Be Your Own Detective

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:50:00 +0000

I know it has been a while since i last posted. I keep trying to think of new issues and new ideas as to why you may need to be your own detective.

The most obvious reason now-a-days is that the economy has gone sour and many cannot afford a real detective. Like I have always said, I am in favor of a person using a real detective when they need one - there is no online service that can replace that. However, you may need to do some preliminary screening first to cut down on the detective time you really need.

Remember, these online services are not the end all to finding people, but I have found folks that otherwise I would not have, and it was not the kind of thing I would have hired a detective for.

So be safe, be sure, and when needed - be your own detective.

Identity Theft from Dead People

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:46:00 +0000

Dead men tell no lies... but do they run up bills? It so happens that some cases of identity theft involve people gleaning death notices and managing to steal enough information to steal the identity of a dead person.

This is not a new scam. As a matter of fact, in 1994, I arrested a guy for possesion of about 600 pounds of marijuana. He was driving a motor home that had the stuff tucked away everywhere. When he was arrested, he had a legitimate driver's icense and ID out of Georgia. Later we found out he was not the guy, because he usd the ID and Social Security number of a dead guy to get his license. He simply got the information from a death certificate - then got a copy of the guuy's birth certificate, used his social security number and obtained a driver's license.

We found out after we sent his prints in after his arrest that he had another identity, and later learned of the dead guy's true storey.

Now days the Social Security Administration has a dead persons ssn database. These records are updated when any deaths are reported. However, there are still some cases where the Social Security Numbers will not be updated.

Anyhow, there still are those out there that are stealing identities from dead people. It is mre difficult to do hat it used to be, but it still can happen. One of the ways to make sure it does not happen is reporting any death to the Social Security Administration.

Of course - you can use one of the search options I have here at this site to confirm any information.

Mopst of all - Be Safe!

Be Your Own Detective - Avoid the Cash for Clunker Scam

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Beware of the "Cash for Clunker" Scam!

Yes, as soon as there is a new government program - someone turns it into a scam. The idea that you can trade that old clunker and gas-hog for a green machine or other new car is OK. However, beware of the scam - it works like this:

"According to NHTSA, there are a slew of fake websites that have suddenly popped up all over the internet advertising the program. These bogus sites look very official with their very credible displays of the banner ‘CASH FOR CLUNKERS.’ Mistake number one, the official name of the program is the Car Allowance Rebate System... ...They will ask you to pre-register for the program and some will even request your social security number. Giving out your personal information on these scam sites can only result in identity theft issues. Please note, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO REGISTER OR PROVIDE PERSONAL INFORMATION TO ANY WEBSITE IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM!"

The story can be found here.

OK boys and girls, there is only ONE official website for the program and that is www.cars.gov. That is the only official website for the program by the National Highway and Safety Administration.

As President Obama likes to say: Don't act "Stupidly" Don't give out your personal information when not needed.

Be Your Own Detective - Avoid the "Free Dog Scam"

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:53:00 +0000

There is another twist on a free product scam. It is free dogs. Usually the scammer is a "Missionary" going to someplace in Africa and has some full breed dogs that need to be "adopted."

However you will need to pay for the shipping of the dogs and of course some where along the line they want the usual - your name address phone number and bank account.

The bad part of this scam is - some scammer saw a real ad and based the scam on the ad. There have been Missionaries that have gone places that need to have their dogs adopted. However - they never have asked for bank account numbers.

What has happened now is that as soon as people start seeing an ad about missionaries needing dogs adopted, people begin to dismiss it as a scam without reading the ad through.

You can help honest people - just check them out, and be cautious. If need be conduct your own background check.

Be Your Own Detective - Explore Belgium's Taste in Coke

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:56:00 +0000

OK, I know I am an American, and I am very American at that. Even with all of my international police mission experiences. But geeze. How can Coke be enticing to drink when someone is pissing on it?

Ugh! I took the photo of this coke machine in Brussels Airport last time I passed through. Does anyone think that a nice cold coca-cola all covered with piss be refreshing?

I know European thinking is different, but who is the idiot that thought that this kind of marketing would sell a coke.

Note: I was near this machine for over an hour and a half an no one, not one person bought a coke from this machine. Duh.

Maybe the pissing boy is the National Symbol of Belgium - wouldn't surprise me, but still - a pissed on soft drink just has no appeal to most folks :)

Stay Safe

From Microsioft to National Defense?

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:57:00 +0000

Ok, it seems that BO thinks that Bill Gates is Secrtary of Defense. But ssshhhhh maybe secretly he is. Oh well, what can we say? Someone must have mis-programmed the teleprompter again :)

Yeah, well after all Robert Gates was originally a Bush appointee. So there has to be something wrong with him :)

Well, I guess we shouldn't expect too much from BO.

Maybe someone in the administration should learn to check out DoD's website once in a while.

Not much happening right now - y'all stay safe!

Acorn in the News AGAIN!

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sun, 10 May 2009 11:11:00 +0000

ACORN is back in the news with more voter fraud cases against it.
"On Monday, Nevada officials charged Acorn, its regional director and its Las Vegas field director with submitting thousands of fraudulent voter registration forms last year. Larry Lomax, the registrar of voters in Las Vegas, says he believes 48% of Acorn's forms "are clearly fraudulent." On Thursday, prosecutors in Pittsburgh, Pa., also charged seven Acorn employees with filing hundreds of fraudulent voter registrations before last year's general election..."

Article can be found here.

Yet interestingly:

ACORN is eligible for over 2 billion in stimulus dollars
ACORN is directly connected to the OBAMA campaign (it is public record)
ACORN will assist the census bureau with the census (it will probably be done as well as the voter registrations - 48% fraudulent)
ACORN is directly connected to SEIU - (The Service Employees International Union and ACORN have exchanged funds back and forth.)
The Service Employees International Union spent $30,816,092 in independent expenditures in support of Barack Obama
Wade Rathke, the founder of ACORN is now tied into the union. He left ACORN because his brother Dale Rathke embezzled $1 million as the CFO. ACORN was going to bring suit, but they dropped it. Wade Rathke, apparently, did not report that to the police and was removed from ACORN, at least according to their board minutes. Wade Rathke is active with the Service Employees International Union as their chief organizer.

If you don't believe me. Be your own detective and find out.

What happened to this Presidency being transparent?

Well, Y'all stay safe

Be Your Own Detective - Check Out the New Pastor

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sun, 10 May 2009 09:44:00 +0000

Now many churches hire their own pastor. Some go through the denomination , but for those local churches that hire their own pastor - they really should do a background check.

I am not going to get into the discussion of "depending on God" and "operating by faith" as those qualities are admirable, but no where did Jesus say we are to be "blindly lead" and the like.

A lot of people can have a good interview and perhaps no one at the previous church will tell you of the problems if they want the pastor to go quietly. Perhaps the church itself does not know of the pastors activities away from the church. The point is at least check out the obvious. She if he or she has a criminal background or if they are a registered sex offender.

Especially nowdays - here is an example:

"THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: May 10, 2009
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Bruce Windsor lived the life of a respectable family man -- father of four, deacon in his South Carolina church, youth soccer coach, a volunteer who helped build orphanages in Brazil. On Feb. 26, four days after his 43rd birthday, he donned a mask, wig and sunglasses and tried to rob a bank at gunpoint, authorities say.

Windsor, it turns out, was falling down a financial hole. A real estate investor who ran several property business, his troubles predated the recession but continued as the housing bubble burst and easy credit for businesses and consumers dried up.
Clad in an orange jumpsuit, his hands cuffed at his waist, Windsor calmly told the judge at his bond hearing: "I've never stolen anything in my life."

Windsor is one of a growing list of unlikely suspects, ordinary people from ministers to ex-cops, who cite financial duress for allegedly turning to a crime that targets fast cash -- bank robbery..."

You can find the story here.

The initial check is not expensive and it can lead to total peace of mind.

Most of all - Be Safe!

Be Your Own Detective - Check Out Potential Employees

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:16:00 +0000

We all know that when hiring people for a job, you need to know more about them. A background check on a potential employees is a must. MySpace could have learned from this.

Friday April 17, 2009 Report: MySpace Employee Arrested Over Stolen Info
Social networks are all about sharing information, of course--photos, interests, inane thoughts. But as Facebook's recent terms of service battle has demonstrated, it's certainly possible to take things too far. Take the example of a MySpace employee recently arrested for theft of employee information.
TechCrunch got the scoop on this one, having been forwarded the info by a number of MySpace employees. According to Michael Arrington, The information theft and arrest is the more serious matter - confidential employee information, including "at least" name, social security numbers and compensation, was taken by an employee in the company's benefit's department without authorization, beginning in June 2008 or earlier.
Reportedly the intent of the theft was to "annoy selected individuals." Because, yeah, few things are more annoying than some practical joker getting a hold of your Social Security number. The power was also reportedly shut off in MySpace's Los Angeles headquarters. Employees have been asked to work from home for the day.

The story can be found here

You can conduct a background check using the background investigation services here with the search box in my side bar or the Net Detective.

You do not need to concern yourself with the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) as they do not use credit reports at all for the backgrounds. They glean information from thousands of public records sources to get you the information.

Most of all - be safe!

Be Your Own Detective - Psychopaths and Lie Detectors

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:25:00 +0000

I saw a funny scene in a movie today. Most that saw it probably did not even think about it. The police hooked up a psychopath to a lie detector to see if she was telling the truth. - Eh.

As I stated before in a previous post about Caylee Anthony:

More appropriate details provided by psychopathic offenders compared to nonpsychopathic offenders when lying (but no difference when telling the truth)
No difference in narrative length between the true and false conditions among psychopathic offenders, and for both groups, truthful narratives were longer than false narratives
For psychopathic offenders, spontaneous corrections more frequent when lying compared to telling the truth. This is opposite to the finding with non-criminal populations - according to CBCA, the presence of spontaneous corrections is thought to be associated with credibility.
Psychopathic offenders judged less credible than non-psychopathic offenders, even when telling the truth. Seven times less likely to be judged credible to be precise.
Narratives produced by psychopathic offenders were judged to be less coherent overall than narratives produced by non-psychopathic offenders.

Um - you know the real problem is that a psychpath does not see the difference between truth and what he or she wants to be the truth. So there is nothing to detect. Then again, lie detectors don't work and the psuedo-science which is closer to voodoo than it is science known as polygraph testing is not reliable at all.

Be Your Own Detective - The Key to Surveillance - Patience

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:24:00 +0000

The title of this post nearly says it all. Sometimes a 90 second video is all you need to "bust open" any case. Well, the real story behind that is that it probably took hours if not days of surveillance to get that useful 90 second clip.

You have to be diligent and patient and ready during your surveillance.

Diligence: Keep up with the surveillance if you have cause to suspect that your target will have the behavior you wish to catch in photos or video. Keep up the surveillance can be difficult, especially if you are not paid for it - it takes time - sometimes many man hours to get a small bit of useful evidence.

Patience: If you let yourself get frustrated or distracted during surveillance, chances are you will miss that little small chance to catch the suspected behavior. Frustration is useless in surveillance and all it does is lead to useless expenditure of bad emotions.

Ready: Have your equipment ready on stand by and extra batteries or recording media if needed. If you are not ready - that suspected behavior may only last a few seconds. If you need to fire up the equipment and you are not ready - well, you miss out on the key thing you spent hours waiting for.

Also you may wish to practice surveillance and using your equipment before doing it for real. Know the start up time of the camera and focus abilities, lighting, etc. You do not want to experiment with real target and real surveillance and all you may wind up with is a bunch of blurry photos or video. That or you may discover that you taking the vide causes too much attention to yourself.

Most of all, whatever you do - be safe!

Be Your Own Detective - Investigating Bailouts

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:40:00 +0000

I hate to get too political on this blog - as it is a how-to blog about how to be your own detective. However, I am tired of spend thrifts in Washington D.C. trying to make like they are "helping us" with our money.
Instead of "bailing out" companies that conducted poor business practices, they could have just given each registered voter around five thousand dollars each. We probably would have done a better job than some of these "financial institutions."

So, who are we bailing out? Well, ACORN is getting about 20% of the bailout. The same ACORN that has already been found guilty of fraud in voter registrations - and still has 12 pending cases of fraud concerning voter registration and voting. But wait, maybe we need to bail them out because our government is going to use the same fraud-ridden company to conduct parts of the U.S. Census. Yeah, if they were belly-up, maybe they couldn’t give as an “honest” profile of our country.

Barney Frank – what is he trying to do? I think he wants us all to forget that he was the key player responsible for letting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fail under his watch. Yeah he is all “we need AIG to not spend these bonuses” when as far back as 2003 he was warned that the two main financial parts of Federal Housing Loans were going to fail. He chose to ignore it – then blamed it on lack of regulations. So, what had he done to propose regulations? If you guessed nothing, you are correct.

Well, I got that off my chest – Be Your Own Detective and investigate all of this. Don’t just sit back and let your money go down the drain. Investigate, then contact your representative or Senator about these issues.

Most of all - Stay Safe!

Be Your Own Detective - Investigating Banking Scams

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:09:00 +0000

So what about all the banking folks that made "bad investments" and now they are taking our money from us to bail out their bad choices?

Yes, they are taking our money (our money if you paid any taxes). So how is that different than people arrested for investment scams? Bernard Madoff ran a business that sounds totally familiar with standard operating procedures of most banking institutions. Continually offering bad loans and selling bad debts to others is not all that different than what he did.

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned. Sounds a lot like what most financial institutions have done for their "customers."

So if we jail some for scamming us - why are we rewarding the banks and bankers with bailouts? All I know is that is a mystery to me. I know the government would not bail me out for making bad investments.

Be Your Own Detective - Reasons to Investigate

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:20:00 +0000

We all have our own different reasons to investigate things.

Some people just "need to know" things. Some have lost friends or relatives - our more specifically friends or relatives that they have lost touch with. Some people are just protecting themselves from potential trouble - so they want to know about someone else. Some have criminal cases they want to investigate. Some have civil cases they want to investigate. The list goes on and on.

So why tell you this? You proabably already know all about this. Why I am telling you is simply because what you need to investigate or why - may effect the investigation techniques. If you are investigating anythng for any type of court, you need to first make sure what is acceptable in court. Take recordings for example. In Federal Court and many state courts - as long as one party is aware and voluntarily continues with the conversation, the recording is acceptable in civil and criminal cases. However, some states have laws that differe between civil and criminal cases on this matter. Also, some states do not allow any recordings made if it is over the telephone if either party is unaware of the recording. (That is why you get the line from the credit card company about recording calls).

Now recordings in public places where people are not expected to have privacy are always allowed. Then the only issue becomes do you expect privacy. In most public buildings and businesses - privacy is not expected like stores and resturants. Just look around - security cameras every where. Often signs are posted about surveillance - simply for that purpose - to tell you that you cannot expect privacy. With the posting of the signs - the recordings are acceptable in all courts.

This brings out a point about undercover operations. If you have any doubt that your recording will be acceptable in a court of law, simply arrange the meeting where such signs are posted, or even post your own sign ahead of time. I suggest a professional looking one vs. one you scrawled out with crayon.

Also civil and criminal court "proof" is quite different. In criminal cases - you need to prove to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. In Civil cases it is more preponderance of the evidence - in other words you have more proof than the other party.

The most important thing to consider on gathering evidence is safety. Whatever you do - so it safely! or in other words ...

Stay Safe!

Old Movie Stuff That Really Works

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:36:00 +0000

Sometimes people watch an old movie and they wonder if some of the old detective stuff works.

Here are some of them that do:

Rubbing the notepad with pencil lead sideways. Yes boys and girls this old "movie trick" really works on notepads. Of course a real detective may also process the paper with Ninhydrin Spray for fingerprints.

Redial on the phone - duh of course it works, but be ready to say something besides wrong number.

Burned coffee grounds to kill the smell of a dead body. (Ok this may be from a book and not a movie) Yes, I have been there and done that - and it works!

Wax or clay imprint of a key - works on some keys to make a copy.

Yes, you can hide in plain site by becoming a janitor, maid, room service guy, window washer, etc.

I will do more old movie tricks in a later post. Let me know yours!

Be safe!

Almost Surveillance - Be Your Own Detective

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:24:00 +0000

One of the most expensive options to watch a place or someone is surveillance. Surveillance is expensive as it takes a lot of man hours. So unless you have lots of free time, or lots of money, you may need to find alternatives.

I spoke about GPS Tracking before, which can tell you where someone has been. What I am talking about is surveillance with pictures, and/or video. Now there is a lot of cool surveillance kinds of cameras at Spy Gear-4-U there is an ad over there you can click on -->>>>

Or you can get a little less expensive option, but you have to get creative on how you place this slightly Lower-Tech Device. I am not pushing a particular camera at a particular store. I am just telling you a low-budget way to conduct surveillance.

First get a “Scout” camera that utilizes infrared flash. A scout camera is the kind used to take photos of wild-life in their natural habitat. Some of these are not small cameras, as they are designed to go several days at a time. Make sure you get one that takes SD memory cards for capacity. There are some that take two SD Cards and that can be a read advantage as I will explain later. There are several “scout” cameras on the market that can be bought at Wal-Mart, Bass Pro Shops or other similar stores.

One example is: Wildview STC-TGL3IR 3.0 Megapixel Digital Scouting Camera it claims to be the easiest-to-use digital scouting camera is now infrared-enabled! 24 quality Infrared emitters illuminate a 30' area to give you crisp day/night images or 10-second day/night videos. 3.0 MP resolution; simple toggle switch setup with test mode; wide-ang Part #: STCTGL3IR / STC-TGL3IR Lowest Price: $119.95

How they work, is that they have a motion sensor that automatically takes a photo when something sets the sensor off. You normally mount these on a tree or post and leave them for several days then retrieve the SD card or the whole camera and download the photos.
Once you get the camera you need to find a place to set it up un-noticed. This may be difficult, as some are a bit bulky. If you have a car you can park and leave in place there are many options – like hiding it behind the grill, placing it in the trunk, or mounting it underneath the car (watch out for speed bumps). The sensor and flash area must be clear and of course the lens. Most of these cameras have a limited sensor range. Keep that in mind when placing the camera. You may be able to disguise the camera in a bush, and in some cases on your own property, simply mount it someplace not real obvious. It may take some practice to set this up.

I didn’t say it would be easy – just less expensive.

Whatever you do - Stay Safe!

Investigating Who is Right - Jessica Alba or Bill O'Reilly

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:13:00 +0000

I saw an interesting article on Yahoo today that was Jessica Alba calling out Bill O'Reilly. She had made the statement that he should be "neutral like Sweden." Then BIll apparently shot back that she should have said Switzerland.

Well, Jessica was right, maybe more so than you can realize. She followed with the following statement:
"Last week, Mr. Bill O'Reilly and some really classy sites (i.e.TMZ) insinuated I was dumb by claiming Sweden was a neutral country. I appreciate the fact that he is a news anchor and that gossip sites are inundated with intelligent reporting, but seriously people...it's so sad to me that you think the only neutral country during WWII was Switzerland. Check out: [Wikipedia link] if you want to see what I was referring to. I appreciate the name calling and the accurate reporting. Keep it up!!"

Pretty and smart. Not too bad for a Hollywood type.

Maybe Bill was just a wee bit off on this one. Sweden is also not a member of NATO or any other similar organization/association.

So don't just take someone's word when they say things - check it out and be your own detective.

Stay Safe!

Reverse Mobile - the "Better" Reverse Phone Lookup

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:09:00 +0000

Reverse Mobile is the "better" way to track down reverse phone numbers. The reason I say this is it has the highest customer satisfaction of all reverse phone number look up services on the web. I use and provide several of these services, and by far this service has the lowest dis-satisfaction ratio.

I rarely get any refund requests for it, and it provideds professional reports for a fair price.

ReverseMobile's Satisfaction Guarantee - Our "No Hit, No Charge" Policy guarantees that if your query yields no results, they will not charge your account.

Try Reverse Mobile here on the Blog the Search Boxes are just on the right ---->>>>

It is simple to use, just fill in the boxes and click "search."

You end up getting a report like this:

Stay Safe!

Be Your Own Detective - Investigating Search Engines

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:46:00 +0000

I have an observation about this blog and the site it is associated with. When I search for "be your own detective" in Google I don't know how many pages before this site appears. Google shows sites that have not been updated for years before mine - and I am somewhat amazed at what kind of logic can be behind Googles search process.

If I search the same in Yahoo, MSN or nearly any other search engine, this blog is always in the top ten. Now I am not saying that to say this blog is so great, but how is it that all other search engines recognize this site right away, and Google does not?

All I can assume is that once before someone else may have owned this domain and they did something to aggravate Google and get "banned" or something. I update my blog regularly, I keep my site up to date, but somehow it isn't enough to rate above two sites in particular that have out-of-date information on the,

Well, I will continue investigating this - but I have come to the conclusion that Google is just an odd mystery for me.

Be Your Own Detective - Lie Detecting

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:35:00 +0000

Lie Detecting - it is something investigators have wished they could do from nearly the beginning of civilization. There have been many methods used over the ages - but basically it is all witchcraft.

Yes, even "modern day" polygraph tests are little more than intimidation and witchcraft. The National Academy of Sciences did a study on polygraph testing a few years ago and found that it aw just about as effective to flip a coin to determine truth telling vs. lies. I put "modern day" in quotes as there has been no real advancement in technology for polygraphs since the thirties, despite the fact that they hook them up to a computer nowdays.

What polygraph examiners don't want you to know, is that if they get you to "confess" to something - and it really matters not what, that they have found "deception" and have had a successful polygraph test.

The lie behind the "lie detector." What the examiner does is asks the person a set of questions. They tell the subject that certain questions are "control" questions - when in fact the so-called control questions are just filler and nothing more. Things like is the sky blue - blah, blah. These are technically referred to as irrelevant questions.

The other part of their "test" is that they ask you a question that they expect everyone to lie on. They use this measure to gauge your "level of guilt" on key questions. The problem is, if you answer this question completely truthfully, you will be screwed by the test.

For pre-employment screening purposes, a polygraph exam is totally useless. First of all the test can be manipulated by the examinee. Secondly - vagueness of the test questions invalidate any possible results of the test - no matter which way it goes. The funniest part is to get a "government job" you pretty much need to pass a polygraph. This is one reason our intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies have poor internal security. There is a dependence on this "house of cards" as a security measure to screen candidates. All polygraph examinations do is eliminate basically honest people from the jobs. The really bad guys have no issue with it.

As far as getting crooks to confess crimes- the polygraph is great. The test cannot be used in court, but any confession made as a result can. This doesn't mean the polygraph works, it just means that the examinee believes it works and is afraid and confesses because of it.

You can find more information on polygraphs here. They even tell you how to beat the polygraph. Interesting stuff there.

Good luck trying to really detect lies.

Stay safe!

Be Your Own Detective - Check Out That Car

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:19:00 +0000

OK, now I have a lot of information on checking out cars - and I always forget to post about this. Now when I say cars - I mean vehicles: Trucks, cars, pickups, and yes motorcycles. So when I say car throughout this post it applies to all of these (within reason).

Sometimes you just need to check out a car that you are going to purchase. Sometimes you may want to know if that suspiciously acquired car that a neighbor has is stolen. Well, now you do not have to report it to the police - just run a VIN Check here. It is from the same place that trains most auto-theft detectives across the United States.

So what is a VIN? It is the Vehicle Identification Number. All cars sold in the US since around 1982 have been required to have this number. On most cars you can find the VIN on the dash by looking through the windshield from the outside on the driver's side of the car. The driver's doorpost or door will also have the VIN displayed. On new cars you will find little stickers all over with the VIN.

As a cop I used to get sick of hearing other cops say "VIN Number." The N is for number! Anyways, back to what I was saying.

Each digit in the number means something significant from the country of manufacture to automaker to year model and the actual serial number.

You don't have to be concerned with all 17 characters in a vehicle's VIN Number. For your convenience I will only speak about the key ones.
The first three characters signify the make of the car, usually as follows: The first character of your VIN represents the country of manufacture 1 = USA J = Japan Y = Finland, Sweden2 = Canada K = Korea3 = Mexico W = Germany

The second character represents the manufacturer or make of the vehicle, as follows: A = Alfa Romeo, B = Dodge, C = Chrysler, D = Daihatsu, E = Eagle, F= Ford/Eagle, G = All General Motors vehicles (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn)H = Honda/Acura, J= Jeep, L = Lincoln, M = Mitsubishi, N = Nissan/Infiniti, P = Plymouth, S = Subaru, T = Toyota/Lexus, V = Volkswagen. Note that the VIN Numbers tell you who really makes what - Like Nissan makes Infinity and Toyota makes Lexus, etc.
Other makes use a 3-character combination: TRU/WAU = Audi, 4US/WBA/WBS = BMW, 2HM/KMH = Hyundai, SAJ = Jaguar, SAL = Land Rover, 1YV/JM1 = Mazda, WDB = Mercedes-Benz, VF3 = Peugeot,WP0 = Porsche, YK1/YS3 = Saab, YV1=Volvo, 8 = Isuzu

The fourth character is the type of restraint system or brake type: Example: R represents hydraulic brakes

The fifth, sixth & seventh characters are the car line, series and body style. These are obviously different for each make (manufacturer).

The eighth character is a description of the engine: This will be different for all makes as well If it is a Ford and character 8 is a W: W represents a 4.6 liter V-8 engine

The tenth character represents the year of the car. Pay close attention to this one: B = 1981 F = 1985 K = 1989 P = 1993 V = 1997 C = 1982 G = 1986 L = 1990 R = 1994 W = 1998 D = 1983 H = 1987 M = 1991 S = 1995 X = 1999 E = 1984 J = 1988 N = 1992 T = 1996 Y = 2000 1 = 2001 2 = 2002 3 = 2003 ... I am not sure what they will do for next year.

Of course there are plenty of paid services like CARFAX and the like that will give you the history of the car. Nearly all car sales places will give you a CARFAX report on the car you are interested in. So get them to run it if the car is on a lot.

Whatever you do concerning vehicle checks - Be Safe!!

My Favorite Posts of 2008

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:51:00 +0000

First of all, I want to wishe everyone a Happy New Year!!!

Some of my favorite posts of last year were:

Y'all Be Safe!!

Lack of Thinking by "Security" Personnel

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:08:00 +0000

This was going to be a "Merry Christmas" post, however, thanks to "security measures" some of my Christmas purchases will not be made - in fact were cancelled.

OK, I understand that use of credit cards and what-have-you that seem to originate from Africa may be suspicious. However - if the product being bought is for my home address - then how in the heck is it suspicious? Think man! Oh yeah, and if the product is a Wal-Mart gift card? I mean how many Wal-marts are there in Africa anyways? (I am pretty sure none-zero-nada) All I am saying is security measures are more likely to be simple annoyances and a pain for the customer than really security. It is not to protect me - it is to protect "the company".

So Merry Christmas to all - and to all a good night - God Bless us everyone!!!

Stay Safe!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:09:00 +0000

It seems someone wanted most of our Governors to have a white Christmas. - Though you have to wonder if the person sending these letters gets out and about much. A mailroom near the Alaska capitol received a similar letter with white powder addressed to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski. It isn't like she has been in the news much lately :P

Since Monday, December 8, letters containing a note and suspicious white powder have been received by the offices of more than 40 governors across the country. I believe Texas Governor Rick Perry was the first to receive such a letter - but they are all mailed from Texas.

Additional letters have been received at several U.S. Embassies overseas. The white powder in each of these letters has been field screened and the tests have met with negative results. The powder has been forwarded to local laboratories and testing to date has been negative for biological agents.

Here is a wise statement from the FBI: The FBI has contacted the governors' offices and the State Department to be on the lookout for additional letters. You think?

These envelopes all have the following characteristics:

The postmarks reflect mailing on December 4, December 8, or December 11, 2008.

The postmark is either "Dallas, Texas" or "North Texas". The "North Texas" postmark reflects the envelope was processed through the mail facility in Coppell, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.

The return addresses used have been one of four addresses for FBI offices in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, and El Paso, Texas.

There is a note within the envelope.

The content of that note has been the same in each mailing. Although the content of the note is not being disclosed at this time, the meaning of the message is not clear.

The FBI and United States Postal Inspection Service intend to vigorously investigate these crimes and arrest the person or persons responsible.

Anyone with information on who may be sending these letters is requested to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL FBI (1-800-225-5324), the Postal Inspection Service at 877-876-2455, or local law enforcement

Y'all Stay Safe!!

Caylee Anthony - Update

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 08:21:00 +0000

Here is an interesting twist to the Caylee Anthony case:

On December 11, Roy Kronk, a meter reader found a skull not far from the Anthony home.

On the 19th the remains were identified as tthose of Caylee Anthony.

The Meter Reader, Roy Kronk, who found the skull, reported finding something suspicious on August 11, 12, and 13th. These calls were directed to detectives who stated that the area had already been "cleared" or who only made a cursory check and decided the bag was garbage.

This concerns me as a former police officer and detective that on a case of a missing girl, more efforts were not put in to investigating these calls.

These remains have now been determined to indeed belong to Caylee anthony.

Updated timeline:

June 9: Casey Anthony said that on June 9, she dropped Caylee off at a babysitter who lived at the Sawgrass Apartments. She said the babysitter's name was Zenaida Gonzalez.

June 9 - July 12: Casey Anthony tells her parents that she had been going to work every day and that Caylee had been staying with friends or nannies.

June 12: George Anthony says Caylee was spotted by friends of the Anthony family in a shopping area near the Orange-Seminole county lines. She was wearing a pink and blue outfit and white-rimmed sunglasses.

June 15: In her testimony in Casey Anthony's bond hearing, Caylee's grandmother, Cindy Anthony, revised her estimate of the last time she saw the girl. Cindy Anthony said video of Caylee reading a book helped her remember that Caylee went with her to visit her father at an assisted living facility on Father's Day.

June 24 or June 25: Detective Corp. Yuri Melich testified during Casey Anthony's bond hearing that a witness came forward who said he had talked to Casey on the phone on either June 24 or June 25 and that he heard Caylee in the background. The witness said that at one point in the conversation Casey told Caylee to get down from the table.

June 30: The car Casey had been using is towed from the Amscot store on Goldenrod Road and Colonial Drive.

July 12: After they had not seen Caylee for some time, the girl's grandparents got concerned and confronted Casey, convincing her to go to the sheriff's office.

July 15: The Sheriff's Office is notified that Caylee Anthony has been missing since June 9.

July 16: The car found abandoned is picked up by the Anthony family from the wrecker company

July 16: Police talk to Zenaida Gonzalez who says she does not know Casey Anthony. Police also take Casey to Universal Studios where she said she worked. After leading them to a building, she admitted she was no longer employed there.July 16: Casey Anthony is arrested.

July 16: George Anthony turns over Casey's laptop to police. This revealed photos of Caylee and an elderly male taken on June15th

July 17: The Sheriff's Office takes possession of the car and finds evidence of possible human decomposition. The car is sent to the forensics bank.

July 17: The Sheriff's office starts to search the backyard of the Anthony house.

July 17: Sheriff's Deputies get phone records (407) 619-9286 - Casey's phone.

July 17: Casey Anthony is officially charged with child neglect, lying to investigators and interfering with a criminal investigation. The judge denies bond because she showed a "woeful disregard for the welfare of her child."

July 21: Police got a warrant for DNA samples from Casey.

July 22: A bond hearing is held for Casey Anthony. Her mother, father, brother and a detective in the case all testify. The judge sets bail at $500,000.

July 22: Police confirmed that Caylee had been seen on Father's Day by Casey's parents.

July 29: Casey Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, asks a judge to bar the release of jail house recorded conversations, 911 tapes and visitor logs to the media. That request was denied.

July 30: The Fifth District Court of Appeals in Daytona Beach deny Baez's appeal of the $500,000 bond, asking that it be reduced to $10,000. That appeal was denied.

July 31: George and Cindy Anthony are interviewed by the FBI

July 31: There is a fake email sent to Casey Anthony as if she were a Universal Employee from a "Thomas Franck" - it was later proven that no such person worked for Universal and the originating email address was bogus.

Aug. 1: The Orange County Sheriff's Office take several bags of evidence from the Anthony home.

Aug 5: Police get and execute a search warrant on George and Cindy Anthony's residence.Aug. 8: Casey refuses to see her brother, Lee, for a scheduled meeting. Lee's visit is rescheduled for Tuesday.

Aug. 9: Caylee's third birthday comes and goes with no new leads on the missing girl's whereabouts.

Aug. 10: Casey cancels a scheduled meeting with her parents, the second time in three days she has refused to meet with her family.

Aug 11: Roy Kronk reported seeing a gray bag on the side of the road. A deputy responded, but the worker was no longer at the scene, and the deputy did not see the bag.

Aug. 12: George Anthony says that he believes Caylee was kidnapped and that the kidnappers are being watched.

Aug 12: Kronk called a police crime line. The call was sent to a detective, who told the meter reader that the area had been searched and cleared by cadaver dogs, police said.

Aug 13: Kronk reported finding a bag in a swampy area, and a deputy was dispatched. The deputy looked at the area but found nothing, thinking the "bag" may have just been trash.

Aug. 15: Two private invesigators meet with Casey. Investigators were identified as Edward Phlegar and Casey Dominic, both investigators for Casey's attorney, Jose Baez.

Aug. 16: California bounty hunter Leonard Padilla announces he and his nephew, bail bondsman Tony Padilla, will fly to Orlando and post Casey's $500,000 bond. Padilla says they are doing this to "find the baby."Aug. 17: Leonard Padilla arrives in Orlando.

Aug. 20: Leonard and Tony Padilla post bond necessary for Casey's release.

Aug. 21: Casey is released from prison at 10:30 a.m. after being fitted with an electronic monitoring device.

Aug. 26: Hundreds of documents are released in the investigation into Caylee's disappearance. The documents reveal Cindy Anthony called her daughter, Casey, a sociopath and a "mooch." The documents also say Casey wanted to give Caylee up for adoption, according to a friend of Casey's, but Cindy would not let her.

Aug. 27: The Orange County Sheriff's Offices fires Recruit Deputy Anthony Rusciano, who may have had ties to Casey Anthony. Deputies say Rusciano provided inaccurate and incomplete responses on an ongoing criminal investigation. It is not confirmed if the investigation is related to the case of Casey Anthony.

Aug. 29: Casey is rearrested on economic crime charges not related to Caylee's disappearance. The charges include uttering a fraudulent instrument, petty theft, and fraudulent use of personal information. Deputies say they have surveillance video of Casey using forged checks.

Aug. 29: Deputies serve Casey, George, Cindy and Lee Anthony with criminal witness subpoenas to appear in court sometime in November.

Aug. 30: Texas EquuSearch, a mounted search and recovery group, arrive in Central Florida to help search for Caylee.

Aug. 30: New bond for Casey Anthony is set for $3,000 for charges not related to Caylee's disappearance. The original posted bond has been revoked, so Casey will remain in jail even if the new bond is posted.

Aug. 31: The Orange County Sheriff's Office confirms hair found in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car belonged to Caylee.

Sept. 2: Casey Anthony refuses an offer of limited immunity in exchange for information leading to Caylee.

Sept. 4: An anonymous person posts the $500,000 bond for Casey Anthony through two Florida bonding companies. (Turned out to be George and Cindy Anthony)

Sept. 5: Casey Anthony is to be released from jail for a second time on bond. She will be required to wear an ankle monitoring device.

Sept. 6: Orange County deputies retrieve a handgun from the trunk of George Anthony's car. Having a gun on the property is a violation of Casey's bail, but since it seems Casey was unaware of the gun, she is not taken back into custody.

Sept. 7: Texas EquuSearch temporarily calls off the search for Caylee Anthony, citing environmental conditions and concerns.

Sept. 15: Casey Anthony turns herself in on new economic charges unrelated to Caylee's disappearance. The charges include uttering a forged instrument, petty theft and criminal use of personal information.

Sept. 16: Casey Anthony was taken before a judge and then released on $1,250 bond. She was, again, fitted with an ankle monitoring device.

Sept. 23: 591 pages of files were released by the Orange County Sheriff's Office, including text messages, interviews with family and friends.

Oct. 14: A grand jury indicts Casey Anthony on seven counts, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of providing false information.

Oct. 15: Casey Anthony has her first appearance before a judge and no bond is allowed because she has been charged with a captial crime -- murder.

Oct. 21: Child neglect charges are dropped against Casey Anthony after she is charged wtih murder and child abuse.

Oct. 22: A tip line established by the Anthony family for leads to help find Caylee alive opened at midnight. The number is (888) 231-5618.

Oct. 24: Forensic tests on the trunk of Casey Anthony's car are released. The air sample tests show evidence of human decomposition, and that a hair found in the trunk is "microscopically similar" to hair found in Caylee's hair brush. The report also confirmed the presence of chloroform.

Oct. 28: Trial date on first-degree murder charges set for Jan. 5. A pre-trial date was set for Dec. 11.

Oct. 31: Orange County Jail officials warn Casey Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, about hugging his client during jail visits.

Nov. 5: Judge agrees to continue Casey's check fraud hearing to Dec. 11.

Nov. 8: Texas EquuSearch leads group of volunteers in a search of a 25-acre area around Orlando International Airport for Caylee. They found nothing.

Nov. 13: Divers search a lake in Blanchard Park for Caylee Anthony. A plastic bag with what appeared to be bones and toys, and that was weighed down with bricks, was recovered. However, authorities said the find was not significant to the investigation.

Nov. 14: World famous forensic scientist Henry Lee examines Casey Anthony's car. Police said they found evidence of human decomposition and a hair belonging to Caylee in the trunk.

Nov. 19: Bounty hunter Leonard Padilla says one of his associates -- who had been inside the Anthony home -- told him that Casey criticized people looking for her daughter, saying they hadn't even found the clothes she was wearing.

Nov. 20: Attorney Mark NeJame resigns as the attorney for George and Cindy Anthony.

Nov. 21: Anthony family releases photo to News 13 that they received of a little girl playing at a mall that they think could be Caylee.

Nov. 25: Judge Stan Strickland orders prosecutors to turn over all evidence to the defense. He also ruled that the defense can't test the hair found in Casey Anthony's trunk because there is too little of a sample left.

Dec. 4: Jailhouse visits between Caylee and her family are released.

Dec. 5: State says it will not seek the death penalty against Casey Anthony.Dec. 10: Jose Baez requests Caylee sightings video through subpoena duces tecum.

Dec 11: Roy Kronk, a meter reader, finds a skull not far from the Anthony home.

Dec. 11: Judge Stan Strickland postpones the murder trial of Casey Anthony. A new status hearing is set for Jan. 15.

Dec. 12: Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary says the skeletal remains' measurements and hair color match that of Caylee Anthony. The Kid Finders Network calls off actively searching for Caylee.

Dec. 18: Sheriff's spokesman Angelo Nieves says that they continue to find more bones in the area where a child's skeletal remains were found and are expanding their search to a larger area. He also said the meter reader who found the remains had called in tips three times before on Aug. 11-13. Deputies responded to one of those calls.

Dec 19: The Orange-Osceola County Medical Examiner confirms that the remains found near the Anthony home do belong to Caylee Marie Anthony.

Well, That's about it for now - Y'all stay safe!