Bug Sweep in Birmingham

Tuesday 15 Mar 2022 - 11:36:20

Earlier in the month, our counter surveillance and bug sweep in Birmingham team received a call. It was from a concerned female who thought that her property was being bugged by her ex. The female (we shall call her Jane) explained to our bug sweep in Birmingham team that the reason she thought this was […]

Private Investigator In Southampton Solves Two Cases

Saturday 12 Dec 2015 - 11:39:36

Our private investigator in Southampton has been busy. In this case study we are going to tell you about two different tasks received by the team. Both of them involve cheating spouses. You will see that the investigations were carried out using different private investigation techniques. Case No 1 In the first case our private investigator in […]

Bugging Device Detectors

Friday 27 Nov 2015 - 12:23:49

This week our private investigator in South Yorkshire tells us about his use of bugging device detectors to ensure the safety of a young Mum. The initiator of the bugging device detectors sweep was a young Mum (we will call her Martha, to protect her identity) Martha had sole custody of her young son. Due to […]

Private Investigator In Derby Catches A Charity Thief

Friday 20 Nov 2015 - 10:01:03

Our private investigator in Derby was surprised when they got a call from a local charity shop. As we all know charity shops receive donations of not just money but clothes, furniture and other items too. The charity shop in question (which our private investigator in Derby was asked to look into) takes in all […]

Private Investigator In Bedford Catches A Cheat

Friday 13 Nov 2015 - 12:56:56

It is a regular occurrence for our private investigator in Bedford to be asked to carry out infidelity investigations. We have selected a case from a few weeks ago to tell you about today. A higher proportion of our infidelity cases are brought by women. In this case it was a man. (Let’s call him […]

Private Investigator In Sunderland Tackles Employee Dishonesty

Friday 6 Nov 2015 - 10:19:50

Our private investigator in Sunderland has been deploying vehicle tracking devices. Why? You ask. Well, let me tell you. The austerity measures have hit the whole country hard, especially in the North East of England. Our private investigator in Sunderland received a call from the senior manager of a Human Resources team of a well-known local business. She […]

Private Investigator In Carlisle Tackles Noise Pollution Successfully

Friday 30 Oct 2015 - 10:54:52

The Alpha 1 Legal Services Private Investigator in Carlisle reports to our head office on a monthly basis. As normal they sent us their end of month report. As we reviewed the statistics from last month against previous months, we noticed that there had been a change. There has been an increase in requests for our […]

Private Investigator in Durham Tackles Anti Social Behaviour

Monday 26 Oct 2015 - 09:40:35

Alpha 1 Legal Services private investigator in Durham is finding that they are getting more and more work as evidence gatherers for cases about antisocial behaviour. The increased demand for this type of service could be as a result of massive policing cuts. Our private investigator in Durham was asked to collect evidence on a rundown […]

Private Investigator In Middlesbrough Helps To Find A Missing Person

Friday 25 Sep 2015 - 12:41:28

Alpha 1 Legal Services’ Private Investigator in Middlesbrough is regularly asked to locate missing people, this case study is about such a case. Quite a few years ago, the family and friends of a woman from Middlesbrough had become concerned that she wasn’t answering her phone and she hadn’t been seen around the local area for […]

Mystery Shopping in the London Area

Sunday 13 Sep 2015 - 01:25:37

Mystery shopping in London is the topic of this week’s case study. We accepted the job of mystery shopping for a medium sized retail business that had eight shops across London. The mystery shopping visits in Hampstead, Greenwich, Woolwich, Notting Hill, Clapham and Bethnal Green all went without a hitch and the business owner was […]

Bug Sweeping In Fife Uncovers Listening Devices

Friday 14 Aug 2015 - 09:31:19

Bug Sweeping in Fife uncovers hidden listening devices! Bug sweeping and counter surveillance practices are becoming part of big businesses routine security protocols as industrial espionage regularly hits the news for large companies and even professional sports companies around the world. There have been reports in the last few months of it affecting baseball and […]

Private Investigator Oldham

Friday 24 Jul 2015 - 11:20:45

Our private investigator in Oldham, received a call from a middle aged woman, living in Oldham in Greater Manchester (who shall, of course remain nameless). We won’t tell you how upset the lady was or the all of the back story that she told our private investigator in Oldham about (that wasn’t really pertinent to […]

Hacking

Monday 20 Jul 2015 - 08:38:26

Using counter surveillance hacking methods in your home and office is not always enough. It is definitely a good start though. Hacking……………..The problem is, we don’t just use our internet connected devices in the home and office. Almost everywhere we go there are free WIFI hotspots. Hacking has hit the news this week as more […]

Wireless Surveillance

Friday 3 Jul 2015 - 09:38:34

You may have seen our recent Facebook picture posts showing examples of the equipment we use in our wireless surveillance jobs.  Wireless surveillance techniques have been around for a while now, in fact longer than you probably realise. CCTV and wireless surveillance cameras are prolific in today’s society. It was in 2013, The Telegraph reported […]

Covert Surveillance Drones

Friday 26 Jun 2015 - 01:08:29

It’s been a little while since we looked at using covert surveillance drones. In our previous posts we have been focused on the ethical issues surrounding the use of drone equipment and we thought that it was about time that we looked at the top 3 ways they can benefit the private investigator in carrying […]

Private Investigators & Stingray Technology

Friday 19 Jun 2015 - 09:02:09

Private investigators are not the only people carrying out covert operations in the UK at the moment. The BBC has reported that the UK government are using Stingray Technology to monitor mobile devices used by the general public. It is thought that the Metropolitan Police have owned stingray technology since 2009.  The UK National Crime […]

Private Investigator Tackles Dog Fouling

Friday 12 Jun 2015 - 09:56:21

In this weeks post we are tackling a topic that will surprise you because it is not normally thought of as a particular concern of professional private investigators in their day-to-day jobs. Private Investigators tackle dog fouling – The problem is Dog Poo. Dog fouling is a problem because with the inevitable, inadvertent step in […]

Private Investigators in Ireland

Friday 5 Jun 2015 - 09:02:00

Private investigators in Ireland, and people who use them will have to be even more careful as the need for a Private Investigator licence becomes law in November. In Ireland the Private Security Authority (PSA) will be the overseers of the private investigation industry. They are already responsible for licensing the security industry with licences being […]

Private Investigator for Surveillance

Friday 29 May 2015 - 12:22:49

A story released by ABC news earlier this month tells how a private investigation company used their skills to catch a farmer who had been scamming an insurance company that had been paying his workers comp claim. It only took four hours of surveillance for the private investigator to get video footage of the farmer […]

Private Investigators & Cheating Husbands

Friday 22 May 2015 - 02:17:46

When most people think of private investigators they think of someone who is always trying to catch a cheating husband or wife. Although there is often much more to a private investigator’s job, it is still the case that matrimonial matters are still the bread and butter jobs for most private investigators. It could be […]

Bug Sweeping Services

Friday 8 May 2015 - 03:45:15

Privacy can be vital to businesses, governments and even local councils alike. This is for a number of reasons, such as keeping research and development ideas from prying competitor eyes or, in the case of government and local councils, there are meetings that are held in private due to legal concerns where they discuss a […]

Private Investigators & Data Recovery

Friday 1 May 2015 - 09:00:12

Data Recovery and Private Investigators Data recovery techniques are a specialist skill honed by professional private investigators. We should all know by now that posting on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and the myriad of other social media sites can cause some serious issues between husbands and wives, friends, relatives and employers. A simple post […]

Checking Private Investigator Credentials

Friday 17 Apr 2015 - 11:05:56

Private investigator credentials – It is a sad fact that there are a large number of people in this world who are just plain dishonest. And it is also a fact that a large number of these dishonest people do end up being investigated by professional Private Investigators. What’s the point of private investigator credentials? […]

Drone Rules & Cheating Spouses

Friday 10 Apr 2015 - 09:15:47

You may have seen our Facebook post earlier this week about the private investigator in America who openly uses a drone during her investigations. What makes this story interesting to the UK private investigation industry is not only the types of investigations the drones can be useful for, but also how legislation is being formed […]

Court Appointed Private Investigator

Friday 3 Apr 2015 - 12:26:33

A court appointed private investigator? America is leading the way in court funded private investigation. Its becoming an intrinsic part of a defence strategy that private investigators are called in to interview potential witnesses for the defence. It stands to reason that a single person that has been accused of a crime does not not […]

Lie Detector & Cheating Spouses

Friday 27 Mar 2015 - 07:35:11

Polygraph (lie detector) machines are known for being truth finders hence the common name of lie detectors. In this post we will be looking briefly at their history and reliability and the devastating effect the results can have if they prove you have a cheating spouse or partner. In America as far back as 1911 […]

Cheating Spouse

Friday 20 Mar 2015 - 12:53:20

There is an age old argument that human beings are not “meant” to be monogamous and that they are in fact genetically disposed to have multiple partners. Just because humans are capable of monogamy, and less than 5% of all species of mammal actually are, it doesn’t mean that they should be. We humans seem […]

Private Investigators and Phone Hacking

Friday 6 Mar 2015 - 01:18:29

Private Investigations are dependent on the quality of data gathering techniques used. The methods used must comply with the law. In this post we look at the consequences of data gatherers, ie. journalists and private investigators, that got it wrong. Phone Hacking in the News. In the news this week you may have seen the […]

The Private Investigator and Social Media

Saturday 28 Feb 2015 - 02:47:15

Private investigator and social media – If you can cast your mind back to the last post, we showed you just how many people across the nation (according to Ofcom) have at least one social media account. The thing about those social media accounts is that they can also be used to network with other […]

Social Media & Private Investigators

Saturday 21 Feb 2015 - 12:34:11

Social media has taken the world by storm. According to Ofcom, in 2014 66% of adults that use the Internet in the UK have a social media profile on at least 1 platform. Facebook is still the most popular, although Twitter and Pinterest amongst others are catching up. In the two youngest age groups measured […]

RFID Skimming – Protection Measures

Friday 13 Feb 2015 - 12:42:00

Last week we found out about RFID technology and that it can be, and unfortunately is, used by the criminal element of society to ‘sniff out’ the details stored on the magnetic strip/chip of your credit/debit cards. Don’t panic! There are things that you can do to protect yourself and that is the subject of […]

RFID Skimming

Friday 6 Feb 2015 - 04:01:19

As promised, this week we are going to look at RFID Skimming. First of all we need to know what RFID is. RFID is short for Radio Frequency Identification. In simple terms this is when electromagnetic fields are used to store and transfer data. This technology can be used as a chip that is not […]

Private Investigator Spy Apps?

Friday 30 Jan 2015 - 10:51:59

Private investigator spy apps? An integral part of the modern, professional private investigator tool kit is the mobile phone. Of course these days they are not just a phone but they are a smartphone. They are great. Almost everybody has one. One of the best things about them is the ability to download apps. Apps […]

Surveillance Guidelines in Care Homes

Friday 16 Jan 2015 - 11:16:26

Surveillance guidelines – Welcome back to our blog, this week we are providing a brief summary of the last 6 guidelines issued by the Care Quality Commission in respect of the use of CCTV and covert surveillance camera systems by the providers of care facilities. What Are The Covert Surveillance Guidelines? Remember that this is […]

Surveillance in Care Homes

Saturday 10 Jan 2015 - 12:58:59

Surveillance in care homes? Since our last post the Care Quality Commission have published guidelines for health and social care workers regarding the use of surveillance in their facilities. This and next week’s post will summarise those guidelines. A care provider must have reasons for using covert surveillance in care homes. Common acceptable reasons are the […]

Covert Camera Systems

Friday 19 Dec 2014 - 01:15:00

This week we are continuing the theme of covert camera systems and CCTV in care. There have been many terrible reports about the mistreatment of not just vulnerable elderly people but also disabled people that live in residential care. There have been numerous incidents in the news over the last few years and a Panorama […]

Covert Cameras in Care Homes

Saturday 13 Dec 2014 - 12:57:15

Last month we looked at the different covert cameras that can be used to catch a cheating husband or wife. This week we are going to look at the use of covert camera systems in care homes. What is the evidence for covert cameras? There are 18,000 care homes in the UK that provide either […]

Private Investigator & Safety Regulations

Saturday 6 Dec 2014 - 01:36:18

Private Investigator safety? As technology progresses, the technology companies find cheaper and cheaper ways of doing things and so the cost to the consumer is vastly reduced. Only 20 years ago the price of a CD burner was in the tens of thousands, now they can be bought for just a few pounds. This is […]

Private Investigator Services And The Police

Friday 28 Nov 2014 - 01:46:43

If you are a regular reader of our blog you will perhaps remember that back  in September we wrote about how the police service were asking victims to help them solve the crimes that had affected them. This was in part due to the drastic cuts in police numbers and funding. Well, failing police forces […]

How to Catch a Cheating Husband With DVR’s

Saturday 22 Nov 2014 - 04:46:03

How to catch a cheating husband? This often requires a Private Investigator to record images from a distance with limited light or dark conditions. In this weeks post we look at the advantages and disadvantages of the different night vision technologies that help the Private Investigator work throughout the night. How to Catch A Cheating husband? […]

Cheating Wife

Friday 14 Nov 2014 - 06:46:53

In our recent posts we have generally classified the cheat as the husband, although relationship statistics released earlier this year show that 14% of married women admit to cheating. The same research revealed that the average length of an affair is 2 years. If you suspect you have a cheating wife or girlfriend a professional […]

Cheating Husbands

Friday 7 Nov 2014 - 11:06:38

We are staying with the theme of catching a cheating husbands again this week as we look at the features of the cameras available in today’s market that a professional Private Investigator keeps in their investigation tool kit. Probably the most sophisticated technology for surveillance is the MK1 Eyeball, (for the uninitiated this is the […]

Catch Cheating Husband

Saturday 1 Nov 2014 - 02:38:22

We are venturing back to the bread and butter work for most private investigators. Yes you’ve guessed it, we are talking about catching cheating husbands again. In this post we will be looking at how a private investigator can help you find the truth. Catch Cheating husband – Methods Employed Some women are very cautious […]

Cheating Husband Prenuptial

Friday 26 Sep 2014 - 09:26:46

It’s been a while since we last looked at cheating husband,wife,boyfriend,girlfriend and divorce, so we thought we would revisit this issue, but from a different perspective, a cheating husband prenuptial. When the divorce stats began in 1858 there was 24 divorces in the entire year as oppose to 118,140 in 2012. There were 262,240 marriages […]

Police Cutting Back?

Saturday 13 Sep 2014 - 01:07:39

Last time we looked at how the police are already asking civilians to investigate crimes that they have been the victim of. This week it’s been reported across the media that the powers that be want to reduce the number of serving Chief police officers. Are the Police Cutting Back? The BBC interviewed Irene Curtis […]

Investigators, still a Job for the Police?

Saturday 6 Sep 2014 - 10:10:14

Did you know Great Britain has a national network of investigators & Police, well it does. In 2013 according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) there were 129,584 full time serving police officers in England and Wales. The Telegraph published an interesting report yesterday about how the police are needing the public to support […]

Private Investigators Investigate Fraud

Friday 29 Aug 2014 - 01:46:11

Whether your case involves benefit, insurance or corporate frauds there are things that should be considered when you investigate fraud. This post looks at the top 10 things that need to be taken into account to ensure a successful conclusion to a case when you investigate fraud. The Law. Investigators carrying out an investigation of […]

Private Investigators on TV

Friday 22 Aug 2014 - 10:41:16

Private Investigators on tv? We are fast approaching the end of the summer holidays and we thought we would take a lighthearted look at popular ones. It has been harder than it sounds to gather a list of fictional private investigators rather than the classic cop sleuths we are inundated with. So here are our […]

Private Investigators Support Solicitors

Saturday 16 Aug 2014 - 09:12:56

Private Investigators support solicitors, however, we can all guess why a member of the general public would want to hire a private investigator firm. The classics are to trace missing relatives or confirm the faithfulness of a partner. However, as a solicitor you might consider the option of using a one-stop shop. This is where […]

The Private Investigator Data Protection

Friday 8 Aug 2014 - 10:00:20

We all need a data protection refresher course every now and then. This post looks at the Data Protection Act 1998 and the implications for Private Investigators. Recent reports in the national newspapers about the activities of Glenn Mulcaire highlight the need to bear the Act in mind when carrying out investigations. It should be […]

Vehicle Tracking Use

Friday 25 Jul 2014 - 09:29:51

With vehicle tracking use, back in May this year we wrote a detailed post that looked at the different types of technology that is used in vehicle tracking devices, we are going to build on that this week by looking at the circumstances where it will be useful and the guidelines that should be followed. […]

Private Investigators Use Drones

Friday 18 Jul 2014 - 10:27:40

Drones are like the remote control planes and helicopters we had as children. However technology has moved on in leaps and bounds and some models are no longer just toys as they carry recording equipment and can even connect to the internet and download data in real time. Up until very recently hi-tech drones have […]

UK Investigation Company Wins Award

Friday 11 Jul 2014 - 09:39:56

This week we are taking a break from looking at all the different aspects of private investigation and it’s associated tasks. UK Investigation Company Wins Award So what are we looking at instead? Yes, you’ve guessed it, the M and A Awards. UK Investigation Company Wins Award, But who? Yes, it Alpha 1 Legal Services! […]

Licensing Professional Investigators

Friday 4 Jul 2014 - 11:18:59

We are half way through the year and getting ever closer to the government’s introduction of  Professional Investigators Licensing, and with this licence will come the regulation of the industry. In this post we will be looking at the Top 5 benefits that licensing will bring for both the general public, as well as to the […]

Counter Surveillance Techniques

Friday 20 Jun 2014 - 09:42:45

One of the main themes in our blog has been surveillance, whether it’s been the equipment used or the benefits of using surveillance techniques to catch a cheating husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend or partner. For this mini series of posts we will be looking at counter surveillance techniques. The first post is about using counter […]

Hire Private Investigator

Friday 6 Jun 2014 - 08:52:48

How to choose a Private Investigator? There are a lot of Private Investigation companies out there, In fact it is estimated that there are around 10,000 investigators in the UK, so we need a few ways to narrow down the options and ensure you hire the right investigator. So, how do you choose the right […]

Investigator Essentials

Friday 9 May 2014 - 02:23:48

Builders have hammers, plumbers have plungers. Every trade person has their own collection of essential tools without which their job would be nigh on impossible. Private investigators are no exception. Private Investigator Essentials This post looks at the top 5 tools every local private investigator should own. 1. Cobra Deluxe Spy Stick. Retailing at approximately […]

Child Abduction

Friday 25 Apr 2014 - 11:04:42

In this weeks post, we have gone for a change in direction as we tackle the sensitive subject of parental child abduction. Child abduction (parental), the CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) has reported the rather startling fact that in total over 140,000 missing children every year. This equates to one child every 3 […]

Tackling Benefit Fraud

Friday 18 Apr 2014 - 08:59:26

Continuing on with the theme of investigating fraud, this week are going to look at the murky world of the people that claim benefits that they are not entitled to. Fraud…….It’s a huge problem that cost the UK taxpayers approximately 2 billion pounds in 2012. In December last year the Express ran a story which […]

Forensic Data Recovery

Friday 4 Apr 2014 - 11:13:21

These days we all have constant access to digital data through the ever-evolving range of electronic mobile devices. We all have our own digiprint (a bit like a footprint but harder to eradicate) that leaves a trail across our social media platforms, call and text histories. This makes it much harder to get away with […]

Cheating Spouse?

Friday 28 Mar 2014 - 10:05:15

You may have noticed that in the last few posts there has been a theme. We have looked at the different ways you can find hard evidence that you have a cheating spouses. This was including the use of a private investigator. So you have found out that your one true love is no longer […]

Catch Cheating Partners

Friday 21 Mar 2014 - 12:04:50

Can you tell if your husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend is cheating? What do you do if they deny it? How do you know if you have a cheating partner? We can help catch cheating partner. The statistics from the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 2014 shows that 41% of married people admitted to […]

ICO – Data Protection

Friday 28 Feb 2014 - 09:39:59

ICO – Data protection should be at the top of the list of things to be concerned about for everyone. ICO – Data Protection, The law that was issued in 1988 states that any information, in any format, (digital, paper, visual or audio) that is held about a person must be secure, must be up […]

Private Investigators Image

Saturday 7 Dec 2013 - 12:36:40

The private investigators image that springs to mind, when one thinks of private investigators is the type of private eye or snoop that was romanticised in cinema. Like Jack Nicholson’s character in Chinatown, the British Sherlock Homes or even Hercule Poirot as made famous by Agatha Christie. However, professional investigators services are in demand in […]

Private Investigators In The UK Win Top Award

Saturday 23 Nov 2013 - 12:41:50

Alpha 1 Legal Services, one of the leading private investigator companies in the UK, is pleased to announce it has been voted as “UK Investigation Company of the Year 2014/15” at the Acquisition International M&A Awards. Private investigators win award! Alpha 1 Legal Services operate not only across the country with a number of legal […]

Private Investigators & Process Serving

Saturday 16 Nov 2013 - 01:35:44

As a professional process serving company it never ceases to amaze and mystify us here at Alpha 1 Legal Services, particularly on a Friday. At approximately 4:30 in the afternoon, we will receive a stream of calls from solicitors, government departments and other agencies with a request process serving to serve documents upon an individual or […]

Private Investigators and Licensing in the UK

Saturday 28 Sep 2013 - 02:52:08

The Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee report has now been published. The Report makes a number of recommendations to Parliament, for the licensing of the Private Investigators industry which includes: – 1. The term “Private Investigators” be protected for use by those regulated. 2. An introduction of a two-tier system of licensing of a private […]