FAQ’s – Surveillance

Q. Are you licensed and insured?
A. We are licensed by the State of California Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Security and Investigative Services to conduct investigations in the state of California. We carry in excess of twice the legal requirements for insurance.

Q. Do you have bi-lingual investigators? 
A. Many of our investigators and support staff are bi-lingual in English and Spanish.

Q. What type of Investigative services do you provide? 
A. While we specialize in surveillance, we also provide AOE/COE, research services, interviews and witness statements.

Q. What geographical areas do you cover? 
A. While we are able to provide service throughout California, we primarily work in the following counties: Monterey, San Benito, Merced, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Yolo, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Marin, San Francisco, Contra Costa, Alameda, and San Mateo. By agreement, we can assist you beyond these areas.

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Q. How much will my investigation cost?
A. All investigations are different. After a discussion to learn your investigative needs, we will provide an estimate of the cost.

Q. What kind of research do you provide? 
A. We provide supplemental research first and run a complete background check as needed. We routinely run searches of numerous public access websites, social networking sites, private investigator-only database sites, and court searches.

Q. Do you use sub-contractors?
A. Yes we do. They are a select group of qualified investigators who we know, trust, have close relationships with, and who work with us year round. The sub-contractors we use are carefully screened and interviewed, and go through a selection process much like an employee would. They undergo reference checks, review of video and report writing skills, and equipment checks. We never obtain investigators to work cases from the yellow pages, one of the PI association websites or a listserve.

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Our clients would never know we have used a sub-contractor because the work product we deliver is seamless. The reason for this is that we utilize qualified, skilled and experienced investigators.  We manage and strategize all cases from beginning to end.  

Q. What if I want photographs instead of video?
A. In general, we always shoot video. We have the ability to pull still photos from our video. In almost all cases of surveillance, it is best to have video, because it captures both sides of an event, not just a moment in time that may be argued away in court or mediation.

Q. What if I want to have more than one investigator on my case? 
A. We are capable and experienced at staffing and managing several multi-agent teams at the same time. We often assign more than one field agent to our surveillance. In some settings it is a functional requirement to achieve success that we use more than one agent. In these cases, agents are provided high quality Motorola walkie-talkie radios for improved and immediate communication. 

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