Conduct a successful investigation or surveillance

You Can Succeed

You can succeed as well, as long as you don't give up and if you remember that there is always something else that you can look for. When you reach what you think is a dead end, you must simply change direction and look elsewhere for some information or look for a new piece of your puzzle.

At this point we want to discuss some steps to gather information that will be useful in your search. During this course of any investigation that we conduct, my rule of thumb is to seek the easiest sources first. Therefore, when we are looking for someone, the first place we look is the telephone directory. This telephone directory does not have to be the old style telephone book by itself. The telephone directories available on the internet can actually have more information with regard to far away locations. If you think you need to look for a name and address from several years ago, you might be helped by a public library in the location you think might be where your person has been.

Obviously, the proper name and last known or the current suspected address is a must. After a check of the listing the next move is to simply make the calls. If there are no exact matches for first and last names then call matching initials. If there are only matching last names, then start at the top of the list and work your way down. There is a very good chance that you will talk to someone who knows your missing person or a relative or even possibly a friend.

This technique has worked for us so many times. We always do this first and very often it's all we have to do. Try it, it works!

Telephone records can be accessed by dialing directory assistance and now you don't even need the city or town or even the state. The directory assistance operator can search the entire United States database on their computer with just the name. Now, there is no guarantee that your person is the one given to you, but it's possible that it is.

The internet is also a great place. To search for telephone listings and we're going to discuss the internet in more detail later on. I should mention also that if you don't have a computer or access to the internet, check your library. Libraries frequently have computers with internet access and people that can usually assist you with searching the vast information reservoir that is there. If your library doesn't have the facilities, there are many business centers such as internet café's that can help for a small fee.