Hi There!

I need to hire a private investigator.  This is for a business
investigation in Nevada, California, and possibly Arizona.

We have strong evidence someone is selling trade secrets.  The
industry is aerospace & defense.

The investigation will probably involve uncovering hidden assets,
light forensic accounting, and 24/7 personal surveillance for one
week.  However, this matter does *not* involve personal matters (e.g.,
wayward spouse, missing person, drug usage, etc.) or anything like
that.

So here's the dilemma:  I am willing to spend top dollar for a true expert(s).
But the detective industry seems to lack normal standards of quality
control.  It also lacks "ratings" of past performance.  These ratings
may exist somewhere, but they do not seem to be public information.

There do appear to be quality standards for "loss prevention" in the
retail sector ---  but no similar quality standards for "personal
surveillance."
 
A 5-star answer would contain two things:

(1)   List of 4-5 investigative agencies in Nevada that seem legitimate. 
         These agencies could be small or large.  

(2)   List of 1-3 bationwide sites that "rank" detective agencies.
          For lack of a better term...this would be a kind of
"Consumer Reports" or "Zagat Guide" for detectives.

All comments greatly appreciated!


Thanks.
ron



P.S.   Thanks, frde.  I greatly appreciate your previous comments regarding Kroll.

Hello again nronronronro-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer another one of your interesting
questions. You are right that there seems to be very little in the way
of a credible ranking tool to use as a guide for Private Investigation
agencies. In fact, there doesn?t appear to be any such source. By the
very nature of their business they seem to be almost as coy as the
services they provide. After a futile search for such a resource I
strongly recommend you contact these Associations for the most
reliable information on who?s who (and perhaps, who?s ?not?) in the
business:

NEVADA INVESTIGATORS ASSOCIATION 
803 S Decatur Blvd 
Las Vegas, NV 
89107 
Phone: 702-870-9191

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF INVESTIGATIVE & SECURITY SERVICES
7501 Sparrows Point Blvd.
Baltimore, Maryland 
21219
nciss@verizon.net
http://www.nciss.com/

UNITED STATES PROFESSIONAL INVESTIGATORS NETWORK
USPI Network 
P.O. Box 92655 
Lakeland, FL 
33804-2655 
Email: info@USPINet.com
http://www.uspinet.com/


I?ve compiled a list of agencies that I felt (as you suggested) were
reputable businesses based on the information published about them,
their web sites, their areas of expertise and testimonials. To begin
with, I was most impressed with this company:

INTERNATIONAL COUNTERINTELLIGENCE SERVICES, INC.
http://www.icsworld.com/
?Our private investigators follow your instructions to the letter-
with no surprises. The most high profile personalities, from C-level
executives to government officials, can rest assured confidentiality
is totally paramount..... Only licensed, bonded, and insured private
investigators work on your case. Most of these investigators come from
Local Police, Federal Law Enforcement, FBI, CIA, DEA, and INTERPOL??

This company is headquartered in Arizona but it appears to be able to
do investigations practically anywhere ? worldwide! Simply put, there
seems to be no type of investigation that this major company is unable
to provide.
http://www.icsworld.com/private_investigation_services.asp
If you have a more URGENT matter, please call our toll-free number at
(800) 828-9198 24 hours a day to speak with a private investigator and
case analyst.

The investigation of hidden and shifted assets appears to be one of
their many areas of expertise:
http://www.icsworld.com/hidden_assets.asp
They can also provide air, land, sea and satellite surveillance:
http://www.icsworld.com/surveillance.asp

Be sure you check ALL the links on the left margin of the page. Impressive indeed!

. . . . . .
Here are some others I found impressive:
. . . . . . 


LIABILITY MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL, INC.
David Baross, President - San Francisco Bureau 
(San Francisco bureau, Corp Headquarters)
316 California Ave., Ste 23
Reno, NV 89509 
Phone: 888.897.0267 or (650) 366-6573
Fax: (650) 368-7936
Web: http://www.lmiglobal.net
E-mail: DBI007@mindspring.com 

Founded in 1990 by David W. Baross to provide full service quality
professional investigative services in a number of area to prestigious
legal, insurance, corporate and personal clients throughout the world.
Our staff specialties are to conduct sensitive investigations,
specialized surveillances, covert video and photography.  We handle
workers' compensation, personal injury and fraud cases, as well as a
variety of database research.

. . . . . . 

FILLEY & ASSOCIATES'
http://www.filley.us/businessservices.html#intellectualpropertytradesecrets
The company is located in San Francisco, California but is licensed to
do investigation in Nevada.
For a free consultation: 1-866-392-0072
If you have a concern involving proprietary information, Filley and
Associates can help you discover where and how the information is
being compromised.  We can help you locate the principals and contain
the problem. The company offers a free consultation to queries
throughout the United States (California and Nevada are mentioned
specifically).
?A broad range of sophisticated on-line databases provides us with
access to critical information on individuals and businesses.  We also
have access to a network of highly trained professionals, which
enables us to compile the most complete reports possible on individual
and corporate assets. Filley & Associates' operatives are highly
proficient in the art of surveillance.  We use mini digital video
cameras with night vision capability and telephoto lenses to capture
the activities of the subject.   We also use state of the art
concealment cameras, which we use as called for by the investigational
situation.  We carefully comply with all laws to protect the
admissibility of the information, while at the same time, aggressively
pursue the case goals.?

. . . . . .

INTERCEPT INVESTIGATIONS
http://www.interceptinvestigations.com/
This company is a multi-state organization that provides a full range
of investigative services to many different sectors ranging from
surveillance to corporate investigations.
NEVADA TELEPHONE
(702) 547-5200
TOLL-FREE TELEPHONE
(877) 547-5200
Monday ? Friday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM  (Pacific Time)

. . . . . .


ROYCE INVESTIGATION, INC.: 
Bruce Royce
769 Basque Way Ste 300
Carson City, NV 
89706 

Email: broyce@royceinvestigations.com 
Phone 775-885-7766 
Fax 775-885-7764 
Mobile 775-720-7850 
Specialization: Asset Searches, Background Investigations, Attorney
Support Service, Criminal/Civil Investigations, Corporate Due
Diligence, Employee/Witness Interviews, Witness/Subject Locate
Searches, Public Record Research & Retrevial & Process Service.

. . . . . .

AMERICAN INVESTIGATORS
AMERICAN PROCESS SERVICE 
PMB 130 
10580 N. McCarran Blvd., Suite 115 
Reno, NV 89503 
Phone: (775) 337-1117
Fax: (775) 337 - 2102
Web: http://www.american-investigators.com/
Provides professional investigations to law firms, the insurance
industry, major corporations and industry, and individuals throughout
northern Nevada. Among other tings they offer Covert Surveillance and
asset investigation.
. . . . . .

BODO PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS
http://www.bodopi.com/
http://www.bodopi.com/investigative-services-arizona-california-nevada.html
Telephone: (877)381-7009 (available 24hrs/7days) -- Voice Message
Fax: (877)381-7009 (available 24hrs/7days)
This one is located in Arizona but also serves California and Nevada,
as well as nationwide in matter including but not limited to theft,
trade secrets and/or copyright infringement.
?It does not matter what type of investigation you need?Regardless of
whether your investigation is a large matter or a small one, whether
its simple or complex, if it needs to be done overtly or covertly, we
are not intimidated. We've been there, we've done it, we've taught it
in school and we are still working at it and enjoying!?


I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

Private Investigations

Private Investigators

Ranking

Review

Recommended

Referral

Licensing

Nevada

Arizona

Worldwide

Global

Trade secrets

tutuzdad----or should I say Sherlock Holmes?!

Simply outstanding, as always.
ron