El Scott Harrell

Pensacola Office Job- I Need an Administrator!

Busy Pensacola private investigation agency is looking for that special person to take charge of our Northwest Florida office and keep us growing!  We need a dependable “office guru” who can work with little to no supervision, solve challenges quickly and have fun doing it.

Business hours are Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm.  No holidays or weekends.  Dress is casual (unless we are expecting a client in the office which is VERY rare) and pay will be in the range of $8 to $12 per hour, depending upon experience.  Checks are cut on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Our office is located in Cordova Square (near Bayou and 12th) and has been designated a smoke-free, drama-free environment.

Duties and responsibilities will include:

Heavy customer service contact via phone and email.
Prepare and mail continuing education certificates.
Proof and mail investigative reports.
Prepare and mail advertising collateral.
Prepare and track invoices.
Fulfill orders for our training products.
Excel spreadsheet management.
Internet research.
Put together 2 monthly “e-zines.”
Purchasing and restocking supplies.
Other administrative tasks as needed.

The ideal candidate will have excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, and be able to use MS Outlook, Word and Excel at a minimum.  Advanced internet abilities, familiarity with “social media networks” (a fancy name for MySpace, Digg, Newsgroups, Forums, etc. etc.) and/or light graphic design would be a huge plus!

Due to the nature of our work, the chosen candidate must pass an in-depth criminal background investigation and sign a strict confidentiality agreement.  This IS James Bond kind of stuff.

If the candidate is successful, additional opportunities, including private investigator training and licensing, will become available.

If you are interested in this position, please e-mail or fax (877-761-8264) a detailed letter of interest and include a separate resume or summary of your work experience.  *No Phone Calls Please*

Attention job advertisers and boards:  You may link to this post but you may not copy and paste this job advertisement into your own website.

The Bail Bond Business Can be Dangerous

It is a rare event to have a bail bondsman or fugitive recovery agent killed while in the performance of their duties but it is certainly a very real possibility that serious injury or death may occur.

In a very sad bit of news a bail bondsman from Miami, FL was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a fugitive (a convicted felon) on Monday night.  His name was Jerry Dongo, he was a husband and a father of three.

The news report I read said that "Dongo normally didn't wear a vest because he was the runner, chasing down fleeing suspects or cuffing them while Rodriguez [his partner] held them at gunpoint" and quite frankly I was both shocked and saddened by this revelation.

Not wear a vest because he was "the runner?"

But Jerry Dongo was a father... first, and a bondsman... second; concealable body armor (a bullet proof vest) may have saved his life.

If you want to be a bounty hunter, bail enforcement agent, bail bondsman... whatever you want to call us... be aware of the risks and train for it.

And please wear a vest at all times during an investigation; it will only save your life if you wear it and wear it without fail.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Dongo's family and friends.  He died doing what he was called to do- making his community a safer place.

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Lance Allen Wilkinson (L.A.W.) has Passed Away

Lance Allen Wilkinson (sometimes spelled in error- Wilkerson) of Recoveries by LAW. passed away on July 6th 2007 just before 8pm EST after a fight with pneumonia.

While he was oftentimes a polarizing and abrasive figure in the fugitive recovery business, he was nonetheless an intelligent and tireless mentor and educator to many in bail enforcement.

I appreciated the conversations and communication he and I have had over the decade I have known him; his no-nonsense and zero bullshit approach was both an exacerbating and refreshing ironic contradiction.

The bail bond industry will be less colorful without him.

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For Sale: Slightly Used Tazer

Editor's note:  This was probably one of the funniest posts I have ever seen come across any of the private investigator newsgroups I belong to.  I simply had to share!

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I bought something really cool for my wife, and I was looking for a little something extra for my lovely bride. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket purse-sized Tazer gun with a clip.

For those of you who are not familiar with this product, it is a less-than-lethal stun gun with two metal prongs designed to incapacitate an assailant with a shock of high-voltage, low amperage electricity while you flee to safety. The effects are supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant but allowing you adequate time to retreat to safety. You simply jab the prongs into your 250 lb. tattooed assailant, push the button, and it will render him a slobbering, goggle-eyed, muscle-twitching, whimpering, pencil-neck geek.

If you've never seen one of these things in action then you're truly missing out; it?s way too cool! I've seen several demonstrations for cops, but I found this handheld one for civilians.

Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing! I was so disappointed. Upon reading the directions (we don't need no stinkin' directions), I found much to my chagrin that this particular model would not create an arc between the prongs. How disappointing! I do love fire for effect.

I learned that if I pushed the button, and pressed it against a metal surface that I'd get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs that I was so looking forward to. I did it. Awesome!!! Sparks, a blue arc of electricity, and a loud pop!! Yipeeeeee... I'm easily amused, just for your information, but I have yet to explain to her what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two triple-A batteries, etc., etc. There I sat in my recliner, her cat looking on intently (trusting little soul), reading the directions (that would be me, not the cat) and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh and blood target.

I must admit I thought about zapping the cat for a fraction of a second and thought better of it. She is such a sweet kitty after all. But if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong? Was I wrong to think that? It seemed reasonable to me at the time.

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, Tazer in the other. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water.

All the while I'm looking at this little device (measuring about 5" long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference, pretty cute really, and loaded with two itsy, bitsy AAA batteries) thinking to myself, "no way!" Trust me, but I'm getting ahead of myself. What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best.

Those of you who know me well have got a pretty good idea of what followed. I'm sitting there alone, the cat looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, "don't do it buddy," reasoning that a one-second burst from such a tiny lil' ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad (sound, rational thinking under the circumstances, wouldn't you agree?). I decided to give myself a one-second burst just for the heck of it. (Note: You know, a bad decision is like hindsight-- always twenty-twenty.

It is so obvious that it was a bad decision after the fact, even though it seemed so right at the time. Don't ya hate that?) I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and *&%$$#$@##@!!!!!

I'm pretty sure that Jessie Ventura ran in through the front door, picked me up out of that recliner then body slammed me on the carpet over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, soaking wet, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position.

The cat was standing over me making sounds I had never heard before, licking my face, undoubtedly thinking to herself, "do it again, do it again!"

Note: If you ever feel compelled to mug yourself with a Tazer, one note of caution. There is no such thing as a one-second burst when you zap yourself. You're not going to let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor. Then, if you're lucky, you won't lodge one of the prongs 1/4" deep in your thigh like yours truly. That hurt!

A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at this point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. How did they get there? My triceps, right thigh and both titties were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, as my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs., give or take an ounce or two, I'm pretty sure.

By the way, has anyone seen my testicles? I think they ran away. I'm offering a reward. They're round. Miss 'em...! Sure would like to get'em back.

Dennis Ogg
Suncoast Process & Investigations
P.O. Box 657
Bradenton, Fl 34206

Are You a Most Wanted Fugitive?

The most common definition of a fugitive is a person who is fleeing from legal custody, whether it be from an arrest to someone who is sought for questioning. However it may also mean someone who flees from an uncongenial situation or a synonym of the adjective "fleeting" which precisely the way I feel right now.  In a crazy twist of fate, ownership of the URL Fugitives.com recently landed in my lap and I have been a bit tortured over it ever since.  Let me explain:

The two choices available to me regarding what to do with the domain are pretty apparent:

Put Fugitives.com up for sale or develop the website for traffic and then monetize the site using any number of pay per click, affiliate, merchandising or direct advertising sale programs.

Obviously, the domain is a very valuable one word, generic, aged (continuously registered since 1997) well-placed domain with a lot of type-in traffic but I really like the idea of putting together a huge single stop resource featuring a ton of most wanted fugitives from the Federal, State and Local law enforcement levels.

The former choice sounds ideal, but finding a buyer with the ability to pay what the URL is worth will be difficult at best- these people are hard to find though I realize that they are not hiding.  It would probably be more rewarding over the long run to develop the site but that will require time and resources I simply do not have right now trying to keep up with an already very busy private investigation agency- therein lies my quandry.

Perhaps finding a partner with the talent to handle the development of the site but does not want the risk associated with the domain purchase would be best.  Finding a person or company who fits the description may be as difficult as finding America's most wanted fugitives, however.

I am yet undecided but stay tuned, good things are happening with this new resource in the fight against crime and most wanted criminals everywhere.  www.fugitives.com

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