Some investigations into incidents, criminal or surveillance activity can be difficult to convey to your client in a written report. Establishing a clear timeline in chronological order can greatly assist in sharing information with your client they can understand. Here are a few timeline format ideas to help in your next investigation: 
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• Straight Timeline - This is a timeline where the action from one moment to the next or is one step to another. For example; a customer is injured by slipping on a wet a floor. The timeline will start with the causal action, water on the floor and continue through the incident and response. 

​Slip & Fall Jones Retail Store

• 10:15 am - Employee begins mopping floor immediately in front of the entrance/exit door. 
• 10:20 am - Employee is called to the front desk by a customer for assistance. 
• 10:25 am - Customer pays for items then walks to entrance/exit door stepping on the wet floor and claims to have fallen. 
• 10:28 am - Employee returns to entrance/exit area and finds customer sitting on the floor near the wet surface. 
• 10:38 am - Emergency medical technicians arrive and transport customer. 
• 10: 45 am - Employee calls manager who is at the main office and notifies her of the fall. 
• The straight timeline provides the reader with a 'step-by-step' list of actions based on the approximate time they occurred. 

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• Parallel Timeline - Some incidents have two or more action timelines that may run parallel to each other. These are multiple actions that are happening at the same time. The best format is to create columns to track the multiple actions and follow the straight timeline method for each column. For example; a fight breaks out on a property between employees. There is the action of the fight participants that engage in the fight. The investigation also determines the action(s) of the on-site security officer who is working in another area when it occurs. The first column begins with documenting the actions of the fight participants while the second column starts at the time the security officer was notified, then his/her actions in responding to the incident from another location. Following is an example: 

The parallel timeline clearly demonstrates the two actions as they occur. From the timeline it is easy to see the security officer responded as quickly as possible, as well as, the manager notified the security officer in a timely manner. 

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Timelines are a great tool to clearly demonstrate, document the results of the facts gathered, making it easy for others to understand what and when something occurred. As a private investigator gathering facts it is important to provide them to the client in a format they can understand, almost visualize what occurred. 

There's nothing more rewarding than conducting an interview of a suspect and getting a confession, or completing an eye witness interview that clearly identifies the suspect. But wait, your work is not done. 

Even when an interview is completed, the information you are searching for has been obtained, you must verify the information to ensure it is factual, then document it in the report for your client. 

Why is it important to verify the facts when you get a confession or eye witness accounts? Because the suspect may change their story, or if court is in the future, they simply plea the fifth amendment and do not testify. Witnesses disappear, they move away or over time their memory recall becomes fuzzy. Also, a defense attorney may seek to poke holes in the information you gained through interviews by pointing out you did not verify information leaving doubt in the mind of the judge or jury. 

Following is a simple checklist to verify information from a confession or eye witness statements: 

• Identify timelines - Was the suspect at the location when they committed the crime? Was the eye witness accounted for at the scene? Were there others that saw them immediately prior or at the time. Creating a timeline that shows the movement of the suspect, and locations of the witnesses is one method for verifying information collected during an interview. 
• Verify descriptions - Verify the clothing worn by the suspect in comparison to the witness statements. Video surveillance immediately prior to the incident, e.g. suspect entering the store, that shows the clothing worn matches the description given by the witness. Look for others that match the clothing and physical description. 
• Time cards (employee's) - Whether the suspect is an employee, or the witness, simply asking the client to verify that either, or both, were working that day is another verification method. Having this information in the report supports they were at the site when the incident occurred. 
• Follow the property - If property is involved, whether altering time records, or items stolen, follow the property in the next step in the timeline. A suspect says they gave the items to a friend? Talk to the friend to see if they received the items. Of course you want to try and recover them as well. Ask the client to conduct an inventory where appropriate to verify the item(s) are missing. 
• Identify & Interview "supporting" witnesses - As a part of the timeline, conducting follow-up interviews with supporting witnesses that can verify the location of other witnesses, or the suspect. Supporting witnesses provide information about the presence and/or disappearance of items are critical as well. For example; Supporting witness observed the eye witness and the suspect enter the area where the incident occurred are great ways to verify statements of both. 
• Identify & Interview "informative" witnesses - Primarily in incidents involving employees, it is important to gain information about processes and procedures. For example; employees are not allowed to take items from the store. Interview a human resources representative, or manager to verify that this is a prohibited act. Other informative witnesses may include inventory clerks, or others with information that supports the incident did in fact occur, even if they were not at the scene at the time it occurred. One PI said he makes a point to interview custodial staff. They often move around the workplace without anyone paying much attention. They often are great sources of informative or supporting witness information. 

Verifying each piece of information provided by suspects and witnesses will ensure that your case is complete and accurate. Any discrepancies should be investigated further until there is no doubt. This will help maintain the integrity of your case in the event memories of witnesses fade, or the suspect refuses to talk anymore. 

As a private investigator have you ever found yourself working day and night with little time for a break? Over time, you find you don't have time to accomplish all the tasks you need for working your cases efficiently. We are going to provide some helpful tips to help you manage your time. Before you continue reading understand that not all of these tips are possible everyday, but if you strive to include as many as possible, when possible, you will be able to gain some more control over the most valuable resource you have...time. So, whenever possible try; 

• Grouping like tasks together - Whether it is surveillance, conducting interviews, completing research or gathering background investigative information, try to schedule those tasks together. Completing like tasks together will help reduce prep time and keep you on target. Consider conducting surveillance in the same day or a couple of days together. You have your equipment prepped, packed and ready to use - saves time! Conducting interviews in one or two days keeps you mentally prepared for establishing rapport, conducting the interview rather than switching from one task to another which slows your ability to mentally prepare. 
• Expect set-backs - When scheduling your work expect there will be interruptions. Issues will arise that must be addressed immediately. So schedule additional time for each set of tasks in case that happens. More importantly, schedule "down-time" in between tasks. It can be as little as 30 minutes or up to an hour. Consider this down-time as a buffer between tasks that will allow you to respond to set backs and to switch your mental gears from one task to another. 
• Don't forget prep time - schedule it - If you are going to conduct surveillance at 5:00 pm, begin prepping at 4 or 4:30 pm. Check to see that camera batteries are charged, and review the locations where you will be conducting surveillance. Conducting interviews? Schedule time in advance to develop questions you need to ask, what information you are attempting to get from your interviews. Failing to properly prep for the tasks at hand extends the time required to complete them as well as reducing our efficiency and effectiveness. I once, well more than once, failed to prepare properly for interviews. The interviews took much longer than needed. Not only was I getting frustrated, but those I interviewed were as well as I stammered and went back to questions I had already asked over and over again. 
• Close out time - For most tasks you need time after completing them to rewrite notes, gather video evidence, or take a mental break. After completing a task it is important to have time to review, re-think what you have accomplished - sort of an after action process - then polish off the details so you have truly completed the task. This includes putting gear away, putting batteries on the chargers, and other prep work for the next time you need it. 
• "Me-Time" - Private investigators work all hours, day and night and even on holidays. It is important that you take time each working day for yourself. It may be a lunch break, or scheduling one hour void of all working tasks. This helps reduce burn-out, increases your patience, and improves your focus on details. This me-time is a mental break. One private investigator shared that he sometimes drives around for 30-40 minutes just to listen to his favorite podcasts, or music. You may not think taking this time each day is important. If not, take the me-time challenge. For the next 10 working days schedule an appointment with yourself each day for one hour. At the end of the week see if you feel better about the work you completed, maybe even less tired. 

Time management is critical to a private investigator. Properly done, you will be more productive, efficient, and the quality of your work will improve. Take time, to make time work for you!