The many hats of the private investigator in the criminal justice field

Private Investigator also known as Private Detective requires broad knowledge to be very successful. You need broad based training, just like many other criminal justice professions. The last thing you need is to be called for a job only for you to discover that you are not equipped to handle that job. In this article, I will discuss some of the many hats (jobs) private investigators may be called to wear.

1. The private investigator may be called to wear the hat of Interviewer. This requires their talking to people to gather facts.

For example, a law firm preparing for a case in court may hire a private investigator to interview witnesses. Though a lot of people will call this interrogation when done by a private investigator, but the job here is just to help the law firm gather the facts.

2. The private investigator may be called to wear the hat of a Researcher. This involves going over mountains of paper to fish out information. In this digital age, this may involve using the computer and the internet.

It will be wise then for the private investigator to be high tech savvy. Investing time and money in computer training will not be a bad idea for those that don’t want to forgo work in this area.

3. The private investigator may be called to wear the hat of a Surveillance Person. Surveillance can be said to be synonymous with investigation. In the old days, this is probably the majority of the job done by private detectives.

An example is spouse that suspects his/her partner of cheating. He/She would hire a private investigator to follow their partner to catch them in the act of cheating. Private investigators normally accomplish this through surveillance.

The surveillance would normally be captured on video or still camera. This way, the private investigator will have the physical evidence to show the person who hired him/her. In the current reality TV craze, there is even a television show on this. The host would video tape the cheater, sometimes with hidden video camera. The video tape is then played on television.

4. The private investigator may be called to wear the hat of Store Detective. Theft is a big problem for retail stores. To help combat this problem, retail stores would hire private detectives.

The detective’s job is to catch shoplifters or employees that try to steal goods or merchandise. The detective will usually be hidden out of sight and most likely use hidden video cameras to watch shoppers and employees. If there are shoplifters, you can be sure the private detective will catch them.

There you have it! The many hats private investigators can wear in their profession. Those that prepare themselves with the right training will have plenty of jobs at their disposal. Who knows, they could end up being TV stars, like the star of the TV show, Cheaters.

Choices and charters in cleveland schools

If you’re looking for the latest and most innovative educational trends, you need look no further than Cleveland Schools. Charter schools, schools that are run privately, can be either non-profit or for-profit organizations, and can sometimes be selective of the students they accept. Charters in Cleveland schools often receive district money to run the school.

In Cleveland Schools, and indeed throughout the state of Ohio, charter schools are referred to as community schools. They are all independent, public schools. Even though they are funded by taxpayer money, they operate free from many of the rules and regulations that traditional public schools are obligated to follow. These Cleveland Schools are financed by a per-pupil allotment from the state tax funds, but do not tend to share in local property tax revenues. Parents of students within the Cleveland Schools district may choose to send their children to a charter, or community school free, of charge. These Cleveland Schools are also nonsectarian, and cannot refuse ANY students enrollment for any reason.

The Cleveland Schools’ board encourages families to make their decisions for the fall as soon as possible. In some cases, visits will be made to individual families who have not made their choice known. This will continue until all students in Cleveland Schools are enrolled in the school of their choice.

All around the country, charter schools have had their share of press. In some big cities, like Boston, where poverty-level school districts had been under serving minority students for years, charter schools have caught up with the other schools within four years, and continue to improve. Massachusetts has rigorous standards for its charter schools: it is cautious in approving schools, and maintains tough regulations for those schools. They are also willing to close the schools that just don’t work. In contrast, many educational experts describe Ohio’s charter school program as a “hastily assembled, poorly funded, and laxly regulated hodge-podge of educational dice rolls.”

More than half of the charter monies set aside for these community schools (Cleveland Schools included) is going to for-profit companies. In fact, the state “has an unusually heavy reliance on profit-seekers,” said Gary Miron, the Charter Evaluation Center’s chief of staff. “For-profit operators aren’t necessarily a problem,” Miron said, “as long as safeguards exist to ensure that they’re serving the public good, not just their own.” Unfortunately, that’s where Ohio’s charter schools, and those within the Cleveland Schools have fallen short.

The charter school movement in Ohio has been partisan, ideological, and divisive. Charter schools throughout Ohio and in Cleveland Schools were promoted as a way to sabotage urban public schools that many people thought to be hopeless. Ohio jumped into charters, trying to get as many up and running as possible. Unfortunately, officials just didn’t take the time to stop and think about how to make them work. According to Miron, “The result was inadequate funding, too rapid growth, ineffective oversight, and a lack of meaningful consequences for schools that simply ignored the rules.”

Attending a charter school within the Cleveland Schools district can be a rewarding experience for students and parents alike. It is extremely important, however, to go into it with one’s eyes open.

Study guides - are they helpful

Have you ever purchased a study guide that promises to teach you the the great and amazing “study secret” that no one has ever heard of? In most cases, this type of hype does not carry any real content or any fulfillment to the many promises they make. Hence, It will be my intention today to try to guide you on how to find out the real study techniques that lead to success in your studies. First of all, let me start out by this premise:

There are no real short cuts or secrets to gaining knowledge, it's a matter of hard word and patience. Hence the saying: “Patience might be sour but its result is sweet”. Although there are no (or very few) real study secrets, there do exist certain study techniques that will make your studying a whole lot easier and even more effective. As you yourself might know, there are numerous ways of studying and I can't compel you to choice a certain way that doesn't fit you, hence I strongly urge you to do the following:

No matter how you learn the best (by visual experience, kinetic etc) make sure that you do not change horses in midstream concerning the way you learn, ie do not flip flop between different learning approaches. This will inevitable confuse you and may even worsen your study results in the long run. Remember that studying a small amount of information each day on a long time period is several times better than studying an immense amount of information over a short time frame. Contingency is a vital component in your studies, never forget that!

This article was not written in order to spell out all the thousands of different study techniques found under the sun but in the hope of making you realize that one can systemize the way one studies and that this change really can make a difference. Therefore, I urge you once again to sit down and reflect for a moment; how do you learn the best? Be sure to write down your answers and review them with your self and see if you can make any general conclusions, you might be stunned to see that you might have had a bad approach for too long.

Boston schools battle over mcas scores

Boston Schools are right in the middle of current concerns over stagnated student scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Exam (MCAS). For the second year in a row, test score are flat, causing concern to both Boston Schools and the state of Massachusetts.

The main concern is over MCAS results for grades 3-8, and especially at the third grade level. Boston Schools tend to mirror the state, with some minor differences. The only grade level that showed improvement overall was tenth grade. An impressive 84% of students passed the English and math portions on their first attempts.

Why all the pressure for Boston Schools to perform to these high stakes testing criteria? The 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires all students to perform at a “proficient” level on state given tests by 2014. Proficient is the second highest rating given. So two years of stagnant test scores concern officials of Boston Schools.

Both the NCLB act and MCAS tests inspire heated political debate in Boston Schools and the political arena. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has been a staunch supporter of MCAS testing. He most notably threatened to take funding away from New Bedford Schools last year when the district wanted to award diplomas to students who had not passed the MCAS.

Current Governor Deval Patrick is sending a different message to Boston Schools. Patrick and others appeared yesterday before the Joint Commission of Education to urge members to use a variety of diagnostic methods to determine graduation status, rather than rely solely on state testing. Many Boston Schools’ teachers have long argued that portfolios of student work, report cards, term papers and creative expression of materials should be included in an overall assessment.

Romney, and other testing proponents, see this attitude as part of the problem. During his tenure as governor Romney accused the teachers’ union and the democratic led legislature of hindering progress when they refused to approve his initiative of merit pay for teachers. This battle between accountability, pay for performance, and recognition of multiple learning styles represents the crux of the disagreement of both sides nationally and in Boston Schools.

So what do the recent flat scores mean to Boston Schools? Experts say the problems could lie in many areas: poorly trained teachers, poorly paid teachers, racial gap issues, class sizes, or lack of preschool preparation. The fact is that educators, administrators and teachers in the Boston Schools don’t have a one size fits all explanation for the problem, or an answer for it. The most likely outcome will be more pilot programs to address these issues, and actions based on the results of the programs. Boston Schools is one of the most watched districts in the nation due to its size, inner city schools, racial mix, and proximity to some of the best universities in the nation.

The many reasons to get a business degree online

It seems that every year, the world we live in gets more and more frantic. There simply does not seem to be enough time in the day to go back to school anymore. But thankfully, there is a solution.

Many adults today who are faced with busy schedules are choosing to get a business degree online. That means that you get a degree without ever having to leave your house. The perks of obtaining your post-secondary education this way are numerous. First of all, your schooling can revolve around your schedule. You work when you want to work and the rest of your life will be uninterrupted. That is why many people with children at home choose this method to further their education.

If you are interested in the business sector, there are a variety of options for you to choose from. You could take a network management program, a golf course management program or even get a Master of business administration.

One of the most popular programs to get a business degree online is in business administration. If you get your degree in this online program you will be set for a number of different career options.

In today’s business world it has become increasingly important to have a bachelor’s degree if you plan on advancing in your field and getting that big promotion. Business is an industry that is continuously growing so it is important for you to stay at the forefront of the competition. If you get your business degree online, you will be first in line when it comes to advancing and you will be sure to get a call back from important interviews.

Before deciding to get your degree online, there are a few things that you should take into consideration. First of all, you need to be a self-motivated person. This means that you are able to set your own deadlines, create your own schedule and make sure that you adhere to that schedule. Since you won’t have a professor breathing down your neck, it will be important for you to stay on track.

You will also need to have a reliable computer with a fast Internet connection. Since all of your work will be done on your computer, the better the equipment, the less stress you will have to endure.

There are of course countless advantages to getting a business degree online. First of all, the cost of your textbooks will typically be included in the price of tuition. If you were to attend a college for a business program, you would have to pay both tuition and the cost of textbooks separately.

If you are worried that you will not be able to afford the tuition, there is usually financial aid available to those who qualify. And since the tuition is drastically lower than other institutions, it will take you half as long to re-pay the loan.

Earning a business degree online could in fact be one of the most important decisions of your life. In a short, relatively stress free time, you could turn your entire life around. And you will save money by not having to hire a baby sitter, not paying for transportation, and you can also avoid the distractions of college campus life.

People from all age brackets have chosen this path to further their education. The success rate is incredible and most have been able to find gainful employment in the business field. So don’t let your talent go to waste and consider earning a business degree online.

A quick education on actual cash value and replacement cost

It’s sad but true – many people only purchase homeowner’s insurance because they’ve borrowed the money to pay for their home and their lenders require them to purchase a homeowner’s insurance policy until the home is completely paid for. Therefore, not everyone who purchases a homeowner’s insurance policy puts much thought into the ins and outs of the homeowner’s insurance policy they purchase.

If you’re one of these people, you may not be familiar with the actual cash value coverage and replacement cost coverage offered by homeowner’s insurance policies; therefore, you might want to take the following information as a quick education on actual cash value coverage and replacement cost coverage.

There are two basic ways you can be compensated by your homeowner’s insurance policy. You may be compensated by the actual cash value or on a replacement cost basis.

If your home or any of its contents are damaged or lost due to a factor covered under your homeowner’s insurance policy, you may choose to be compensated by actual cash value coverage. This means you’ll be paid the depreciated value of your damaged property. One reason people opt for actual cash value coverage because they can’t, or don’t want to, replace the property that has been damaged.

On the other hand, if your home or any of its contents are damaged or lost due to a factor covered under your homeowner’s insurance policy, you may choose to be compensated by replacement cost coverage. This means you’ll be compensated the amount of money it will take to replace the property that has been damaged or lost. The amount you’re given is usually the amount it will cost to replace the damaged or lost property at its current price. You will be given the amount it will take to replace the damaged or lost property with another that is similar in type and quality of the one that was damaged or lost.

The role of geographic profiling in serial violent crime investigation

Thanks to films like silence of the lambs, many people associate criminal profiling with the methods and techniques developed by the FBI at the Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico.

There are, however, a number of other approaches that can be used in the course of a criminal investigation. The role of one of these other approaches, geographic profiling, will be outlined in the course of this article.

Geographic profiling is an information management system and investigative methodology that evaluates the locations of connected serial crimes to determine the most probable area of offender residence.

It can be applied in cases of serial murder, rape, arson, robbery and bombings.

Background and History

The name most closely associated with geographical profiling is Kim Rossmo. Rossmo began studying geographical profiling as part of his PhD studies at Simon Fraser University (British Columbia, Canada).

He studied under professors Paul and Patricia Brentingham, who had developed a theoretical crime model which examined where crimes were most likely to happen, based on offender residence, workplace and leisure activity.

Put simply, the Brentingham model maintains that we all have an 'activity space' related to the areas in which we live, work and play and that this activity space produces a discernible pattern of movement around the city.

In relation to criminal activity, therefore, it follows that an offender has to know about a particular geographical area before he or she begins selecting crimes to commit; and where the offenders movement patterns intersect within this geographical area, will to a large extent determine where the crime takes place.

Kim Rossmo noted that the Brentingham model was examined primarily in relation to crime prevention and was interested in approaching the topic from the opposite perspective i. e. asking the question, what does the location of a crime say about where the offender might live?

Acknowledging the potential investigative use of this research the Vancouver Police Department established the worlds first Geographic Profiling Section in 1995. Since it's launch, Scotland Yard, The FBI, The New York Police Department and The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have all called upon the services of the geographic profiling section.

How Does Geographical Profiling Work?

Geographic profiling works on the premise that the location of a crime site can provide the police with vital information. It assesses and predicts the offender’s most likely place of residence, place of work, social venues and travel routes etc.

Geographic profiling consists of both quantitative (objective) scientific geographic techniques and qualitative (subjective) components e. g. a reconstruction and interpretation of the offender’s mental map.’

The primary geographic technique is a computerised system known as Criminal Geographic Targeting (CGT). Put simply, spatial data i. e. data relating to time, distance and movement to and from the crime scenes is analysed to produce a three-dimensional model known as a jeopardy surface.

The jeopardy surface contains height and colour probability codes which when superimposed onto a map of the area in which the serial crimes have been committed give an indication of the likelihood of offender residence or place of work.

Although the science underpinning geographic profiling can be difficult to comprehend, it’s easy to see how this approach can offer practical assistance in the course of a criminal investigation. As Rossmo points out:

‘By establishing the probability of the offender residing in various areas and displaying those results on a map, police efforts to apprehend criminals can be assisted. This information allows police departments to focus their investigative efforts, geographically prioritise suspects, and concentrate patrol efforts in those zones where the criminal predator is likely to be active’.

Geographical Profiling Process

A geographic profile would typically fit into a criminal investigation as follows:

A series of crimes is committed.

The crimes are investigated via traditional means.

Linking analysis conducted to ascertain which crimes are connected.

Psychological profile of the unknown subject conducted.

Geographical profile constructed.

New investigative strategies developed and pursued.

Geographical Profiling Methodology

In preparing a geographic profile, a number of operational procedures will be followed. These include:

Examination of the case file: Witness statements, autopsy reports & psychological profile (if available).

Inspection of the crime scene.

Meetings and discussions with lead investigators.

Visits to the crime sites when practical.

Analysis of local crime statistics and demographic data.

Study of street, zoning and rapid transit maps.

Overall analysis and report submission.

To find out more about geographic profiling and criminal profiling in general visit all-about-forensic-psychology. com

Online certification

A certification is a statement indicating the participation or completion of the beholder to a significant event or affair. It becomes evident in the form of a certificate, a letter-sized parchment or board paper containing details on the certification granted to the awardees or participant. Only authorized signatories confirm the veracity of every certification.

There are different ways to award a certification. The significance of the event often tells what the certification is all about. Events like graduation, meetings, and trainings may award certification to its participant.

The following discusses further the possible certification that can be given to a person:

Diploma. A diploma is a certification that guarantees a student that he or she has completed his education at a certain level. It is also a passport to a job that he is applying for. Most importantly, it serves as a living legacy of a person’s achievement through the years of completing the recognized education system.

Certificate of Participation/Attendance. This certification is given to people who have been involved in a scheduled meeting or seminar. The event covers informative interaction between the host and the audience. Commonly, this even lasts for only a day and for as long as one-week depending on the coverage of information to be tackled. It is usually organized for a specific group of people who are at par or interestedly involved with the topics offered in that event.

Certificate of Completion. This certification is offered for people who took short-term courses. Training is the most common example to have this kind of certification. This event also covers a specific group of people who needs to take such course for further advancement of knowledge in their field. Training may last a week or up to a month depending on the coverage of the topics. Examples of this are trainings attended by seafarers, which are important before they can be admitted to work on a vessel.

Professional Certification. This is awarded to people who have passed the qualifying exams to acquire their distinction as a professional. This certification is required by some companies for an applicant to be admitted. This is a proof that a person is capable of performing the job professionally having enough knowledge with the career he or she is pursuing. Common example of this is the Microsoft certification. The certification granted by Microsoft varies from different field of expertise. One can acquire as much as he can as long as he has enough to knowledge to pass the company’s exams.

Certificate of Recognition. This certification is usually awarded to people who host a specific event or provides the support through education. This is a recognition for their valuable support to their participants. They are professionals in the field they are teaching contributing more knowledge to the participants of the event. They are commonly referred as the guest speakers or trainers of an event.

Certificate of Merit. This is usually awarded to outstanding students or participants of an event. The person who receives this has been active in contributing knowledge or information to everybody in an event. The person has also met the standard requirements more satisfactorily.