24/05/2008 by admin.

Bravery can be termed in many ways however I would like to make it known that a fellow colleague deserves a medal for holding his nerve and maintaining his professional composure.

Whilst we were engaged on a Local Authority contract gathering evidence against house holders on a notorious estate, where an ASBO family were terrorising local residents and neighbours. My colleague was engaged on surveillance duties in a tactical observation vehicle captured a culprit firebombing a neighbours house.

He without panic dialled 999 and called for the Fire Brigade. Before they were able to arrive a masked man walked in to the small car park (with only eight spaces) where he was parked in the back of his van and witnessed the fire-bomber then hurl two petrol bombs at a mini-bus owned by the householder whose house had also been attacked.

My colleague remained calm and captured the evidence on film which will be used in a later prosecution. He kept his nerve where many would have lost theirs. He did not know if his vehicle was next and if he had compromised himself by panicing and ’showing out’ then he certainly may have been next.

Even after all had gone quiet and the police and fire brigade had gone he kept the video rolling capturing the returning culprit who needed to evidence the matter on his mobile phone for himself.

 We extracted our man just before 6am. Talk about ‘courage under fire’

Well done that man! you know who you are.

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20/05/2008 by admin.

Anti-social behaviour is behaviour which causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more people who are not in the same household as the perpetrator. Anti-social behaviour presents a considerable problem for neighbourhoods across the UK. 

Among the many forms it can take are: 

• abusive and intimidating language
• drunken behaviour in the streets, and the mess it creates
• excessive noise, especially late at night
• fouling the street with litter
• graffiti – which can on its own make even immaculate urban spaces look squalid unpleasant
• drug dealing all the problems that follow. 

An ASBO is a civil order, not a criminal penalty – this means it won’t appear on an individual’s criminal record. However, a breach of an ASBO is a criminal offence punishable by a fine or up to five years in prison. 

An ASBO can ban an offender from:

• continuing  the offending behaviour
• spending time with a particular group of people
•  visiting certain areas 

ASBO’s are issued for a minimum of two years. 

Combating anti-social behaviour has proved to be difficult, costly and time consuming for local authorities, housing associations and private individuals across the country.  What is often the case is that many members of troubled communities are unwilling to report anti-social behaviour, or to testify in court because of possible repercussions they can face from the perpetrators. What is needed is a solution that can provide demonstrative evidence of antisocial behaviour which can be then used in court to secure convictions against the perpetrators. But awarding the ASBO is not enough. They need to be enforced too. Some have seen the ASBO as a Badge of Honour amongst their peers simply because it has failed to be enforced with follow up action.

At Trident Investigations we can gather evidence to court standards taking in to consideration the laws under RIPA. This can be presented in photograph and video format taken from our covert cameras and vehicle installations. For further information call us Free on 0800 756 6872.

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08/05/2008 by admin.

Its a mystery to me
The game commences
For the usual fee
Plus expenses
Confidential information
Its in a diary
This is my investigation
Its not a public inquiry

I go checking out the report
Digging up the dirt
You get to meet all sorts
In the line of work
Treachery and treason
Theres always an excuse for it
And when I find the reason
I still cant get used to it

And what have you got at the end of the day ?
What have you got to take away ?
A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
Blinds on the window and a pain behind the eyes

Scarred for life
No compensation
Private Investigations

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12/04/2008 by admin.

People have affairs every day; infidelity is as common as it has ever been. Some might say that variety is the spice of life and that monogamy is some kind of wood!

Many relationships are based on finance and some will forgive for fear of being alone. But increasingly we are getting instructions based on curiosity alone. People who have taken back their partners after a betrayal.

This week has seen two separate insructions from women wanting to see what the other woman looks like. Instructions like this are not uncommon but what purpose do they serve?

Peace of mind?

Is she/he better looking than me? 

Who knows?

Each client is different but it does prove something, forgiveness is just a word, revenge is a dish best served cold and time isn’t a great healer!

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26/03/2008 by admin.

We were recently appointed to undertake surveillance regarding a personal injury claim. The claimant aledges that four years ago that he fell from a ladder and injured himself so badly that he could not work and hadn’t done so since the accident. (for four years!)

This despite the fact that his own doctor and an independant specialist had confirmed that his injuries amounted to light bruising and he should have been back to work inside three months on a worst case scenario.

Despite this the claimant had stuck to his story and built his case for compensation.

His story was full of inconsistancies, for a start the incident was witnessed. the claimant who was employed as a Meter Reader had entered a loft to read the gas meter in a restaurant. He claims he fell 15 feet to the ground.

The maximum height that it was possible to fall is 7 feet. He claims that the ladder collapsed. It didn’t, and is in fact it is still in regular use.

From witness testimony it is confirmed that the guy did fall, but from about the third rung up, but square on to his feet. The claimant put on a show as if something really tragic had happened. Nonetheless and ambulance was called and he was taken to hospital.

The claimant appointed a lawyer and quanified his losses at £218,000. This was made up of lost earnings, lost future earnings, pension contributions and future care costs.

As the surveillance operation was put together a intelligence gathering exercise was called for to see what, if anything this guy does on a regular basis. It quickly became apparent that at 0730 am every day that he drives his son to the station. This despite the fact that he can not drive and needs constant care.

Our motorcycle surveillance operative followed the claimant and plotted his routine and filmed him from a mobile camera kit. This was for intelligence purposes only.

Over the coming days, thanks to the intelligence gathered we were able to site surveillance operatives and photograph him doing what had stated on oath that he could not do.

The crunch came when a surveillance van was parked in his street. It captured our man loading his car with not one, not two but three sizable suitcases. these were first carried out by his wife and daughter as they were so heavy. They were stacked at the rear of his car and left for him to load.

Our man picks up the cases with ease despite claiming not being able to use the left side of his body for anything strenuous. He wrestles with the bags demonstrating a full range of movement even holding a heavy flight bag in the crook of his left arm whilst he lays flat the rears seats of the car with the other hand.

The incident was filmed and photographed in finite detail and presented to the lawyers. With one saying “it’s not much of a show stopper is it?”

Well in terms of surveillance it was. More often than not in these types of cases it is very difficult to capture anything useful. You might if youre lucky get your target mowing the lawn or washing his car, but a 6 minute film of a supposedly paralised man wrestling with baggage and driving to the airport doen’t happen very often. It was an Oscar winning performance.

The day in court has now passed, did our man win his £218,000?

What do you think?!

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25/02/2008 by admin.

Process serving is perhaps one of the most under valued parts of the legal process within the courts and legal system. Yes it is the delivery of legal documents and in most cases is straight forward. However …

Often this work is carried out by private investigators and detectives out of hours. This means that you are up with the larks or out with the owls. The person to be served is often evasive and certainly doesn’t want a messenger with bad news on their doorsteps.

Sometimes it can go pear-shaped. I served process of a Divorce Petition on Saturday 23rd February to a guy who has been evading the inevitable since 2005. He is a violent alcoholic with a short temper. I know this, not because the client had the decency to tell me but because I always read the papers to be served.

The difficulty with this guy was that it is not known where he lives, he doesn’t appear on any of the regular databases with a current address, but we do know where  he works.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we pay him a visit at work. this is not always the best course of action, but we have to think about the risk factor of serving him when he is drunk, plus we do not know his home address. YET!

We always aim to be discreet in this situation, (I have served many people during the course of their working day, including most recently a newspaper photographer at an assignment, a carpet salesman, a barman and a  ‘Sir’) the workplace is a print works in full production. The place is very noisy. After asking at the canteen I was pointed in the direction of a forklift driver. 

In Divorce cases we are always provided with a photograph of the person to be served. I approach our man who matches the description and resembles the photo perfectly (this doesn’t always happen). As I approach him I say his name,  he replies “he’s on a day off today mate” I respond by showing him the photograph and handing him the papers. He absolutely explodes in a fit of rage telling me to go forth and multiply and even questions my parentage. He then tells me that he will pay his wife and her new partner a visit with a baseball bat to kill them. Hmmm. Nice bloke. I make a hasty exit whilst our man chases me to the exit shouting all manner of expletives above the sound of the machinery!

The Judge will find that very good reading on my affidavit.

Who was it that said  ”the pen is mightier than the sword?” because they were right.

Trident Investigations carry out the service of process nationwide from our offices in Northamptonshire, Surrey and our new office in Hertfordshire which covers Harpenden, Hatfield, St Albans, Welwyn, Welwyn Garden City, Arlesey, Baldock, Biggleswade, Buntingford, Henlow, Hertford, Hitchin, Knebworth, Letchworth, Much Hadham, Royston, Sandy, Shefford, Stevenage, Ware

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08/01/2008 by admin.

An increasing amount of clients come to us who have tried and subsequently failed to follow a target or conduct their own surveillance. It works for some; but for the vast majority it fails miserably. This usually happens for the simple fact that it is not easy.

Few can conduct static surveillance because they do not have the right tools for the job and because they are part of the locality that they want to watch. Even fewer are successful at mobile or foot surveillance. Simply because it can seldomly be done by a single person and may need a team.

It all looks so easy in the movies doesn’t it? In the movies the car never turns right out of a ‘T’ junction and across traffic (building on the gap and the amount of cars between the follower and the followed) or makes it through the lights at the junction, leaving the follower on a red light behind an Argos lorry!

We recently had a female client who had even hired a van and a car in a bid to follow her errant husband. The only winner was the hire car company several times over. On the time that she hired the van she managed to follow him not much beyond his work entrance/exit before losing him in rush hour traffic in less than a minute.

And this happens; and I know this because………… Because it happens to the professionals too.

Surveillance is a game of patience. It sometimes will take more than the one time to prove or disprove those suspicions. To find out what happens every Thursday night after work when he is supposed to be at the ‘club’ may take several Thursdays.

And finally when the destination is known, it’s another waiting game, often for hours for what could possibly be a second of opportunity to take a photograph or shoot video. Remember of course you can’t use a ‘flash’ or ask for a second pose like a wedding photographer. It’s a one chance only situation.

There is of course another way; and that is the subject of another post.‹(-¿•)›

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04/01/2008 by admin.

“Being a Private Investigator is one of the most lucrative, glamorous and respected industries to be in. Win the envy of your friends and colleagues and demand high fees in an industry where no two days are the same”.

If you believe the marketing hype which is used to sell franchises and training manuals to people with little or no experience in investigation, then you may as well spend your money on something more tangible and useful. Being a PI is not an easy ticket to riches. As an unregulated industry (although it is in the pipeline once the SIA (Security Industry Authority) sort out the finer details) anyone can get up one morning, call themselves a Private Investigator or Private Detective and start trading right away. In theory.

It is true to say that some of the best investigators in the industry have come from normal everyday backgrounds and jobs.

It is also true that a Detective Agency can be set up on a shoestring, but I make no bones about it, no matter how experienced you are, it will not succeed without hard work and determination.

Many Investigators are experienced ex-police officers or military operatives with years of useful transferable skills under their belts. Others are seasoned security professionals who come from all manner of commercial, banking and insurance backgrounds.

But even the most time served detectives will struggle in the beginning without the right direction, motivation, training and experience.

I have known many an ex-police officer who could not detect a pickled onion in a fruit salad if they ate it piece by piece. Without the back-up of an established squad of officers, intelligence data bases and the PNC (Police National Computer) they can get a little lost out there, alone in the big wide world with nothing but their wits and old war stories to get them by.

So if you are considering setting up a Detective Agency I wish you every success but believe me it can only succeed with the right ingredients, input and motivation.

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03/01/2008 by admin.

The rules for serving legal documents have been relaxed in recent years. It is now now much easier to serve process than it was. It however can still be tricky and it is important that the process server knows the rules for service applicable to the document being served. Rules for service are governed by the Civil Procedure Rules.

It has recently come to our attention that at least one Solicitors practice have been serving documents by a courier. I understand that this is a new procedure and although not illegal will almost certainly be short lived.

The courier company are not supplying the required Statements of Service or Affidavits which are usually sworn before a Commissioner for Oaths. We are led to believe that a print-out from the hand held terminal is being produced as proof of service!

Now cast your mind back to the last time you had a courier on the doorstep who required a signature. It was cold, most probably wet and you were stood on the doorstep with in your dressing gown with the dog barking and the kids screaming in the background. Can you recall how much diligence or effort you put in to producing a legible signature? That’s of course if your signature is legible at the best of times.

What happened when you were out?

• Did they leave it with a neighbour?
• Put a card through the letterbox asking you to call them to arrange a new delivery?

Now imagine that you are to receive some legal papers that you want to evade. Is the delivery and signed docket from your neighbour good service?

NO

Are you going to call them to say, “please call back later“?

NO

In short using a courier to serve legal process will not save you money. it could jeopardise your case and be deemed as ineffective service by the judge hearing the case. In some cases the documents may be required to be re-served personally by a process server with a supporting affidavit and in a worst case scenario your whole case could be thrown out on this mere technicality.

If you think it’s a worthwhile consideration ask yourself this …

 Would you take your car for a service at the Dry Cleaners?

Or

Take your Dry Cleaning to the Bakers?

Quite simply a Courier is not a Process Server and a Process Server is not a Courier.

From our Daventry, Northamptonshire office or our Croydon, Surrey office we can serve all types of legal papers quickly and efficiently and within the legal rules of service anywhere in the UK or overseas. Please call 0845 643 1923 for further information or see get a quotation here http://www.tridentinvestigations.co.uk/Quotation-process-server.html

Posted in Process Serving | Print | 2 Comments »

27/12/2007 by admin.

Santa Claus could be breaking privacy laws in his collection and use of data about children, experts have warned. Yuletide cheer-bringer Claus could be putting the personal data of millions of children at risk.

Data protection laws lay down strict conditions for the use of personal data and there is no evidence that Claus has an adequate compliance program in place.

Children across the world who write letters to Claus with a list of gift requests are not told for how long that data is kept, or if it will be used for other purposes such as marketing by third parties.

The U.K. Data Protection Act, for example, stipulates that data should not be kept for longer than necessary, which would mean December 25th, though Claus may argue that he needs to keep the letters for six years to use in any gift-related lawsuits.

“There is a stream of questions Santa has yet to answer,” said William Malcolm, a data protection specialist at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-law.com. “Is this information used for anything other than present giving? Information passes out of the EU, so does Santa check the letters for unambiguous, specific and informed consent to this overseas transfer?”

Out-Law’s attempts to put the questions to Claus were hindered by the lack of an office chimney. Eventually the questions were put up a domestic chimney but no response was received by time of publication.

The U.K. Data Protection Act says that you must inform someone when you are collecting data about them, and tell them what the purpose of collection is.

What about the naughty/nice database?” said Malcolm. “Are children given notice that behavioral data is being collected about them throughout the year? And does it qualify as covert monitoring, which would breach Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights?”

Mmmmmmm…...

Food for thought.

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