On 19/04/10 09:35, Omelet wrote:
> In >,
> Benji > wrote:
>
>> On 19/04/10 09:27, Omelet wrote:
>>> In >,
>>> Benji > wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 19/04/10 08:19, skeeter wrote:
>>>>> WTF? another "dog the bounty hunter" wannabe.
>>>>
>>>> Nothing doing. I'm a skip tracer - worlds of difference, you should
>>>> learn to get out more and find that.
>>>
>>> Skip Tracer? That can be a dangerous job.
>>> I hope you have beanbag rounds!
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skiptrace
>
> I did not need to google it, but I did anyway.
> What type of skiptracing do you do? I would think that bail bonds would
> be the most dangerous, but there is more than one venue.

I do work for the courts oftentimes, sometimes credit agencies, and here
in Oz there's no actual "bond enforcement" agencies.

As for the work, it's more an internet, papers, and various other
avenues thing. Like how most people have a facebook or myspace page,
that says where they are. Most times I can then contact them - through
their facebook or myspace address, and tell them bluntly.

"Sir/Ma'am,

My apologies for the topic of this conversation, but it seems that there
are persons interested in your whereabouts due to unfinished business
you may not have remembered. Please contact me at XXXX XXXX or by fax at
XXXX XXXX as soon as possible so that we can assist you to clear this
matter up.

Thank you for your time

< Legal blurb >"

Then if they don't do anything about it, or if they have no public
profile, it's usually also simple enough to go through the tedious tasks
of checking pretty much every source of public information a person can
have. Birth records, voting enrollments, public-listed residency &
tenancy records, obituaries (ended up chasing one "skip" who no-one had
checked was still alive; he'd died two weeks prior to the collections
guy coming around to collect), court records (a number of times the cops
haven't reported or otherwise checked that they have someone wanted in a
jail elsewhere), etc, etc, etc.

I also tend to find it worthwhile to check the listed home address +
work address of the skip - sometimes a boss will just say that their
employer isn't there to save trouble from coming on premises. Sometimes
people just won't answer the door if someone arrives unannounced.
Surveillance comes into play there.

And of course sometimes the collections agent/bailiff/bond enforcer
won't do more than a general knock-on-the-door; been a few times that
I've found that the "skip" is in the trailer or flat out in the back
yard, or happened to be out that day, or is house-sitting or helping
care for someone sick/injured somewhere else.

Depending on the trace I'm doing, sometimes there's private or
government records I can access as well that'll give me more
information, regardless on if it's useful or not. It's a lot less
"bounty hunter" and a lot more "human records-search engine". Still
makes for an interesting conversations piece with the in-laws, and while
the work itself is boring as hell sometimes, it has it's moments =P

As for beanbag rounds, my personal preference is a fairly simple .38
revolver with low powder rounds - Aussieland has heavy-enough gun
control laws to make pulling it out overkill - in a land where petty
thugs will at worst have a knife or just a tough-guy mentality.

Moving to the states soon, though. If so, my preference will probably
change to a Cz-75 with custom stock and firing pin... but that's really,
really off topic by a long shot. Pardon the pun.