|
|
|
Colleen Collins-Kaufman - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Colleen Collins-Kaufman is a professional PI and multi-published author. She and her PI business partner run a detective agency as well as teach online classes to writers developing legal thrillers and detective fiction. They also blog about investigative trends and tips for writers developing sleuths at Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes.
[View Colleen Collins-Kaufman's Extended Author Bio]
[Display Categories] Sort By [Title] [Newest] [Oldest]
Colleen Collins-Kaufman Email Alerts
- Diving Into the Deep Web
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Search-Engine-Marketing] The term Deep Web refers to the hidden web content not indexed by standard search engines. Some estimates are that the Deep Web is 500 times larger than the surface Web (the visible Web). This article highlights why the Deep Web is invisible, where to find more information about the Deep Web, and examples of several Deep Web people searches.
- While Surfing the Internet, Don't Send Your Personal Data Out to Sea
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Security] You're reading this article on the Internet, right? Just keep in mind that while you're surfing the 'net, don't toss your personal data out to sea where it's available for anyone to view, or worse, use. This article lists a few precautionary tips for keeping your private data private while using the Internet
- Staying Alive in Tough Times - Tips For Marketing Your Private Investigations Business
[Business:Marketing] You don't have the money to advertise your private investigations business? You think marketing means shelling money out of your already stretched finances? This article offers numerous free, or relatively cheap, ways to advertise your PI business, techniques that apply to other small businesses as well.
- Writing Sleuths - Locating Next of Kin
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] Police officers, coroners, and other entities sometimes work under a time constraint to find next of kin so they can be personally informed before they read or hear about their loved one through the media. Other times, if a John/Jane Doe died without any links to family members or friends, locating next of kin can be a long, involved process. This article provides a list of investigative tasks that real-life professionals use, and which writers can employ in their stories, to locate next of kin.
- Private Investigations - When Does Surveillance Become Stalking?
[Legal] In the private investigations field, sometimes the question "When does surveillance become stalking?" arises. This article addresses the ethics in one's motive for conducting surveillance, the legal recognition of its validity, and the hallmarks of stalking in the eyes of the law.
- How to Safeguard Your Internet Dating & Verify Someone's Background
[Relationships:Dating] In today's fast-paced, insular world, it's not always easy to meet other singles. Which is why Internet dating is so popular--it's convenient and easy to meet people via the computer in the comfort of one's own home. But just because it's comfortable doesn't mean a person should be lax on the security front. Below are five tips for safeguarding yourself while meeting others on the Internet, and a guideline for verifying the facts of a person's real life.
- Signs of Infidelity & Catching the Cheater
[Relationships:Affairs] Is he cheating? Is she having an affair? Is the uncertainty eating you alive? More than relying on a feeling or a hunch, check out the below signs of potential infidelity.
- Private Investigations - Picking a Fixed Surveillance Spot
[Business:Career-Advice] When planning a stationary vehicle surveillance (also known as a "fixed" surveillance) for an investigation, a smart private investigator (PI) will scope out the location ahead of time and pick a few primo spots from which to surveil. This article provides a few tips for selecting a spot as well as conducting the surveillance.
- Five Tips For Becoming a Private Investigator
[Business:Career-Advice] Many people are curious how private investigators (PIs) get into the profession and assume most were former cops (and they're right-a majority of PIs are former law enforcement officers). But whatever a person's background, the common traits found in all good PIs are curiosity, creativity, and perseverance. This article offers five tips toward becoming a PI.
- Writing Sleuths - Personal Injury Investigators, The Modern-Day Sherlock Holmes
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] In the course of investigating accidents, injuries resulting from intentional actions, and other civil wrongs, a personal injury investigator needs to know what will make or break a case for a claimant in a courtroom. In addition to being amateur pathologists, physicists, and mathematicians, a personal injury investigator must have an understanding of the law as well as how to interpret reports developed by law enforcement and traffic policemen. Truly, they are renaissance characters and in a way, they are the modern-day Sherlock Holmes.
- Writing Sleuths - The Down and Dirty Art of Trash Hits
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] A trash hit, also known as a trash cover or dumpster diving, is a technique many private investigators (PIs) use to successfully mine for clues. For writers, it's a handy technique for your fictional sleuth, but before your character dives into trash, take into consideration the following legalities.
- Five Tips For Online Safety
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Security] This article provides five tips for protecting yourself online, including tips for blocking, documenting, and reporting any unwanted communications on the Internet. Below are five tips for protecting yourself online, be it in emails, website postings, forums, blogs, or other places on Internet.
- Writing Sleuths - Six Tips For Developing Characters Who Find Missing Persons
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] Today's private investigators (PIs) specialize in different fields of expertise, from legal investigations to financial fraud to personal injury and more. One such specialization is finding missing persons, also called skip tracing and doing "locates." This article provides six tips and techniques to help writers shape realistic sleuths who specialize in find missing persons.
- Four Free Tips to Check Out a Potential Date's Background
[Relationships:Dating] Sometimes when we meet someone new who's attractive, interesting, and fun, it's easy to be blinded by the thrill of it all. But before you take it to the next step and go out on that first date, it's wise to take off those blinders and check a few facts about this wonderful stranger. Below are 4 tips for checking someone's background that cost you nothing but can give you peace of mind.
- Writing Sleuths - Testifying in Court
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] You've writing a story where your sleuth-protagonist has tracked a killer, surveiled a wayward spouse, or located a black market enterprise that threatens to undermine a politician. Wonderful story material! Just don't forget that everything your sleuth has done in the field must be done with an eye toward the ultimate presentation: testifying in court.
- Writing Sleuths - Five Tips For Developing Bodyguard Characters
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] The fearless, protective bodyguard who is willing to put his/her life on the line to protect a client has long been a popular character in books, TV, and movies. In private investigations, this field of work is also called executive protection and personal protection (for this article, we'll use the term "bodyguard work"). This article provides suggestions and tips for developing a bodyguard character.
- Seven Tips For Safeguarding Your Personal Information
[Legal:Identity-Theft] Safeguarding your personal data is essential to avoid it falling into the wrong hands, which could lead to fraud or identity theft. This article provides seven tips for protecting your personal information.
- Five Tips For Checking Out Too-Good-to-Be-True Stories
[Relationships:Dating] Everybody loves love. There's nothing like the dizzying sensation of meeting someone new, looking into their eyes, listening to their stories. But are these stories or facts? Below are five too-good-to-be-true stories and tips how you can quickly check the facts.
- Writing Sleuths - Pet Detectives
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] Pet detectives are trained to find lost or missing pets. They use a mix of profiling, search-and-rescue, surveillance, even grief counseling techniques. This article defines the role of a pet detective, their skillset and tools, and techniques writers can apply to develop a pet detective character.
- Writing Sleuths - The 21st Century Private Eye
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] Gone is yesterday's PI (private investigator), the solitary Lone Ranger who single-handedly righted wrongs, leaving the world a better place as he disappeared down those mean, dusty streets to another case. This article blows the dust off yesterday's myths about PIs and re-introduces a more technological-, legal-, and business-savvy, 21st century PI.
- Writing Fiction - Trials 101
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] Are you writing a story with a courtroom scene and need to add some realistic touches? Or perhaps you're fleshing out a trial attorney or other legal player in the courtroom? This article is a brief, introductory "Trials 101" (U.S. legal system) to help you understand some of the real-life players in the courtroom, as well as the history of trials.
- Writing Sleuths - Depicting Rural Surveillance
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] Writing a whodunnit, an amateur sleuth, or a hardboiled private eye story? Whatever kind of sleuth you're writing, part of his/her skill set is to conduct surveillance, but keep in mind that surveying someone in the city is different than in the country. This article offers tips for accurately depicting a rural surveillance, of if you'd like to add some story conflict, simply have your sleuth do the opposite of these tips!
- Writing Sleuths - 7 Tips to Finding Missing Persons
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] Are you writing a story where your fictional PI, law enforcement officer, or amateur sleuth needs to track a missing person? Or maybe you're simply curious about how to start looking for that long-lost friend? Here are 7 tips for finding people that you or your fictional character can use.
|
|
|
