Even the best criminal private investigators sometimes experience theft and become victims of other crimes. Despite their best efforts, crimes like embezzlement, rape, burglary, robbery, assault and battery, and even murder can still occur. However, there are things every private eye can do to help lower the incidences of these crimes happening to them, and initiative-taking measures are vital in the prevention process. Thus, the owners of our private investigation agency have put together some helpful tips aimed at keeping process servers, polygraph examiners, mediators, and other legal professionals unharmed.
Pick a Decent City in Which to Run Your PI Agency:
One of the best things to do to protect your family and business from criminals is to choose to open your private investigation city near me in a location with low crime rates. Choosing cities like Pine Bluff, Arkansas, which is one of the fifteen most dangerous cities in the entire United States, is a terrible idea. Granted, there might be lots of clients there who need help solving crimes, but the chances of becoming one of those victims would concomitantly increase. Thus, always check with government websites first to see if the city you wish to locate your business in is safe.
Obtain a Private Investigation Office in a Low-Crime Business Area:
Once you have settled upon a safe city to operate your private investigation agency in Edmond, OK in, you then need to choose a safe business area of that city in which to operate. Indeed, even within each city, some areas are safer than others. The safest areas are often the more affluent, but this is not always the case, because thieves often target these areas because they tend to contain vehicles and other nicer material items and money for crooks to steal.
Before making your decision, do a due diligence private investigation on the prospective area and check local crime tracker data that governmental agencies and news agencies often provide. Look to see what types of crime are most common for the area you are considering opening a private investigation agency in Oklahoma at, noting both the property crimes and violent crimes against people. Legal professionals can also ask other small business neighbors and police in their area about crime rates and known incidences.
Another often-overlooked idea of importance when selecting the best area to open an Oklahoma private investigation agency in, is to look around for signs of economic decline. If the area you are considering has vape/smoke shops, bail bonds offices, pawn shops, “fast loan” places that charge their clients exorbitant amounts of interest, then it is an economically depressed area. All these types of shops cater specifically to people who earn less money and who have less education, so prospective clients in these areas will not have the financial resources to pay large sums of money for extensive private investigations that require professional legal services from private investigators worth every penny.
Set Up CCTV Video/Audio Cameras Inside & Outside Your Property:
Another helpful tool in crime prevention is to set up plenty of video and audio recording devices both inside your private detective agency in Bethany, OK and outside the entire perimeter of the building. This can help serve as a deterrent not only to would-be thieves and burglars, but also to typically male clients who wish to harass and sexually assault female private detectives. Additionally, having CCTV cameras inside can help monitor staff’s work ethic and can also help prevent embezzlement and other forms of thievery.
Hire an Oklahoma Security Company for Added Protection:
Choosing to hire an outside security company to make rounds and check on property from time to time is also helpful. It is important that each homicide private investigator chooses to locate the best private security company that is not affiliated with their own PI agency. The objectivity needed is done for the same reason that lawyers should not represent themselves. Yes, some attorneys and even non-lawyers do function as their own legal counsel in court cases, but it is seldom a good idea.
While companies that offer bodyguard services and other types of criminal investigations can technically provide security services and drive-by surveillance, doing so risks losing the same objectivity that courtroom lawyers and doctors performing surgery need done. People operating on themselves, representing themselves in court, and protecting their own properties and possessions can lose objectivity and suffer from significant and costly blind spots in their own judgment and thinking.
Thoroughly Vet All New Hires into Your Private Detective Agency:
Before you find a private investigator to help conduct child custody investigations or do any other type of work, it is vital to first check them out very carefully. Below are some common key points to remember before you take on a new process server, executive assistant, private eye, mediator, polygraph examiner, or other legal professional for your office and field work:
Call Previous Employers – Especially Those Applicants Fail to List:
Call all previous employers, especially those within the last five or ten years. After doing a credit check on each job applicant, it is easier to find official jobs they have ever had by first running a credit check. Call employers they failed to list as well, checking with supervisors at those places of employment whom the applicants did not list but who have excellent working knowledge of their skills, honesty, and overall work habits.
Run Credit Checks on All New Hires:
Checking applicants’ credit scores is also advisable, because it gives a clearer picture and better insight into the individual’s level of financial and responsibility. What unmentioned debts do they have? Have they ever declared bankruptcy? How many jobs have they really had that they may have failed to mention on the employment application? Running a credit check, even though it requires the explicit permission of each applicant, is crucial.
Conduct Social Media Scans:
Social media scans are another great way to help ensure you locate the best sexual assault private detective to work at your PI agency in OKC. Doing a deep dive into their social media and other internet history can provide informative insights like no other background check can adequately provide. Our social media private investigators always thoroughly check out new job applicants with digital private investigations, prior to our agency owners hiring anyone new in to collaborate with us.
Run Civil & Criminal Background Checks:
Civil and criminal background checks at the national level also help provide imperative insights into a person’s life. What crimes have they committed, or which prosecutors have even accused them of, even if they did not end in convictions? How many liens and bankruptcies hide in their background? Do your due diligence private investigations and know this information, before you hire!
Verify All Degrees & Diplomas:
Anyone can say they have earned a specific degree or diploma, but just because someone makes this claim does not automatically make it true. Our private investigation agency in Edmond does pre-employment private investigations on all new applicants that include degree and diploma verification, prior to adding on new hires. Never skip this vital step in the vetting process.
Conduct Thorough Interviews with Multiple Staff Present on Hiring Committees:
When making hiring decisions, it can help to have multiple people on a hiring committee. While collective thinking often operates on a lower intelligence quotient range than individual thinking does, in some cases more heads can help. They can see different perspectives and notice different things, provided the owners of the process serving companies make it noticeably clear upfront that they want the specific opinions of each person and want honest feedback about each candidate.
Another terrific aspect of group hiring committees is that if the new licensed private detective or other legal professional turns out to be a bad hire, it is the group’s fault and not just that of the agency owner. Indeed, since everyone there will have to collaborate with them at some point, it helps if everyone gets a say in who comes in. The owners of the Oklahoma City private investigation agency can still make the final decision, but the hiring committee should get a say on recommendations that, except in rare circumstances, the agency owners should usually follow.
Require Applicants to Undergo Personality Assessments to Ensure the Best Fit:
There are plenty of personality assessments and other tests which can help employers know about a person’s personality type and overall suitability for employment at the best private investigation agencies in Tulsa. These assessments can include, but are not limited to, the Meyers-Briggs Personality Assessment, the Color Code Test, and others listed here.
Continually Monitor Active Licenses for Validity:
Always take the time to properly verify professional licenses that applicants present as real and valid, when they seek employment. Additionally, throughout the duration of the licensed professional’s employment, it is prudent to ensure that the individual keeps her/his/their professional license as a process server in Oklahoma, polygraph examiner, licensed private eye, etc., active with the appropriate governmental agency. Failure to do so can end up people finding themselves fighting off criminal charges, civil liability, and gigantic headaches!
These are just a few of the many pre-employment screening precautions that owners of private investigation agencies in El Reno can implement to help hire the best process servers and mediators in Oklahoma City. There are also additional techniques available that all human resource directors may use, as appropriate. The items above are just some of the most common, helpful starting points.
Set Up Motion Sensors & Automated Lights Outside Around the Entire Perimeter of Your Oklahoma Private Investigation Agency:
A healthy component to any comprehensive security system at a private investigation agency near me is to ensure there is plenty of lighting, especially motion-activated lighting, both around and inside of the building. Adding motion detectors will also help light up the area for CCTV cameras to catch crooks on camera. This preventive mechanism will also help remind would-be thieves and other criminals that people are watching them, helping to deter some people from continuing to commit crimes.
Install a Professionally Monitored Security System:
Having a professional security monitoring system that can help sound alarms and call for law enforcement backup is imperative to staying safe. That way even if there are no family and divorce mediators or process servers in Mustang, Oklahoma present to fight off would-be burglars, the security monitoring service can still blast an alarm and can alert police about the break-in. This tactic, when combined with other methods, can help lower the success rates of crimes against private investigation agencies in Broken Arrow, OK.
Build Up a Decent Working Relationship with Local Law Enforcement:
It never hurts to build up contacts with other small business owners in your area, especially if you operate your Oklahoma private detective agency out of an office park with other small business owners nearby. Get familiar with local police and others in your area, collaborating with them for safety and security. When crimes occur, they can better know the situation in advance and can also offer beneficial safety tips for crime prevention and safety.
Get to Know Any Surrounding Small Business Owner Neighbors:
As mentioned earlier, the best private investigators and process servers in Enid, Oklahoma will take the time to get to know their fellow business park neighbors. This makes participation in business watch associations and property owner associations easier, adding safety and security to all small business owners. Plus, if they are nice people, then it makes the overall enjoyability higher because having good friends and allies is more fun.
Begin a Business Watch Association:
Just as a neighborhood watch association can help keep a residential area safer, so can business watch associations. Everyone needs to stay alert, have a day, time, and medium for reporting suspicious and criminal activities, and plan on increasing improvements to preventive security measures. Combine this tactic with the others we have mentioned to have the best chance of staying safe.
Never Keep Cash or Other Valuables Unattended Inside Your PI Agency:
It is a bad idea to keep cash and other valuables on hand at the physical locations of PI agencies in Norman. This makes the currency and other valuable items vulnerable to both staff and outside burglars. Instead, keep cash deposited into banks and non-monetary items stored safely inside of safe deposit boxes for maximum protection.
Do Not Rely Upon Safes to Secure Your Valuables:
Even if there is a safe inside the private investigation agency in Ardmore, OK, this does not mean that a skilled, determined thief cannot swipe it anyway. Indeed, many safes provide little protection from people who steal the safes themselves, opening them up later at another location. Thus, utilize insured banks for cash deposits, and utilize their safe deposit boxes for other non-monetary valuables.
Immediately Report All Incidences of Crime:
It is also imperative to immediately report all instances of suspicious and especially criminal behavior to authorities. By failing to do so or by delaying the reporting time, you will needlessly give criminals the invaluable time they desire to finish stealing, murdering, or raping. Expedient crime reporting is of the utmost importance in crime prevention!
Utilize Reinforced Deadbolts, Bars Around Windows & Air Conditioners/Heaters & Across Doors, etc.:
While hardly foolproof, never underestimate the importance of adding extra strong deadbolt locks and bars onto doors for added security. In higher crime areas, the addition of bars on windows can help prevent thieves and other serial killers from breaking into private investigation agency offices and attacking serial killer private investigators. If these criminals are going to break in, at least make it exceptionally difficult for them to succeed!
Also, do not forget to put bars over external, exposed air conditioners and heaters. Far too many thieves will steal these for their freon and sometimes even take the entire apparatus. ACs and heaters can be incredibly expensive to replace, so take no chances!
Learn Martial Arts & Become Licensed to Carry Firearms:
Since not all crimes are against property, learning martial arts via the best mixed martial arts dojos like Edmond Premier Martial Arts is ideal. Knowing how to fight off would-be attackers is imperative to staying safe, because police might not always arrive in time to offer meaningful assistance.
Likewise, taking phase IV of the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (C.L.E.E.T.), also known as the firearms class, will authorize people working as licensed Oklahoma process servers and private detectives near me to carry handguns while on duty. Whether at the office or out in the field, this is vital to staying safe from violent offenders.
Share Your Location with Trusted Individuals:
The owners of our private investigation agency in Broken Bow, OK, highly recommend that all private eyes share their real time locations with others they know and trust. These people are usually their closes family members and friends, and when legal pros let their loved ones know where they are always, if something bad happens, it will help their family members and friends know where to send help.
Utilize Pepper Gel & Loud Portable Alarm Devices:
Pepper gel is also an excellent protective tool, and because it is non-lethal, private detectives in Stillwater, Oklahoma can use it more readily and in a wider range of dangerous situations. Even just pulling it out and aiming it at a would-be attacker can potentially deter the criminal from completing the crime, instilling fear of the bothersome spray. While pepper gel is of no match against a firearm, it certainly has its protective uses!
Portable alarms which scream out noise to alert others who are nearby can also offer some protection against attackers. Parental kidnapping private investigators can pull the cord and initiate the loud, incessant noise that can both distract attackers and alert others that a crime is occurring. Use these in conjunction with other tips we have listed herein.
Hire Additional Bodyguards, if Needed:
Some owners of private investigation agencies in Woodward, Oklahoma even go so far as to hire a bodyguard in Oklahoma to help afford them additional protection from bodily harm. While expensive, if there is a plausible threat against the life of one or more Oklahoma private eyes, then the extra safeguards can be well worth the costs!
These are just a few of many different preventive techniques that adultery private detectives can use to help protect themselves, their staff, and their property from miscreants who wish to cause harm. This is not a complete list; there are other safeguards that business mediators and polygraph examiners in Edmond, Oklahoma can take. If you wish to discuss this further, please contact the others of our private investigation agency in Wewoka, OK for more information.
