We recently received our Cheyenne, Wyoming Private Investigator license. While the state of Wyoming has no PI licensing requirements, it is required to work within the city limits of Cheyenne. At this time we are one of only a handful of Cheyenne licensed private investigators and therefore when you are in need of a surveillance investigator in Cheyenne or Colorado or elsewhere in Wyoming, you can call us. Cheyenne is only a couple of hours north of our Denver, Colorado office.

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The renewal fee for a Colorado licensed private investigator has been greatly reduced due to the diligent work of the Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado (www.pppiac.org).

DORA, the regulating agency for Colorado private investigators had announced a renewal fee of $263. PPIAC immediately opened discussions with DORA as there are far more licensed private investigators in Colorado than originally anticipated. Since this is a self funded program, the more investigators in the program, the lower the fees. After numerous discussions with DORA they realized that the fees should be much lower and came out with a NEW renewal fee amount of $63. Those who renewed at the original higher cost, have already received a refund.

The fee for the initial license remains at $330, however the renewal fees are in line with the lowest renewal fees in the country.

Thank you PPIAC!!

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Colorado had been one of only a few states without a mandatory licensing program for private investigators for many years. This meant that anybody and everybody who wanted to hang up a shingle and say they were a private investigator, could do this. Often times this would allow them access to sensitive personal information, including but no limited to a clients credit card information.

This changed on June 1, 2015, when the mandatory private investigator licensing law, was implemented. This was after a time period of over three decades where Colorado had no such law. The last mandatory private investigator licensing law in Colorado was in 1977, when an investigator challenged the law by declaring there was no definition of private investigator in the law, and therefore it was struck down.

During that licensing “drought” many private investigators have come and gone, some who held themselves out to be private investigators have seen the inside of the gray bar hotel, but with no regulation, there was no accurate count on how many private investigators there were in the state of Colorado.

Before this current law was passed, some speculated approximately 100, some speculated 250, and some speculated as high as 700. The number is very significant in Colorado due to the fact that Colorado has a TABOR law, which meant no money from the general fund can be used for this program. Therefore every dollar to operate the program has to come from licensing fees and this program itself. The end result of this type of system is that there is a set budget for the program itself, and that budget is paid through licensing fees, therefore the more licenses that are issued, the lower the cost of each individual license.

DORA, the agency that oversees this program anticipated 400 licenses would be issued, which at the time was only a best guess.

As we sit here in January of 2016, just over half a year into the program, there have been over 500 Colorado private investigator licenses issued.

The bottom line to the consumer is that this gives the person a place to verify that a private investigator has been properly vetted, licensed and with that license they are required to carry a bond. It also gives the consumer a place to file a complaint, when necessary, against a private investigator.

The end result of this program is that it is protection for the general consumer and the program appears to be bigger than most people anticipated.

At Night Moves of Denver, Private Investigations, we supported the legislation and testified numerous times at the State Capitol in favor of passing this into law.

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Based out of Denver, Colorado, we have been conducting surveillance investigations since 1984. With over three decades of surveillance experience, you might suspect that we have seen a few changes over the years.

 With today’s technology, private investigators have access to phones, voice mail, texts and emails, from nearly anyplace the investigation might take them. However this was not always the case.

 In the early days of surveillance investigations we were armed with Beaulieu Super 8 movie cameras.  These had approximately 3 minutes of film per roll, which meant that if the investigator was obtaining substantial film, they would continuously have to reload the camera, leaving spots in the subject’s activity that they were not able to document. After obtaining the evidence, the investigator would then have to get this film developed. In those days, an investigator out on assignment was really on their own, with no communications to anybody else. Those were the days before cell phones, before pagers etc. In order to make a phone call and investigator would have to break away from their case, locate a pay phone (try to locate one of those now), make the call and then return to their case. This was a very risky proposition as a surveillance investigator as there was always the chance that you would return to your case and your subject would be gone. Therefore you would try to limit these trips to the pay phone to only “emergency” situations. Of course, over the years some things don’t change such as your client will think they frequently have “emergency” situations, when they need to speak to you as soon as possible.

Shortly after that we were armed with pagers, but you still had the same problem of locating a pay phone and breaking away from your case, any time you were paged. Still you tried to only do this for “emergency” situations and in those days, who didn’t get a page from time to time that started with 911, followed by the number to call? This meant ASAP, but many times it was a situation that could have waited. So while technology had some advantages, it also had a down side.

 The advent of the video camera came next. This had to be wired into a full sized VCR, while you were filming. This was really a problem, when the investigator was required to get out on foot, to follow a subject. Not only did the investigator have a huge, very obvious camera, but  also had to carry a VCR in a pack, which was strapped over the investigator’s shoulder. Being a Denver, Colorado private investigator, from time to time this meant that you also had to carry this entire “package” up the ski slopes, and have this on while you are skiing behind the subject you are following. One wrong turn or bump hit wrong and you quickly learn what skiers mean by having a “yard sale” on the slope.

 Next the investigator received a technology boost, with the advent of cell phones. However, early cell phones were  affectionately referred to as the “brick phone”  because they were about the size of a  brick. These large phones also came with a large monthly bill. In those days you were only able to make calls in your “home area” without huge expenses, but go outside that area and you would get roaming charges, usually over $1.00 per minute. So while the investigator was carrying around the “brick phone” it was a good thing that the technology for cameras was becoming more convenient, with the advent of the mini-cam, which was a self contained video camera, where the videotape was inside the camera. No longer a need to carry an entire, full sized VCR.

 Compare those early years to what we have today. Every investigator has at least one cell phone, that is practically a complete computer in itself. Cameras come in many sizes, shapes and forms, all of which are much smaller than the early cameras. In the early days, who would have ever thought there would be a day, when a camera was actually inside a pen, a button, a cap or your own phone.

Today a surveillance investigator is very rarely completely out of touch with others and I am not sure that this is actually a good thing.

 Technology has made leaps and bounds and has given the modern private investigator some incredible tools, but it is always fun to reminisce about the equipment we used a “few” years back.

The post Thirty plus years as a Colorado Surveillance Investigator appeared first on Colorado Private Investigations.

The general perception of a private investigator is a person wearing a trench coat and arranging a meeting in a back alley to accept money, to gather information by some nefarious means. Often times clients believe that private investigators “pay somebody off” to obtain information that they have been unable to ascertain. This image comes from the TV version of PI’s and is very different than the real world private investigator.

The professional private investigator of today is exactly that, a professional. The modern day private investigator is well aware that any information which is not obtained legally, will certainly be challenged in court with the possibility that the information will be thrown out, therefore hindering the clients case.

As a private investigator we are asked all the time if we can obtain information that might be illegal or unethical. Most people still have the old perception of a “shady” PI, but you will find that most investigators will not do anything to jeopardize losing their PI license, or worse….end up in jail.

You can often find the modern day private investigator sitting in a conference room, meeting with attorneys, discussing strategy on how to best approach an investigation, to help the attorneys client. A private investigator might also be out interviewing witnesses who might be pertinent to a case. Whatever the case might be, you will find that a private investigator is a representative of the client and therefore should at all times present themselves as professionals while giving total  respect to all parties involved in a case.

Today’s private investigator should not be a person that one would have concern’s about and should be somebody that a person can turn to in a time of need. The private investigator is who the general public should count on if law enforcement is unable to help with their situation. Often times we get called because no law has been broken, however our client believes that somebody is not who they say they are and it is our job to prove if their suspicions are accurate or not. Our job is to find the truth and that is what we strive for with each and every case.

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When requesting surveillance from a private investigator, it is assumed that the private investigator will see everything that happens, all day, every day at every location. This assumption is just not realistic due to a number of variables.

First off many things happen behind closed doors, in private areas or any number of places where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. The law abiding private investigator will respect this. Additionally you might have a subject who resides in an extremely rural area, making it difficult to conduct direct surveillance without standing out. While following a subject several more factors arise such as traffic lights, traffic conditions and the maneuvers made by other drivers on a daily basis. Think of it this way. Consider your daily commute to and from work and how hectic that can be, then add to it, trying to follow an individual during that commute.

While it is possible for one surveillance investigator to follow a person, it is definitely an advantage to have two or more investigators. A few years ago, we worked a surveillance investigation in a rural area, out of town, on one subject, using one investigator and one vehicle for 20 consecutive days. This is not ideal, but can be done with proper planning and the understanding that when utilizing one person, that surveillance investigator has to be very careful to avoid being burned. With this type of extreme conditions, it is imperative to conduct the surveillance from as great a distance as possible. It is also helpful to gather as much intel about the subject as possible, to know where the subject will be or might be going at any given time.

Utilizing two surveillance investigators or more gives the investigators a much greater chance of success with the investigation. We recently worked a different case, again in a rural area, out of town, where the client authorized two investigators. This was a huge asset to be able to cover various choke points (choke points are places where the subject would have to pass by in order to enter or exit the area). This also allows the investigators to change point vehicles (the vehicle directly behind the subject) so the subject observes a change in vehicles behind him/her, therefore diminishing the possibility that they might become aware of the investigation. When coordinating an investigation like this, it is important to have good communications between the investigators, but just as important is that the investigators think alike and can conduct the surveillance at times virtually without communicating.

Many clients will initiate a surveillance investigation and base that investigation on a set budget. While that is understandable, it is important to communicate all mitigating circumstances to the private investigator, before initiating the surveillance so the necessity of a second investigator can be discussed. As we stated here, it is possible to conduct the investigation with one investigator, but your chances of success increase with each additional investigator added to the case.

So when talking to a private investigator about conducting surveillance, be honest and open about the difficulties they might face, this will give your case the greatest chance of success. This might mean conducting a two-person surveillance, but if it is the difference between a successful investigation and an investigation that cost money, with little or nor results, it is a worthwhile investment.

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