations where people used the victim's credit cards after the robbery. The video is pretty good and, because it's digital, they can store it for at least 30 days and up to 90 days. Plus, they can hop on the system and in less than three minutes get to the exact time when an incident occurred. 

Boston was horrific. But the Glenview robbery could have ended in almost as many deaths. What if the gunman panicked and shot the victim and then had to shoot his way out to escape. I hate to say it but the odds of a prosecution in this Glenview matter are slim. It's tough to make a positive ID of guys in hoodies when you are looking at a gun. But what if cameras had footage of them in the area earlier or had captured a license plate?In fact, someone had reported seeing a suspicious vehicle in the area at about the time of the robbery. Most criminals are not smart enough to use fake plates or a stolen car.

And if you really know your local history, robberies in Glenview are old-hat as the neighborhood gives easy and close get-away routes 30 seconds away in either direction to highways 13 and 580. Before it was Rumbo Al Sur, across from where my client was robbed, it was The Cantina. If I am not mistaken there was a hold-up and shooting at the Cantina in the early 90s that left one or two workers dead.

Oakland and other places need to think long and hard about installing more public video cameras. Burglar alarms are kind of ridiculous. Check with any alarm and security company and you will find that video systems are the future. At least video gives you a chance of catching someone.

Mayhem's Unsung Heroes

Strangers often help, comfort and protect accident victims

I've investigated traffic accidents for about 15 years for personal injury lawyers. You name it, I've had it. I've had bike on pedestrian, car on car, car on pedestrian, truck v. pedestrian, truck v bike, even bike v bike and all permutations of motorcycle v everything.

It's time to praise the real first responders: The poor bystander who comes to comfort the victim, call 911, stick around until police take their statement and then later give a statement to me or other investigators. Paramedics and EMTs and firefighters are great. But what about Joe and Jane Citizen going to get the dry cleaning or taking the dog for a bath when they see a horrific wreck or accident and then just plunge in to help? 

Many people involved in a crash won't have a loved one readily available. The job falls on a stranger to offer comfort. Sometimes the bystander even shields or guards the victim to make sure they don't get run over and hurt even worse. It sometimes takes medical providers at least 10 or 15 minutes to arrive at a scene. I can't imagine anything tougher than seeing a fellow human bleeding and in agony.

A pickup truck nailed a bike rider here at Laney and took off

I had a case in Oakland a couple months ago where a whole gang of strangers banded together near Laney College to comfort a victim and corral a hit-and-run driver. It all began when a bike rider slowly tried to cross an intersection with a green light. A pickup who had a red light rolled through, accelerated and blasted the guy on the bike in the crosswalk.

Several people saw it and took action. One lady, a banker from Oakland, gave chase in her car and blocked the suspect after he had driven away more than a block from the scene. Another woman who lives in the neighborhood went and tended to the victim, shielding his body from oncoming traffic with her own body. Her husband, a rather large Samoan gentleman, chased after the suspect on foot to make sure he didn't escape.

Many times I end my interviews thanking the witness for being there and for helping the victim.

My First Domestic Success

I used to do surveillance in this....

I started in the business in 1994-1995 in the San Francisco Bay Area driving a 1970s Dodge Dart that I bought for $500 from a guy I used to see play guitar in a blues band at Eli's Mile High Club in Oakland. I bought the car after a test drive in which I took it up and down the very steep Marin Avenue grade in Berkeley.  It climbed up. It braked down. Sold.

My first two domestics in the ride proved uneventful.  On the first I staked out a guy's wife who lived in the San Bruno hills.  I sat across from her place, hunkering down out on a main road.  I followed her once or twice when she went mobile.  Nothing happened.  The second time I was on the case was in the tony St. Francis Wood section of San Francisco.  Uneventful except cops rolled up on me because neighbors reported me in my freak-ride.

My $500 investment took a turn for the worst.  The battery shorted.  I used to stall when driving down Gilman and turning onto the Eastshore Freeway. It had become a POS.  One summer day playing rugby I snapped my collarbone and hurt my neck and had to be taken by ambulance to Stanford Medical Center.  I later learned that my teammates drew straws to see who had to drive my ride back to my apartment.  Reports surfaced that the interior netting fell down on the unlucky bastard who drew the short straw and had to transport it.

I worked under my good friend and legendary PI John Nazarian.  I collected money from the clients and did the work.

One day I signed up a client who suspected that her brother-in-law was sleazing around on her sister. The plan was to follow him when he dropped her and her kids off at San Francisco airport. I showed up in the Golden Nugget and tailed them to the airport.  Sure enough, he bee-lined to the mistress immediately from SFO.  I followed them around town and saw them snuggling at a carwash off Van Ness Avenue. Maybe because it was San Francisco or maybe it was because they were so smitten that they did not notice the lurking Dart that stuck to them.

However, I had not obtained the money footage.  I was not using a video camera then but instead had my old Pentax with a mirror lens.  I knew where the mistress had parked and decided to wait near her car in the Financial District.  My instincts told me to go to the high ground for a vantage point.  I found an overpass near the Embarcadero above  her car and waited.

What happened next can only compare to the thrills I had from rugby.  In rugby, playing wing or in the backs is a nervy position in which your good and bad plays are on display for the world, or more likely the 100 or so spectators at the match.  When you field a high ball that hangs in the air with men racing down under it to pummel you, time stands still.  The concentration required is like nothing else.  You block out all distractions.  Seconds become minutes.  You have to field that ball and make a play. Nothing else matters if you don't catch it.. Then you worry about self-preservation and getting up field to maybe score or dish.

His Mercedes showed right next to her convertible.  He walked her to her car and moved in for the kiss.  Click, click, click went the shutter during the smooch.  She drove away towards the Bay Bridge heading east.  I ran down from my perch.

I carried a screwdriver with me because the Dart's engine would not start unless I connected the battery points with a metal object.  The mistress must have had a two-minute head start on me. I flung open the hood, sparked the battery and away I went. I had to find out who she was and where she lived.

I think it was a Saturday afternoon.  On the Bay Bridge I must have hit 80 or 85 mph until I caught up to her in Emeryville.  I followed her all the way to Pinole and actually saw the house and address where she parked.  I quickly learned her name, age and occupation. She was a nurse.

I had my film developed in the next day or two.  I had captured good face shots of them during the kiss. I met with the client, gave her the evidence and felt great about the job.

I learned from this case that will, effort and anticipation are the most important parts of a surveillance.  Since then, I have chased in everything from an Infiniti to a Honda Civic.  Seventeen years later I still remember the lessons from that successful surveillance.

Dog Tricks

Being an effective private investigator means knowing how to blend. In certain neighborhoods there is no better prop than man's best friend. Over the years I have used my pooch on several cases.  Just last month Agent Daisy notched a crucial serve of legal papers.

The attorneys came to me after Garden Variety Process Server couldn't do the job.  The woman dodged, either sending her husband or kids to the door as interference.  Once I know someone is trying to avoid service I go into stealth mode.  Yes, my methods are more expensive but I have a record for producing results.

I started loose surveillance on the suburban home, doing several spot checks.  I saw a duck hunting decal on the husband's pickup truck.  Where you find hunters you will find dogs.  I spied his truck in the driveway and her Mercedes in the garage from the garage door being propped slightly open on warm nights.

I kept walking my dog by the house each night, with the legal papers tucked in my back pocket.  Finally, one night the garage door was open.  As we walked by I saw the husband in the garage with his labrador.  It looked like they were heading in for the night.  I approached him and our dogs started their sniffing rituals.  In the garage I could see a face peeking out from behind a door to watch the dogs.  A woman stood in the door.

After chatting with the husband for a bit I called to the woman at the door.  Our dogs romped on their leashes.  She said, "Yes? That's me." I served the papers on her without incident. Daisy and I calmly walked up the block.

I use Daisy on other cases when I need to get invited into a house or get up closer to a residence. One of my favorites for seeing if someone is home is the "the lost dog pretext." You can get as creative as you want.  Sometimes, I go with a flier of a missing animal and a dummy phone number on the flier. Other times I go with just a leash and collar and sell it like the dog has just fled and I'm a house sitter at wit's end.

I love my work as a private investigator because I get to be resourceful and have some fun. In the end though it's always about results.

The Predator Wears Gucci

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."

Sam still thinks his son is out there, a happy boy named Jason.  Sam, an apartment manager from San Francisco, is 63 years old and sounds intelligent, vulnerable and naive all at the same time.  He has viewed internet photos of the boy and heard his voice on the phone but admits that he has never actually seen his 5 year-old-son.

"On the phone I heard him say, 'Momma, applesauce. Momma,' " he recalls. He remembers how nice the woman who had the child used to be to him. "Her parents lived across the street and she would come up to me and say, 'I want to have your baby'. She cooked me dinner and I helped her move." He says that they had unprotected sex for four months.  He even gave her cash for birth expenses. (He met her through a dating service.)

The supposed mother of his son, Jianli Qiao, 37, had come to him in April 2012 asking that he visit her and the boy in Beijing. They had broken up many years ago. But Qiao told him that the boy was in the hospital from a meningitis outbreak at his school.  Qiao and her parents never took him to see the boy. Instead, the parents kept asking him for $50,000 and he gave Qiao $2,000 to go to the child.  He returned home after spending $6,000 for airfare and the hotel for more than a week. Just a couple weeks ago, he says that Qiao had lunch with him and that he gave her $500 for the boy.

(This is Jianli Qiao in a 2010 photo. She is believed to be in Danville or San Ramon.)

But there is no son, boy or child of his. Qiao, according to police reports and an investigation by another private investigator, has pulled a major fraud.

Qiao, who uses the alias Lynn Chow, has conned him for more than $100,000 in the last five years.  Sam is perhaps the most glaring example of Qiao's treachery but other Bay Area men have suffered worse financial losses, damaged credit and anguish because of her.

Qiao prefers designer labels and Mercedes or BMW.  She has been accused of: hit-and run driving with property damage, fraud, extortion, identity theft, forgery, trespass, computer hacking, giving false information to a police officer and repeatedly driving without a valid license.  She has an immigration hearing coming up in December but has never been convicted of any criminal charges.

I am warning the public by telling the stories of victims who have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to her and had their lives thrown into turmoil.  Despite numerous police reports and complaints about her, the collective reaction by law enforcement and prosecutors has been at best apathetic and at worst negligent.  The story of Jianli Qiao is a study in how to game the system.  I stand behind my sources.  Information comes from victims, police reports and court records. Qiao apparently came to the United States through a brief marriage to a U.S. citizen. It seems that law enforcement and prosecutors, despite her demonstrated patterns of preying on men, use the excuse "it's a civil matter" as some sort of code for avoiding the hard work to put her behind bars.

I have tried to do my part by reporting Qiao's misdeeds to: The California Highway Patrol, the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office, Walnut Creek Police, San Francisco Police and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. (And while I have been paid by one of her victims to do some investigating I am writing this because it's an appalling story.)

Fred

Fred, in his mid 50s, is a successful businessman from Lafayette. He does import export and met Qiao through an acquaintance several years ago.  He thought Qiao had great connections in China, her native country, and fronted her at least $500,000 worth of goods. However, he alleges that Qiao never paid for the products.

Qiao filed a suit against him, claiming that he owed her $100,000 but she withdrew the complaint. (It's become a Qiao standard maneuver in that she is the first to file a suit against her former boyfriends .) Over the years, Qiao has used his name and social security number to rent apartments, to try to buy an $80,000 BMW, get cell phone service and open credit accounts.

After each incident of fraud or attempted identity theft, Fred has made a police report in person with the appropriate police agency.  This has been going on for at least five years. Because of the idetnity theft, his credit score has dropped at least 200 points.  In a time of tight credit, this makes it tough for his business to get loans.  And no prosecution of Qiao has been attempted, just another piece of paper in a police records section. Fred has had to hire an attorney and credit repair agencies to try to straighten out the mess. No progress yet.

(Qiao likes to text acquaintances photos of cash she has on her--this photo is from her.)


A few months ago Fred's luxury auto was struck, parked outside his relative's house, at night by a vehicle very similar to the one Qiao was using at the time. He was not in it but there was property damage.   He made a report to the California Highway Patrol.  The CHP even later stopped Qiao as she drove near the scene of the crime.  They cited her for driving without a license but she drove away.  The CHP later located her vehicle and saw that it had recent front-end damage consistent with the damage to Fred's car.  They tried to interview her but she refused.  (She currently has another hit-and-run case pending, also facing a charge of providing false information to police, in Walnut Creek muni court.) In Fred's case the CHP officer said that they could not conclusively prove that Qiao was the driver. No charges were filed.

It's because of his common enemy that Fred and the other victims know each other, sort of forming the Jianli Qiao Misery Society.  Their attorneys sometimes commiserate with each other, compare notes and write letters to various authorities. But no one seems to care.

"I feel disappointed in the system," Fred says.  "I feel the system does not work properly.  Who is protecting her and how are they protecting her?"

It was while Fred was with Qiao in January 2010 that he heard her talking on the phone several times to Sam.  Fred signed a declaration in which he stated that Qiao told him that Sam though he had a son by her who was living with her. Qiao confidend in Fred that she was sleeping with Sam because he was rich "and she was taking money from him and lying to him about the child being alive." He heard her asking Sam to pay money for supposed child birth expenses. Fred stated in the declaration:

"Qiao told me that she was stealing money from Sam.  She told me that the "child" was named Jason.  She spoke to him (Sam) over a speakerphone and changed her voice to pretend to be a little boy.  She was laughing at Sam."

Harry

Harry, a 72-year-old retired engineer from Orinda, met Qiao a few years ago through a real estate agent.  He had a romantic fling with her and he leased her his house.   Her checks to him soon started bouncing more than a sugared-up kid on a trampoline.

Like she had already done against Sam, she accused Harry of domestic violence and sought a restraining order. It was while he was out of the house that Qiao packed up about $60,000 worth of his furniture and possessions, "down to the light bulbs and toilet paper" and took off. A judge had agreed that she be evicted. He tried to pursue criminal charges against her with the Contra Costa Sheriff but was told "it was a civil matter." He also claims that she took some sensitive information that were on his hard drives.

Harry continued trying to pursue criminal charges but each time sheriff's would tell him that "it was a domestic deal."  She had also been arrested for apparently breaking into and squatting in another house in Orinda. He turned over all the documents he had on her to the sheriff's office. She was always trying to talk him into investing between $100,000 to $400,000 to start some sort of engineering venture in China.

There was a restraining order issued against her alleging elder abuse but no criminal complaints were ever prosecuted. 

I found the sheriff's detective, now retired, who had investigated Qiao.  He would not comment on the matter but just said that his investigation was referred to a federal agency. I then notified a Contra Costa County sheriff's fraud detective by phone, email and a report that Qiao was still up to her old tricks, but I never received a response.

Harry has since filed for bankruptcy, and he blames Qiao for part of it.

Joseph and George

Joseph is a young man who used to live next to Qiao a few years ago in San Ramon.  He denied being involved with her romantically but did have a brief friendship with her.  Like the others, Qiao told him that she owned some type of jewelry business in China. She duped him into leasing a new Mercedes for her in his name, stating that she had none of the necessary legal documents including a California Driver's License.  Qiao was supposed to make payments to him but she started bouncing checks to him, for $50,000, $9,000 and $1,000.  He later learned from the California Highway Patrol that it was his vehicle that Qiao allegedly used to crash into Fred's car.

George, from Oakland, loaned Qiao $30,800 and later sued her.  The case settled and terms were not public.  She had approached him stating that she was starting a business and that she could not get funds for it from China.  At one point she had told him that she was going back to China and would not repay him.

Many of these men have attorneys who had been writing letters to various law enforcement agencies asking them to do something about Qiao. But, as is the pattern, nothing was done.

Suspicions Aroused

This account of interacting with Qiao came from Andrew:

I met her at well furnished, neat and lavish three bedroom apartment in Walnut Creek. She said she owned a house in Blackhawk and was in escrow on a property in Oakland near her company. She indicated she was in a tile import/export business and had a warehouse business. She also said she had a masters degree in business (MBA) from China.

She shared with me she had a daughter aged 8 living with her parents on the east coast. I saw a framed photo of her daughter on her dresser. She never indicated she had a son. I asked her why her daughter lives with her parents and not her, she had said her mom was a better mother.
She said her parents lived on the east coast not in China as she had indicated to Sam.

She had a scar on her, indicated she had a baby C-Section, the scar was clearly about 8 years old.
I don't believe this is a little boy, she would have said she had a son, if one existed. She shared she had a daughter. I am a single dad, this is how and why kids were discussed with her. I would have imagined if there was a son, she would have mentioned him as well.

What struck me as odd, was that she had about 6-10 cell phones. I wasn't clear on the actual number, so lets say 8. All of them were on chargers, indicating they were ALL being used and at times one or more would beep or buzz suggesting a text message and that they were indeed functioning. All of the phones were either late model iPhone's or Androids, I believe there was also one blackberry. All had bling-bling like cases on them.  My first impression of this was WTF? why would someone need so many phones? Oddly my first thought that went thru my mind was mafia. I was actually scared there for a moment. I felt weird and at that point was clearly uncomfortable being in her apt, despite her sexual advances on me trying to relax me to stay.

She always would try to impress me with things, her designer clothes, the car she was driving or trying to buy. She wanted details about my credit score one time, making it seem like a comparison.. I told her I don't care what you have so stop trying to impress me. I am successful, but I am also modest and not flashy, which is a huge turnoff for me. She also one time had a rental car with really high end golf clubs and shopping bags in back. When I asked why she had a rental car, she had difficulty trying to explain it away.. red flag for me something wasn't right. I had to put the spare time on this rental because it had a flat. This is how I became aware of the golf clubs and such.

Her game to win men over is sex. she would offer herself up and be a nasty girl trying to use sex as her means of winning you over. She would offer her self to me and make lots of other offers to me in attempt to get me to like or see her more often. For example, she said she wanted to have a threesome with her girlfriend and me.. She kept wanting to set it up, but at this point I had her figured out and began to blow her off. She wouldn't hesitate to reach over and unzip me, pull me out and do her thing with me, even minutes after seeing her. She clearly has the use sex to win a man over thing down.


Sam's Confusion

On May 19, 2010, Sam walked into San Francisco's Southern Police Station and made a detailed report about Qiao's fraud and was able to document to police his losses in the fake child case.  He had also hired a private investigator to look into Qiao and the situation. He had even preserved text messages in which she repeatedly kept asking for more money for medical expenses for the fake child and for her living expenses. Sam had believed she was pregnant with his child because Qiao looked pregnant.  The private investigator searched throughout California and could find no such child having been born, even obtaining letters from Vital Statistics departments in the counties. When he asked Qiao how come no birth certificate could be found, she told him that it was because the child's name was in Chinese.  (This,of course, does not make sense as names of parents are also on birth certificates.)

An official familiar with the San Francisco case said that it was not prosecuted because even after Sam learned that there was no child,  he kept giving Qiao money.  In other words, it would not look like Sam is a victim because he knows the facts but continues to provide money to Qiao.

When Qiao was supposed to have an immigration hearing in San Francisco in June of this year, Sam went to the hearing hoping he could speak on her behalf.  He told me that at the time, he thought that if Qiao stayed in the country that it would be his best chance for ever being to see his son. The hearing has been pushed back to December.  Such hearings are closed and Immigration will not release any information.

It's apparent that he is still conflicted about whether the child exists.  It's as if he is trying to cling to some last hope that this boy, his flesh-and-blood, is on the planet. But in the next sentence he will recall the damage Qiao has done to him. She has opened up charge accounts in his name and damaged his credit.  He is trying get his apartment building refinanced but has been turned down because of his credit score.  Qiao charged $10,000 worth of furniture in his name but he can't get the store to realize it was fraud.

He recalls a time when they were together that he bought her a $700 Luis Vuitton purse.  "She hit me across the face with it and told me I was cheap.  She said it wasn't big enough." 

"She needs to be held liable for her crimes," he says,  "Deporting her will not do anything. Local police just sidestep this all as a `domestic matter.'"

"She needs to be stopped and I want to see her in an orange jumpsuit."

PI trumps Process Server

PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS v. PROCESS SERVERS ...

Virtually anyone can become a working California registered process server
with $250. and a few free hours. State licensed private investigators
either have law enforcement backgrounds or 6,000 hours of qualified
experience working as a private investigator. Private investigators are
trained professionals who are state-tested in "process service" and on their
"knowledge of laws that regulate process serving." In addition, private
investigators must pass a thorough DOJ criminal background clearance BEFORE
being issued a license. (Not the case for registered process servers).

FACT: ZERO experience necessary to become a "registered process server."

P.I. FACT: 6,000 hours of qualified experience or law enforcement
background is required to become a licensed California private investigator.

FACT: ZERO training required to become a "registered process server."

FACT: ZERO education necessary to become a "registered process server."

FACT: ZERO testing or pre-registration knowledge of ANYTHING to become a
"registered process server."

P.I. FACT: Private investigators are state tested and must pass a 150
question pre-licensing examination that includes subject matter in "process
service" and "knowledge of laws that regulate process serving."

Utah recently passed legislation that completely exempts private
investigators from registration. Do you think California should follow
suit?

Rick von Geldern

Capital City Investigations

Sacramento, CA

It's Alive!

My apologies for taking a leave from my beloved blog.  I have had a paid advertising arrangement the last 12 months with Alive East Bay magazine.

The contract is over so I can return to Private Eye Confidential. Alive proved a good outlet for introducing a new audience to what we do as private investigators.  While we might have some weird cases here and there, the point I wanted to make in the columns is that we are legitimate business professionals.

Alive is a solid magazine with about the best graphics and photos I have seen in any publication, from Vanity Fair to Esquire.  But the publication makes spotty efforts to promote and the journalism tends to be on the bland side.  (Cultivating good reporting, finding such stories and careful editing take lots of time and money.)  We face the same marketing challenges at my business or any small business: You can be the best at what you do but if people haven't heard of you then you are lagging.

My column was called "On The Case."

I waxed on process serving, witness dynamics and a haunting hit-and-run mystery in San Ramon.

I am able to compartmentalize in what I do in my writing and my investigating.  I have missed Private Eye Confidential and will try to be more regular in my posts now that I have more time for the blog.