El Scott Harrell

El Scott Harrell's State of the Union Address

"American patriotism must not recognize political affiliation... The restoration and maintenance of our Constitution, an unwavering dedication to our Bill of Rights and, above all, the zealous defense of the freedom afforded its [legal] Citizens is all that matters now." - L. Scott Harrell

Online Private Investigator Magazine Develops Huge Reach

There are many exciting things developing at Pursuit Magazine these days and many things yet to come!

We launched our Private Investigator Jobs board several weeks ago and have attracted both Job Seekers and Employers in equal numbers.  The investigation career part of our portal is proving to be an extremely valuable addition to the community and we are getting really incredible reviews as new jobs are being added every day.

Our Pursuit Magazine Facebook Fan Page continues to grow by 10 or 12 people every day without a great deal of effort and we are appreciative of everyone who is becoming actively involved in contributing to the community.  The fan page initially served as one of the ways we let our subscribers know when we posted new articles, but it has grown into a great deal more than that at this point; ideas are being discussed more fully, people are offering suggestions on how to continually improve and best of all, the support encouragement we receive makes it a worthwhile project for me.

If you are on Facebook and have a professional interest in private investigation, bail enforcement, process serving, repossession, security and skip tracing, then check out the fan page...

We are getting traffic from all over the world now as our online PI magazine is now available in 7 languages including Portuguese, French, Italian, Spanish, German, English and  Russian- making us the only TRUE international PI Magazine.  We are welcoming, on average, well over 4,500 unique visitors everyday now and have in excess of 6,200 subscribers to our RSS feed through FeedBurner.

And as promised, we have several new features coming to Pursuit Magazine very shortly... I'd tell you, but I'd hate to ruin the surprise.

Just stay tuned!

Arizona Process Server Continuing Education is Online

PIEducation.com today announced the formal acceptance by the Supreme Court of Arizona of its online Arizona process server continuing education course.

PIEducation.com’s online course titled, Advanced Skip Tracing Techniques for Professional Process Servers, written by veteran private investigator and skip tracing expert L. Scott Harrell, has been approved for ten hours of CE credit.

Process servers certified by the Arizona Supreme Court must obtain 10 hours of continuing education every year in order to maintain their certification and can meet their total education requirement for the year with this one course.

In business since July 1, 2002, PIEducation.com is the undisputed market leader in state-approved online continuing education for private investigators and adding course content for process servers was a natural fit.  All courses have been designed "by working Investigators... for working Investigators" and no other online continuing education provider can honestly make that claim.  We understand that there are other education service providers to choose from. However, you will find that there is no other continuing education service provider that can match our level of professionalism, experience and consistency. 

As of January 2010, PIEducation.com has conferred over 52,000 CE hours to over 4,400 licensees in twelve (12) states including Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Oregon, Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, New Mexico, Georgia, Louisiana, Iowa and now, Arizona.

For more information, please visit PIEducation.com's Continuing education for Arizona Process Servers FAQ page.

L. Scott Harrell Joins Leading Private Investigator Database Provider IRBsearch

TALLAHASSEE, Fl., August 17 --

Effective 8/1/2009 L. Scott Harrell joined IRBsearch as Director of Brand Management and eMedia. Harrell was hired by IRBsearch to spearhead the company’s expansion in the fields of online continuing education, e-commerce, and e-magazine communications. Scott Harrell’s background hails from nearly twenty years of professional investigation and security service. He worked undercover operations while in the United States Navy, as a corporate investigations manager with a fortune 500 company, and more recently as the owner of two successful investigative companies along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida.

As founder of CompassPoint Investigations in 2000, Scott Harrell created an investigative agency that originated in Austin, Texas and moved to Pensacola, Florida with branch offices in Gulfport, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama. Harrell continued to initiate new product launches and services during his tenure as a professional private investigator.

In June of 2002, Harrell premiered PIeducation.com as an industry specific curriculum for delivering online continuing education classes to private investigators. Scott Harrell is distinguished as one of the leading United States private investigators to develop training programs recognized and approved by 14 different state licensing and regulating agencies. His courses are accepted in almost a dozen states and professional associations, making PIeducation the market leader in state-mandated continuing education for private investigators.

In addition to PIeducation.com, Harrell has constantly been in demand as an accomplished industry trainer, speaker, and author. Harrell has written eight books on investigative subjects and regularly speaks on the topics of skip tracing, sources of digital evidence, several real-world marketing subjects, and bail forfeiture. He has been well received by audiences at events hosted by organizations such as the American Society of Industrial Security, the National Sheriff’s Association, Professional Bail Agents of the United States, the Texas State Bar, and numerous other national and state associations. Harrell most recently launched the online magazine entitled, Pursuit Magazine in 2008. With the advent of Pursuit Magazine, private investigators, legal professionals, and security experts have access to free subscriptions and online content at http://pursuitmag.com. Harrell passed his successful CompassPoint Investigations to top investigator-employees in July of 2009 to accept a senior management position with IRBsearch.

IRBsearch CEO Tony Del Vecchio applauds the new venture. “We’re thrilled to have the history of experience and depth of knowledge available to our customers with Scott Harrell. His contributions can foster even more personal relationships with our customers and continue to develop value-added services and benefits for our customer’s success.” IRBsearch is the national premiere provider of online risk management services for private investigators, process servers, recovery agents, and bail bondsmen in the United States. IRBsearch offers The Most information, The Best data sources, and The Fastest delivery for locating people, businesses, and their assets.

####

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rebecca Roberts
(850) 942-2500 x 104
www.irbsearch.com

In Relentless Pursuit of... Social Networking

Has it REALLY been almost 2 months since my last post!? 

Oh. My. God. 

I am so sorry Dear Reader but I have let time slip away from me in the last couple of months as I have been through a period of upheaval, fast paced changes and of course, the stagnation of playing the waiting game while my whole professional life shakes out.  As cryptic as that might sound, those who are intimately involved in the multiple deals I am making right now know what I'm talking about.

The best news to report in the last month has been the return of the Office Ninja; her Kung Fu is strong and she is the engine that drives this lumbering locomotive along most days.  It is really good to have Stephanie Mitchell back. Because of her, in large part, we continue to push forward and blaze trails, despite an uncertain future as bright as it might be:

Since it has been a little while since my last update I wanted to check in and let you know what we’ve been up to and let you in on some of our recent online private investigator magazine (Pursuit Magazine) projects in the past couple of weeks.

If you have not discovered the power of social networking and viral marketing yet, then it is seriously time to start…

TWITTER: 
Pursuit Magazine has joined Twitter. Some of you may know, Twitter is a FREE social networking site allowing you to micro-blog to users, send and read other users’ updates (better known as tweets) and network with many, many people with the same interests. It has been a fantastic tool for us to send out updates on news, articles and industry related information.

Join us on Twitter Pursuit Magazine on Twitter

NING:
I cannot rave enough about NING and all the amazingly cool things you can do. IRBsearch has created an online forum using the Ning platform. It is here that you will find support, discussion and interaction with other professionals in the investigative and security industries. We encourage you to participate in the forum discussions or start a topic of your own!

Join the IRBexchange on Ning

FACEBOOK:
If you are a Facebook visit and join our Pursuit Magazine group. You may find some familiar faces or new friends!

Join our Facebook group at: Pursuit Magazine on Facebook

MYSPACE:
If you still love and cling to the world of MySpace… then join us there! We have given our profile page a new look and our list of friends and supporters continues to grow.

Add us as your friend today: Pursuit Magazine on MySpace

Today, we are linked with hundreds of investigators, bail enforcement agents, attorneys, customers and friends. Establishing these important online connections has become an extremely rewarding experience with valuable gains for our business. 

I want to give a special thanks to everyone who has already joined us (without you, there would be no network) and to those of you who continue to support us!

Remember we are always looking for new authors, ideas and news! Don't hesitate to contact us through our website if you would like to contribute!

I won't take nearly as long to post here again... I promise!

El Scott Harrell Wants to Help Winston and his Parents- You Can Too.

I was updating my MySpace profile today when I came a cross a friend with the following bulletin:

“Please help me support Winston's Fund (Life Saving Emergency Vet Bills, Surgery & Critical Care)”

I admit I was curious, so I went to the website at http://www.wingrace.com/ where I was profoundly struck by the desperate situation only a pet owner might understand:

Risk financial ruin or let one of your best friends die.

In a nutshell Winston is a dog who had to have some VERY expensive surgery to remove a blockage in his stomach, then there were life or death complications that became even more expensive.  Now, several thousand dollars later, the owners, who love Winston very much, are facing great financial hardship.  One of the owners is right out of the Army and they were trying to get on their feet when this happened.  The good news is that it sounds like Winston is going to be just fine. 

Visit their website for more information and you will be moved too.

I remember when I was almost flat broke and fresh out of the Navy when our puppy Boudreaux (Buddy) became very ill.  My wife and I had to make the same choice… go deep into debt or let our best friend die.  No way!  We loved Boudreaux and would have sacrificed just about anything to get him well.  We managed to land a bank loan from a family friend who was a loan officer and then struggled for a few years to pay off the balance.  Buddy went on to live a great life and we spent another 13 years together.  I swear that he somehow knew about the hardship he was a part of and he did his best to make up for it his entire life- I am very proud to have known him.  You can see still his pictures on my MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/floridainvestigator.

I do not know Winston’s owners, we have never spoken and I’m not quite sure how we became friends on MySpace but I can understand their situation and I knew that I had to do something to help Winston and his obviously loving but desperate parents, so I donated to their cause this morning after verifying that everything was legitimate and not a scam.

Sadly enough, I went through the day today a bit broken up about the whole thing and remembering Buddy- I miss him more than anything sometimes.  I want to do more for Winston’s family but I just cannot donate anymore money right now so I started thinking about what else I had to give… and I thought of you Dear Reader.

Yes, you…

Visit the Winston Fund website and see if it doesn't strike a bit of a soft note in your heart, then simply say a prayer for Winston and his family.  If you cannot give, and you are certainly under no obligation to do so, at least tell someone else about this website or post it on your blog, facebook or MySpace account, maybe they are in a place right now to donate $5 or $10 bucks.  I imagine that anything will help.

Thank you for listening and thank you for your support.

Towing versus Salvage- How a Boat Towing Service will Rip You Off

“Towing  vs Salvage”
By C. C. Thorsen

Boaters should not assume anything when it comes to boating. If you are a boater and have not taken a towing/salvage 101 course let me speak from experience and recommend that you do not wait until you need a tow to find out the coverage you have. Trust me there is a big different in the cost. Most of the boaters that I know have some type of towing insurance. However, there are different levels of coverage just as any other types of insurance. You should take the time to read and understand the amount of coverage you have. For example, do you know the difference in a simple tow, a soft grounding, a hard grounding, and salvage? 

On November 14th, 2008 I had a very unpleasant experience in my 72’ houseboat when a very strong wind picked up during the night of an overnight trip and caused my stern anchor to drag and blew me parallel to the beach. The wind also caused the tide to go out very fast leaving me in very shallow water. At 6:00 AM the next morning (11/15/08) when I awoke to find that I had a problem, my boat was still floating but I would need some help to have it pulled into deeper water.

I called my towing service and explained my situation to them and advised them that the tide was still going out and very fast. I was asked if I/we, or my boat was in any danger and I told them that we were not. Even though they were only thirty five to forty minutes away from me they did not arrive until 9:15 AM and by that time I did not have any water under a large portion of my boat.

When the tow boat arrived the Captain determined that this was a “hard grounding” and had me sign the contract. He then attempted to pull my boat straight back parallel with the beach but it would not move. Even though none of the conditions changed other than he was going to pull the stern of the boat out away from the beach the captain advised me that this was going to turn into “salvage” instead of a hard ground tow. I was not sure exactly what he was talking about however he asked me if I had hull insurance and he wanted to see my insurance policy. He stated that my insurance company would not have problem with his charge of $125.00 per foot ($9,000.00). I said but what about my $4,000.00 deductible, he said that he was sorry about that .He then had me initial the original contract showing it as a salvage.  The captain then proceeded to place a large water pump on the back of my boat (though he never started the engine) and stuck oil soaks rags in the engine compartment vents, he said this was to prevent water from coming into the engine compartment which was not necessary because the water level never got high enough for any water to come into the vents. He then pulled the stern of the boat around into deeper water and with the help of my two engines the boat was backed off the sand. In the Captain’s written report he stated that my boat was taking on water which it was not but I assume that was his justification for changing it to a salvage. The moral to this story is that had this been classified as a “hard ground tow” (and that is what it was) instead of a “salvage” the Captain would have earned approximately $1,000.00 which was covered by my unlimited coverage with Boat US instead of the $9,000.00 of which I would have to pay $4,000.00. Had I known the difference in the types of “tows and salvage” I would not have signed the agreement contract until I had a better understanding of why it was being changed from a tow to a salvage.

Ruffin Blaylock Joins Pursuit Magazine as a Bail Enforcement Editor

Ruffin Blaylock has joined Pursuit Magazine as an editor of the online PI magazine's Bail Enforcement featured category.

Mr. Blaylock is the president of Spaniel Investigations, Inc in Decatur, Alabama and backs up his informative articles with almost a decade of active bail fugitive apprehension experience and prior employment in law enforcement. He is also an administrator with the Fugitive Recovery Network.

L. Scott Harrell, Pursuit Magazine's Editor in Chief, said, "We're excited to add Ruffin to our professional lineup of experienced authors and contributors.  He has a unique writing style that I am sure will not only capture the attention of our readers, but will engage them in the type of dialogue we are trying to get started at Pursuit.  It's through that sense of conversation where professionals come together to create communities;  Ruffin Blaylock will certainly be an asset to us all."

Ruffin's first article, Using Shotguns During Bail Enforcement Operations, debuted at Pursuit Magazine on January 9, 2009.

Pursuit Magazine also has a new home on MySpace- the private investigator mag.  Be sure to add us as a friend!

Bounty Hunting in Michigan New Laws May Affect Bail Fugitive Recovery

Right now there is some question concerning whether or not a bail enforcement agent needs to hold a "professional investigator's license" in order to bounty hunt in MI as a result of the newly amended "Professional Investigator's Act" (Michigan Penal Code Section 750.167b).

My interpretation is that you will either need to obtain a "Professional Investigator's license" from the MI Department of Labor and Economic Growth-Commercial Services Licensing or a "Fidelity & Surety Producer license" from MI Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation.

I'm not an attorney and this is not legal advice but it would be irresponsible of me to tell you that you did not need a license in MI even if a few people on the Internet are claiming otherwise.  I think the law is pretty straightforward.

Private Investigator Association Conferences, Classes and Events

We are looking for submissions to add to our Private Investigator Calendar of Events at Pursuit Magazine.  Of course the listing is free; all submissions will be entered into the calendar and a news piece will be written about the event; this is GREAT exposure.

Association conferences, training classes, industry meetings and other important dates are all highly encouraged.

Just send me the basics:  who, what, where and when; we'll take care of the rest.  Contact me here.

BTW- we've just posted several new private investigator articles that I am sure will help you increase business in tough times; check them out- your competitors are probably reading them right now.