SPI's Blog

 Mike and I were honored to present a 4 hour block of instruction on Criminal Investigations and Interview Techniques for GAPPI, Georgia Association of Professional Investigators. This was for continuing education training required by the state. We had 62 attendees and a great response to the class.

 Southern Professional Investigations was hired to review officer complaints about Lithonia Police Chief, Roosevelt Smith. Click here to read the full article from The Champion about the scope of SPI's investigation in Lithonia.

​It appears that Spring is here and people are getting tired of staying home from the pandemic. It is just March 22 and we have caught three cheating spouses and working on a 4th. Two of the spouses were wives, and one was a husband who is a deacon in his church. If this is any indication of the future, I would predict we are going to be pretty bus...

 We just completed a three week internal investigation on the Hogansville Police Department. The City Manager request us to look into issues that had come to his attention. After interviewing numerous officers and citizens the results were made to the City Manager last week. During the investigation a Sgt resigned. Then Tuesday 11/2/20, the ch...

I've been working on a domestic case for almost two weeks. Ive caught the husband at the girlfriend's house several times, but I have not been able to obtain video of them together. Last night, he decided to spend the night, so I went out at 3:30 AM and got video of his vehicle parked in the driveway. Then today, he went to her house and then left....

We recently were contacted by a client that suspected infidelity on her husband. Within two days, we identified the apartment building he was going to and visiting his girlfriend. It took a little longer to identify her since it was a gated complex. The bottom park of the parking deck was for visitors and the upper portion was gated for the residen...

I have done a previous blog on this topic, but I think it is worth going over again. What do you look for or consider when you are thinking of hiring a private investigator to work for you? First look at their background and experience. How long have they been in business? What type of Investigator are you seeking? Are you looking for one to conduc...

 A woman from out of state contacted me last week. She stated she had met a man on a dating web site for over 50. This site has been advertised on tv. She stated over a few months they continued to chat and she would call him on his phone. He told her he wanted to marry her. Then he began to ask for financial help with his job. Over sever...

Thank you for all you have done to help us out with our court-martial.I know I speak for both MAJ Wagner and I when I say it was a delight to work with Mr. Baker in person, and we also really appreciate everything Mr. Rundles did for us on the back-end during and before trial.Although we did not get a full win, we did end up with a better result th...

​We have teamed up with Amy Hayes a criminal defense attorney in Douglasville, GA. She is easy to work with and we make a great team. We have recently worked a sexual assault case. I like the way we can shoot ideas off one another on the case and discuss what needs to be done next. She is a go getter. 

There was a federal trial in Athens last week for a former Probate Judge from Hart County. I had been requested by the defense attorneys to dig into the background of the women that made accusations of improper behavior on the part of the judge. I spent two months interviewing people and doing research. There was quite a bit of information that I u...

This month we had two cheating spouse cases. The first one, the client placed a GPS unit on her husband's truck and we began to monitor his movements. We told the client to be patient and let us see what his patterns of behavior were. He started going over to the suspected girlfriends house out in the country, but only staying there for about 20 mi...

 In the past few weeks we have had several calls asking us to conduct surveillance on a relative or ex spouse to determine if they are using illegal drugs or even selling them. We try to explain to the client, that this is very difficult since most drug usage or sales are taking place behind closed doors. We tell them we can do the surveillanc...

 In over 22 years in the private investigative field I had something happen yesterday that has never happened before. I received a call from the answering service stating a person need me to call them asap. They were in fear of their life. First thing I thought was they have mental issues. I called this person and he told me that he had been i...

November has been a pretty busy month for us. We have caught four cheating spouses, two husbands and two wives. One case involves a police officer's wife and the other an attorney's wife. In addition we have been requested by the US Army to assist in a sexual assault investigation that covers several states. We also have been called in by a lo...

I have recently updated my website. While doing this I noticed something on other investigator web sites that peaked my interest. These include PI's in the Atlanta area and in other parts of the country. "We have over 48 years of combined law enforcement experience" or "former law enforcement". Have you thought about what this is really telling you...

We conducted an internal investigation on the Police Chief of Hiram, GA at the request of the City Council. After interviewing all of the officers and numerous former officers we determined there was some definite problems within the police department. Before we could make our presentation to the City Council, the chief resigned. Follow this link for a news article on Channel 2, WSB

By: Brad Schrade

The Watchdog Blog

February 7, 2018 2:30 AM

Problems have grown so dire in the Hiram Police Department that City Council took the unusual step of hiring a private investigator to look into the Chief Todd Vande Zande’s actions.Now, with the inquiry nearing its end, the chief doesn’t want the details of the investigator’s findings aired in public. He hastendered his resignation hoping to “eliminate the council’s need to discuss in any detail the findings of that investigation,”according to a report by Channel 2 Action News.Some officers say the department in the small city 27 miles northwest of Atlanta has been in turmoil since Vande Zande took over in 2013. More than half of the cops in the small 21-officer agency have left during his tenure. The council last week discussed the private investigator’s findings in a closed-door executive session.

We recently were contacted by a wife who suspected her husband was having an affair. She was scheduled to go out of state for a week associated with her job and wanted us to watch him. On a Sunday evening he drove her to the airport and as soon as he dropped her off, he went straight to an apartment complex in Roswell, GA. We went there and located his car, but due to the large size of the apartment compex, we could not determine which apartment he was visiting. He was there for several hours and then went back to his home in Buford, GA. The next eveing we were waiting for him at the apartment complex. Whe he got off work he came directly to the complex. He pulled into a parking space in front of one of the buildings and remained seated in his car. Another car followed him and parked nearby. A young girl in her early 20's exited the car and walked over to him and began talking with him. She then went upstairs to her apartment and returned about five minutes later. She got in the husband's car and they left. We followed them to the clients house in Buford, where they spent the night. Needless to say, when I updated the client she was pissed. Not only was she upset we had confirmed the affair, but that he had the nerve to take the girlfriend to her home. We continued surveillance on the home to get the "money shot" of them exiting the house. The remained there until 6 PM then ext day. However we did get the video of them coming out of the house together. It appeared the girlfriend was pregnant. The husband was in his late 40's and the girl in her early 20's.

When the wife returned from out of town, she confronted him about the affair. He admitted the affair and the girl was pregnant, but the baby was not his. I think the percentages of that being his baby were pretty high, Dont you?

Jim Baker has recently moved to the Canton, Cherokee County, Georgia area. We now have an experienced investigator located in the northwest part of Georgia for all of your investigative needs. We are still operating out of the Gwinnett County and Gainesville area. 

Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior and / or activities; i.e., closely watching over someone or something.  Types of surveillance include, but are not limited to, audio surveillance, video surveillance, and mobile surveillance.  The types of surveillances we are routinely requested to do are video and mobile surveillance.  They usually go together.  In Georgia, audio surveillance is illegal unless there is one-party consent to the conversation. 

The perception of conducting mobile surveillance is that it’s easy to do.  Anyone can follow someone else.  On television, it’s depicted as being easy.  I’m sure you’ve seen on television a vehicle at night, parked on a deserted street, and the occupant – most likely a police officer or private investigator is watching someone.  The target walks out, gets into their vehicle, and drives off.  Then, the police officer or private investigator turns on their headlights, pulls out, and follows the target without being detected.  Yea; right.  It doesn’t happen that way.  The reality is surveillance isn’t easy.  It takes practice; it takes experience; and there are techniques a good private investigator will use to keep from being detected and not lose the target. 

If you’re a prospective client in a domestic investigation, it is much easier for us to conduct surveillance if you haven’t recently accused your spouse or significant other of being unfaithful.  They will be relaxed; they most likely will not pay attention to anyone around them; and they will go about their normal activities.  If you have recently accused them of being unfaithful, they will be careful and most likely be looking for someone following them. 

If you’re a prospective client in a child custody investigation, it is much easier for us to conduct surveillance if you haven’t accused your spouse (or ex) or significant other of doing something to the child or children or accused them of not being a good parent or caregiver.  The same as above applies to their behavior. 

If you’re a prospective client in a workers’ compensation investigation, it is best to hire a private investigator long before litigation.  The claimant is usually not concerned with anyone checking on their activities.