| "This was taken out of our Investigators Manual"
As most of you know Parker Security & Investigative Services, Inc. is a family owned business, founded right here in Albany, GA in 1984. We have been very fortunate the past few years; Business is good! Good for security and investigations. For this manual though, I am only going to discuss the investigative end of the business. Yes, we have been very fortunate and lucky also. Lucky because we have managed to attract some of the best professional investigators in the whole State of Georgia and beyond, bar none. Therefore, I may be a little bias when I say we have the best Agency in Georgia. We handle criminal as well as domestic cases. We can debug a large manufacturing company or protect the most powerful dignitary. We do electronic surveillance as well as electronic counter-measures and we have operative agents.
As a result of our growing business I felt it very necessary to write a Parker Private Investigators' handbook and am looking to hire more investigators. So if you are reading this material you are one of the fortunate. : ;
First, let me say that I don't care how much or how little experience you have, you, however, must have the same philosophy as my lead investigators and me. This Agency's lead investigators are Jerry Merritt of our Tifton Office. Jerry is very tenacious when it comes to surveillance and is full of ingenuity, don't let him get after you! Ben Lockett is a former Secret Service Agent. As far as protection, I would trust him with my and my family's life anytime, if Ben is interrogating you, watch out! Dorene Parker, my wife, is a whiz on the computer and tailing people. If she can't locate you via computer database, nobody can. Lamar Parker, Jr., our son, lately he has not had a whole lot of time to perform investigations, he is busy managing the security guard service of our business. I used to tell him he was very, very lucky (he says skilled) because I have put a retired police detective on a case for four (4) days without results and Lamar would work the same case for one-half a day and gets results.
The fifth lead investigator is Yours Truly. After thirty-five (35) years in the business, fifteen for industry and twenty (20) my own, I am still learning everyday. So you can see we have an unbeatable source of professional investigators that can protect the President of the United States to finding out \what your neighbors are up to.
These few Investigators I have mentioned have one thing in common, they have the same philosophy when it comes to the Private Investigations industry.
Here are just a few traits (I am sure there are more) that I feel makes not a good investigator, but a great investigator. These traits are Loyalty, Self-reliance, Integrity, Desire, Reliability and Persistence. Loyalty is a must for anyone working with the Agency. If you can't be loyal to this Agency you won't be with us very long. |
The Parker PI also possess the quality of Self-reliance. He or she doesn't need a corporate policy manual to find the lunchroom - they use their nose. When they go to the courthouse to review an important file for a background check and are told "it's not available", they don't stop there and return to headquarters with nothing but "what else could I do?" They start asking questions. Where might it be? Is there a supervisor they can talk to? They will bend the rules and if absolutely necessary, they'll break them, but as gently as possible while never breaking the law. They will find a way to locate the file and obtain the needed information because if they don't, no one else will.
A key part of being self-reliant is the ability to improvise when the unexpected happens. Improvising is frowned on by many large bureaucracies, but is rewarded in our profession. This is why many investigators coming out of large business and government institutions often (but not always!) fail to thrive as PI's. After years of enslavement to policy manuals, they have lost the ability to think fast on their feet. Put a person without the quality of self-reliance out on a case and just wait until the unexpected happens. They'll act like a drunk that is seen "reckless walking and attempting to crawl".
The Parker PI knows right from wrong and is committed to right in both his professional and personal life.
Integrity means that evidence, witness interviews and other important data are never used to support one case theory or another. Bad news for the investigation is reported with the same unvarnished forthrightness as the good. If the Parker PI screws up - fails to be at a certain place or time as needed, or gets burned on a surveillance, or uses poor judgement, he voluntarily reports this to headquarters or the case lead investigator.
Integrity is the foundation of trust and once a case director or client's trust in an investigator is diminished, the value of the investigator is also diminished. Simply put, the greatest asset an investigator has is his integrity - and once he discounts this, he places himself in the bargain bin as well.
What is Desire? I'm talking about the desire to be a Private Investigator! A critical component of the Parker PI is that he or she wants to be one. Amongst those in our profession, there are the transients. One day they will be doing something other than investigating for a living and then there are the rest of us — the lifers. Find a lifer (or a potential lifer) and I'll have an investigator whose mind and body is in the same place.
I have found less desirable those who have never had a true desire to be a PI or those who had it and lost it. Individuals in this group are moonlighters who work in the profession but would rather be doing something else. Also in this group are long time investigators whose desire has been lost in job burnout.
The Investigator whose sole desire is to be an investigator will awaken at four in the morning and churn over the details of a case before going back to sleep when he wakes up in the morning, he suddenly has a fresh approach to try on a particularly tough case. The other PI who is not fully committed may awaken in the middle of the night but has thoughts of other interest, not the case. Which of these two mentioned would you think is most likely to come up with a breakthrough on any given case? |
The PI profession is not a profession for those fond of mysterious appearances and disappearances: for those who talk fast and dazzle us with their brilliance when present, but leave us in a state of disarray when absent.
They do not bring to court their report (hand written notes, etc.) then find that the client has a "cleaned up" copy from headquarters.
The Parker PI is always present for an assignment as requested. He or she does not "pick the case they want". No posse is needed to locate them when their services are required. When assigned a surveillance to start at 6 AM he is there at 5:45 AM, not 6:20 or later. And when not on duty he is only a phone call away. If not immediately reachable by phone and a message is left, he'll respond in a timely manner, never the next day. They understand that being reliable doesn't mean demonstrating that they can be reliable once or twice and then forget about it - it means proving it on every single case.
Reliability also means checking in with headquarters or the lead investigator everyday unless told otherwise. Remember our clients' don't have the patience that we do and they want continuous updates.
This is the secret behind so many "miracles" performed by top Pi's and is a quality that many, many "wanna-be" Investigators lack. Above all else, persistence is driven by a strong unwillingness to accept defeat - a strong attribute of the Parker PI.
This investigator will sink his teeth into a lead and not let go until it's bled dry of all possible usefulness. This is the Workers' Cornp Investigator who uses his own time to check up on the subject of an investigation; quietly and methodically noting patterns that will occur when he goes on the clock to conduct actual surveillance. This is the investigator who doesn't become disheartened when canvassing a large area, perhaps and entire town, for a license plate. He breaks the area up into quadrants in grids and methodically eliminates them one by one. The investigator lacking the quality of persistence becomes overwhelmed by the prospects of finding a needle in a haystack and, quits early, or becomes easily sidetracked.
As with reliability, persistence is not a trait that the Parker PI demonstrates he is capable of achieving on one or two occasions, it is a habit. He has it with him every single time out, just like his business card.
In summary, Loyalty, Reliability, Self-reliance, Integrity, Desire, and Persistence is the blue print for the Parker Investigator.
I hope each of you will read, understand and become familiar with my Philosophy for becoming a Parker Investigator. Some of you that have been with me for a number of years already know this and we feel the same way. Others that have been here a short time will feel this I am sure.
The following materials in this manual are to keep you sharp on cases and may help in some small way. Also, I am always willing to hear your ideas. I am always looking to learn. Good luck and welcome aboard!
M. LAMAR PARKER, LPD, LI
|