Producing a Professional Report 153 WRITTEN STATEMENTS When the inquiry is a complicated matter or the information source has valuable and extensive information critical to substantiating your conclusions, a written statement may be advantageous. Obtaining a written statement with the questions and answers documents the infor- mation provided by the source and is helpful in preventing contradic- tory information from the source at a later date. A written statement based on questions originated by the investiga- tor is the superior method for ensuring a comprehensive and useable statement. In this method, the investigator asks questions of the source and reduces the answer to a written format. All information necessary to substantiate your conclusions can be obtained through proper ques- tioning. Asking an individual to write out a statement leads to many diffi- culties, primary of which is the quality of the individual’s handwriting. Statements that cannot be read are of little value. Additionally, the average witness does not know what information is relevant and needs to be included in the statement. This is the individual’s statement and not that of the investigator. Extreme care must be undertaken to ensure that the investigator does not influence the information provided by the source. The witnesses’ terminology should be used even if an additional question must be asked to obtain an understanding of the terminology. To the extent possible, slang should be avoided. When the information source is asked to initial or sign the bottom of each page of a statement, it impresses upon the source that this is his or her information and identifies a given set of facts. If the source provides conflicting information at a later time, the written statement can be used to impeach the source at trial. FORMATTING THE REPORT The value of your report is directly related to the report’s ability to persuade the reader to whom it is directed. It is more likely to per- suade the reader if it is easy to read and has a professional appearance. Professional reports should not be written on copy paper or ruled pads. The appearance of your report is an indicator of your profes- 154 Basic Private Investigation sionalism and competence. The most complete investigation, poorly reported, is perceived as a poor and incompetent investigation. RECOMMENDED FORMATTING Your report should never arrive on the client’s desk without a letter of transmittal. Professional business correspondence requires that any report include a brief letter of transmittal, identifying the recipient and the sender. The cover page of your report will make a valuable impression on the client if it has a photograph of company facilities or the client com- pany logo, which individualizes the report. The quality of the paper is important. Reports generated on ordi- nary copy paper are unacceptable. The report should be printed on high quality twenty-four-pound paper with a high degree of bright- ness. The higher the quality of the paper, the more professional the report appears. A twelve-point font with 1.5 line spacing provides an easily read report. The font used should have a professional appearance, such as Verdana, Arial, or Helvetica. Never use script, block letters, or other artistic fonts. Each section of the report should have a topic heading to corre- spond with the various components of the report. This facilitates loca- tion of desired information. Lengthy and convoluted sentences confuse the reader. Each para- graph should be short and concise and address only one element or major fact of the inquiry. Your reputation is based on the quality of your report—not the quantity. DEADLY ERRORS The value of your report can be dramatically damaged unless ex - treme care is taken to ensure accuracy. A substantive error can be very damaging to your reputation. In an assault, if the actions of the perpe- trator are erroneously attributed to the victim, everything else in the report is suspect. Producing a Professional Report 155 Poor English or grammar is a reputation killer. Improper capitaliza- tion and punctuation are, unfortunately, a common error in many reports. In the era of modern computers with a Spell-Check feature, there is no excuse for misspelled words or typographical errors. Such errors clearly demonstrate carelessness and apathy. The best-written report can be easily destroyed by dirt and extrane- ous markings on the pages. Keep your coffee cup away from your computer! THE WELL-WRITTEN REPORT A well-written report is an example of your work that will be seen by many people for many different purposes. It signals to all the qual- ity of your work. The highest quality work with a poorly written report will always be viewed as poor quality work. State things clearly and directly. You are compensated for the qual- ity of your investigative effort, not for the number of words in your report. Brevity with completeness and clarity are the keys to a well- written report. Do not speculate or guess. You have been tasked to determine facts and provide accurate data. Anyone can guess and speculate. Why spend money for an investigation just to have someone else do what you can do: guess. Do not use boilerplate language. Boilerplate language indicates that all situations have common facts that can be expressed in terms that do not differentiate your situation from all others. Each situation is dif- ferent and should be described in terms unique to the situation. Avoid absolute words: always and never. It is the rare situation when absolute words can be used without being subject to question. Before using these words, make sure you can justify their use. Make sure the report is not vague, equivocal, or uncertain. Any report should be factual and specific in detail. If for some reason there is justification for using vague or uncertain terminology, the reasons should be spelled out in your report. Avoid emphatic language, exclamation points, boldface, italics, and capital letters to emphasize findings or conclusions. Unnecessary em- 156 Basic Private Investigation phasis within a report can indicate your personal opinions, bias, and prejudices when your role as an investigator is to simply collect factu- al data and let others make their own judgment. Use the active voice: “John hit Joe,” not “Joe was hit by John.” This shows assertiveness and that you are comfortable with the information you have developed. The active voice is strong as opposed to passive and weak. Use precise (specific, clear-cut) language. This is another indicator of your confidence in the work produced and reduces the probability of others misunderstanding the facts. Define technical terms and language. You can never assume that the reader will be familiar with technical terminology. The excessive use of unfamiliar technical terminology confuses the reader and may lead to an assumption that the writer is attempting to display his technical knowl- edge and belittle the reader—the person who is paying for the report. Avoid evidence of bias. Nothing will call your report into question quicker than evidence of bias. You have been retained to report facts and not express your personal opinion through apparent biases in your report. Use confident language; do not hedge words: it seems, could, appar- ently, or I believe. Failure to use confident language may appear to the reader that you question some of the information being presented as facts. Use objective (unbiased) language and avoid subjective (prejudiced) characterizations. You cannot be impartial when you use wording such as “Joe Smith, the perpetrator” in your report. Remember you do not provide legal advice. You provide facts and let the reader arrive at their own conclusions. Avoid commenting on the credibility of witnesses. This is another example of inserting your opinions into the data and not letting the reader evaluate the source of your information. In some cases, this could lead to legal difficulties for the writer. Ensure internal consistency. Make sure that if “Smith shot Jones” at the beginning of your report, it does not change to “Jones shot Smith” or “Smith shot Johnson” in later parts of the report. This could be embarrassing at the least and devastating to your reputation at the extreme. Producing a Professional Report 157 REPORT NO-NOs Never use the words legal or legally. Remember, you are an inves- tigator and not an attorney, unless you have a law degree, and then be careful. When you annotate a report with the title “draft,” it announces to others that there are other versions of this report. They will be re - viewed for consistency among the reports, and you may be required to explain the differences. Probable, substantially, and possible are ambiguous words. These words may show that you are not sure of the information contained in your report and should be avoided except in very rare circumstances. Obviously or clearly are patronizing, condescending, and presump- tive words. To many it would indicate that you question the reader’s ability to recognize obvious facts. Insulted clients do not return for additional insults. “Appears,” “presumably,” “supposedly,” “is said,” and “evidently” imply uncertainty. This is another example of letting others know that you do not have complete confidence in the information in your re - port. If information is questionable, state that fact in clear-cut language. The words he, she, it, and they are confusing and uncertain as to identity. It is better to use proper names, such as Mr. Jones or Mrs. Smith to reduce misunderstanding. One person is writing the report, and using the “royal we” suggests more than one report writer. Using we to attribute success as a combi- nation of individual collaborative efforts is commendable but not acceptable when writing a report that you will be signing. Complete, thorough, meticulous, and exhaustive are words that are self-serving and hold the investigator to extremely high standards. During the review of your report, other ideas and investigative leads may be identified, thus bringing your “exhaustive” report into ques- tion. SUMMARY Your written report is a major indicator of your professionalism and will greatly influence your reputation among your clients and con- temporaries. Your investigative effort will not be considered a compe- 158 Basic Private Investigation tent investigation if your written report contains numerous spelling and grammatical errors. A more disastrous mistake is a mistake in the facts. There are no innocent mistakes that can be overlooked. It is a wise move to have someone else review your report for factual accu- racy and proper report-writing techniques. Your report will be subject to review and critique by executives, attorneys, judges, and a jury. Perfection must be the acceptable standard. Chapter 12 CONDUCTING INVESTIGATIONS IN CHINA JACK CHU CHINA’S COMMERCIAL INVESTIGATION HISTORY AND CURRENT TREND C hina’s commercial investigation work has an extremely glorious history. In the Sun Tzu’s Art of War it is stated, “Know yourself and your enemy, hundred battles are hundred victories.” The real modern commercial investigation work begins in 1978, however, the year after China realized the reform and open policy. The new China was established after 1978; before then, no foreign contact was allowed and China implemented the planned economy. All enterprises and businesses were controlled by the state and owned by the country. For economic trade activity and businessmen, regardless of the manage- ment in the governmental department or in the enterprise unit, the personal files were to be unified by the government; in this way the possibility of false records would be minimized. The only changes would reflect the person’s change of administrative units along with personal changes. In the case of any commercial dispute or when an investigation was needed, the enterprise or individual had to seek sup- port and assistance from the public security department that was responsible for the social order and the economic crimes investigation. 159 160 Basic Private Investigation CHINA’S COMMERCIAL INVESTIGATION’S MARKET DEMAND AND DEVELOPMENT In 1978, the Chinese government implemented the reform and open policy; massive foreign capital and capital from Taiwan and Hong Kong and private enterprise entered China’s economic domain. The massive economic transactions needed verification and investigation services. Chinese society, as well as the relationships in the family, has also been influenced by the China Economic Development and the Society Transformation, with more and more marriages disintegrating or third parties interfering with the family, which leads to the need for marital background and individual privacy aspect investigations. Along with the China Economic Development and the blooming of famous brand names, the Chinese market has turned up with more and more counterfeit or parallel import product to present; enterpris- es are in need of the brand protection investigation and strike preven- tion. A lot of economic activities and business operations will need com- mercial investigation services, but China’s public security departments or other governmental department are undoubtedly not adequate to bear the related commercial investigation and security management services. The first China Security management company was incorpo- rated on December 18, 1984, in Shekou, Shenzhen, China. After that, many security management or private investigation companies emerged in China. A few foreign investigation companies or individuals have also carried out commercial investigation services in China. Following the China economic development, a world finance crisis happened; many different enterprises had continuously serious problems due to lack of a security management concept. The entire world’s economic footsteps slowed down; everybody stopped the radical attitude making a fresh start and recognized the importance of commercial investiga- tion. The demand for Chinese commercial investigation services is becoming important. Some foreign investors and businessmen are also thinking of moving their nation’s services into China. China’s enter- prises are also more and more concerned with the commercial inves- tigation service. Conducting Investigations in China 161 CHINA’S COMMERCIAL INVESTIGATION INDUSTRY STATUS AND RESTRICTION Since 1978, Hong Kong and China internally have gradually pro- duced some big and small investigation companies. So far, possibly several thousand investigation companies and more than ten thousand individuals are carrying on various commercial investigation services. As of March 2010, the Chinese governmental departments have not issued any commercial investigation licenses. No matter, big and small companies are using other commercial licenses to carry on the com- mercial investigation work. The Chinese government opened the mar- ket for Security Guarding Service to Chinese enterprises in January 2010. Since the development of Chinese security businesses, the open- ing of the commercial investigation market is only a matter of time. The opening and strict management of Chinese commercial investi- gation will provide benefits toward a healthy development direction. CHINA MARKET NEEDS IN INVESTIGATION SERVICES: COMPANY BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION Company background investigations may be divided into several types. Some investigations are due to merging or joint venture invest- ment. Mainly because of taking over businesses, it will need compre- hensive and thorough verification of the information provided be - cause some enterprises in the process of selling will provide false in - formation to the purchaser. Therefore, the investigation goal is to: • discover as far as possible the real situation on the related enter- prise and to provide fair objective information to the customer • carry out the checking or investigation, which includes the enter- prise’s industrial and commercial registration status • determine its management and actual operation situation; the business management team’s specialty level, prestige, and per- sonal integrity; the employees’ quality and energetic condition; as well as their management level opinions and whether there is hid- den debt or possible questions (for example, after taking over the operation, is there any possibility for the worker to go on strike or to slow down operations?) 162 Basic Private Investigation • discover whether part of the enterprise’s properties are being transferred to any individual • the management level and the concerned local government de - partment have very good relationships, which may lead to a bribe in order for the enterprise to obtain some benefits Before the foreign enterprise buys a Chinese enterprise or invest- ment, a thorough, careful, and responsive examinations will be need- ed. If this is neglected or has not been completed properly, after the investment is made, lots of problems may arise. Experience has shown that if a complete investigation has been conducted, fewer problems occur after the investment. If the investigation has not been done or has been done improperly, problems may soon arise after the invest- ment. This kind of investigation is not merely reading the related arti- cles but also understanding the related company’s situation and more importantly being familiar with the management team from a thor- ough and detailed analysis. The company-registered information with the local Administration Industry and Commerce Bureau should include incorporation date, shareholder information and share proportion, the registered capital, legal representative’s situation, management team, and annual return with turnover and profit and loss data. Conclude the preceding information with generalized analysis ap - praisal; review of the related company’s media link, blog discussion, and so on; and related company’s references and comments from same industries. A site visit to the operation place is necessary to: • identify if the workplace is rented or purchased, number of em - ployees, office condition, main products and services, main cus- tomer and service location, and other information • exchange comments with employees A company background investigation may also involve false docu- mentation verification. This type of company background investiga- tion will be difficult. Generally, the created false company information will be uploaded on the Internet to advertise the business reputation. The infringed party or the interested party to take over the product or [...]... the investigator Naturally, arranging such meetings takes time and requires travel All of this adds to the time necessary to do a thorough job The delays in getting information from official registries lead to frustration on both sides Holidays and vacations wreak havoc on the best-laid plans Europeans are entitled to more than thirty days of vacation each year, and they take them religiously The average... suggest meeting the doctor at the hospital because doctors may advise their patients and expose related investigation work to the claimant TRAFFIC ACCIDENT INSURANCE CLAIM I NVESTIGATION Some individuals have purchased automobile insurance but have made a false traffic accident claim to the insurance company This kind of investigation needs the claimant to provide evidence while the investigator Conducting... professions are either badly translated or not translated at all In most countries, the records will be only in the local language, and any comments will need to be translated More importantly for your client, in many countries the list of companies and owners tells a story of its own that only a local investigator or attorney who knows the players and local situation can interpret, and that information... investigation, you must discover their real situation while collecting the relative evidence that is as detailed as possible in order to further report to a governmental department to consider a raid or seizure You have to also pay attention to the operator’s collected relevant personal and family information and their operation method, location, tools, storage, and logistic arrangement of counterfeit samples... individuals may take part in a publicly listed company or act as a shareholder, so their declared information will need to be verified in order to locate any reported derogatory or negative information Some personal background investigations may involve a litigation court case; the other party may need a thorough background information on the plaintiff, especially current activities, personal and family assets... certain counterfeits brand market survey, you may understand the relevant local brands’ counterfeits against genuine articles on the ratio, the pricing, the sales volume, and so on You also may conduct a technical appraisal on the counterfeits to discover the counterfeiters’ level of technique and if there is only one or many Based on the market survey foundation regarding sales at the vacation store,... fluently The overseas investigator may already have a reliable translator but, if not, shop carefully because all translations are not equal 174 Basic Private Investigation COST For all the reasons above, including time, difficulty in accessing records, the need to use local contacts in ministries and offices for information, the cost of an overseas inquiry is frequently more than in the United States Although... e-mail will not suffice What may take less than an hour in the United States may take several days elsewhere In some countries, public officials can be unhelpful, even rude, or expect “personal compensation” for their assistance Company and financial records are now available online in many countries, particularly in Europe and the EU, but the amount and quality of information may vary widely A company... ASSETS AND REAL PROPERTY INVESTIGATION Many legal proceeding cases will need to carry out the related asset and real property investigations on the defendants’ assets and real property conditions If assets and real property are located, after winning the court cases, the plaintiffs will request the court to preserve the defendants’ asset and real property For this kind of investigation, if the other parties’... department, for example, the hospital, the funeral parlor, or the notarized false death certificate The author has received requests from several foreign insurance companies to conduct the investigation, and he eventually discovered that the claimant had provided a false death certificate, but the “dead” person was still alive in China P ERSONAL M EDICAL I NSURANCE CLAIM I NVESTIGATION Some in surance . have to also pay attention to the operator’s collected relevant personal and family information and their operation method, location, tools, storage, and logistic arrange- ment of counterfeit samples. situation, management team, and annual return with turnover and profit and loss data. Conclude the preceding information with generalized analysis ap - praisal; review of the related company’s. Company and financial records are now available online in many countries, particularly in Europe and the EU, but the amount and quality of information may vary widely. A company check in the Czech