course description
"Skip tracing" is a term that refers to the process of finding a person whose whereabouts are unknown and is based upon the word "skip," which is often used to describe a subject who is believed to be "skipping out" on his or her duties and obligations- such as a debt or court appearance. Professional Process Servers oftentimes find themselves looking for people who are missing, not at their last known address or are evading service. Being able to offer skip tracing services to your process serving clients and having the ability to complete the toughest locate assignments not only offers an additional profit center for your agency but ensures that clients will continue to come back as a result of your success!
People are missing for a great number of reasons, but all typically fall into one of two categories, intentionally or unintentionally missing. This course is designed to teach and develop techniques that are required in even the most demanding skip tracing investigations. The course of instruction will introduce topics from determining the reason behind the subject's disappearance and the best methodologies employed to find each type, gathering required information through the use of traditional and creative investigative techniques as well as using information brokers or databases and brand new cutting edge Internet resources to the legal aspects of missing persons assignments and why it is a skip tracer's responsibility to ensure the safety of those he or she finds.
This course is approved by the Supreme Court of Arizona for 10 hours of instruction for Certified Process Servers requiring CE in order to renew their certification every year. An exam will be administered upon the conclusion of the program. If the candidate passes with a score of 75% or better, a certificate of completion will be issued in accordance with acceptable standards.
the author
L. Scott Harrell has been a professional investigator for over 17 years. He began a career in the intelligence and investigations tradecraft when selected to work with several intelligence units while serving our country in the United States Navy. Since his discharge, Scott has continued to apply the very special skills honed in the military through his own private investigation practice and service within the private security industry. Scott has worked with Fortune 500 companies, owned and managed two very successful agencies in Texas, Florida and Louisiana. He is also a noted speaker, mentor and author of eight (8) investigation-related books.
program outline
Skip Tracing
- Introduction to Skip Tracing
- The Liability of Skip Tracing
- The Legality of Skip Tracing
- Important Personal Identifiers - The Social Security Number
- Document Review and the Funnel Approach
- My Approach to Skip Tracing - Skip Tracer's Checklist
- Your Own Powers of Observation
- Pretexting
- Pretext Scenarios and Examples
- Commercial Information Brokers and Database Sources
- Credit Headers and Consumer Credit Reports
- Real-time and Historical Telephone Information
- Finding the Commercial Database Provider
- Cosigners
- Field and Phone Interviews
- Canvassing and Wanted Posters
- Understanding Public Records - Public Records on the Internet
- Using Email to Locate People
- How to View Email Headers
- IP Addresses and Deciphering their Location
- Internet Profiling
- Locating Military Members and Verifying Active Duty Status - Understanding Military Addresses
- Other Federal Resources
- Finding Homeless People
