女偵探 高科技追蹤

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http://www.merit-times.com.tw/NewsPage.aspx?unid=142275

GPS定位功能 借助google地圖 專門調查外遇

腳穿灰色皮靴，頭戴卷邊軟帽，這是傳統私家偵探的形象，但在
二十一世紀，偵探的形象將被重新定義———通情達理、善用高
科技的女性。

在以男性為主導的偵探世界中，英國兩名女性經營的「第一夫人
偵探事務所」，開業短短兩年，上門尋求幫助的人絡繹不絕，有
的是為了盯梢行為反覆的妻子，有的要跟蹤拈花惹草的丈夫，有
的想了解行蹤不定的問題兒女，還有更多需要竊聽或反竊聽服務
的企業。

現年四十歲的克拉克和尼克森都是金髮碧眼，打扮俐落，辦事高
效率。她們使用高科技的追蹤器，比如有定位功能的GPS，有時
還借助google地圖，掌握被調查者的行蹤。

和其他多數偵探事務所一樣，克拉克和尼克森大部分的偵探工作
都和調查外遇有關。克拉克說：「對很多女性來說，求助私家偵
探所是一件非常可怕的事。」但越來越多的女性正做著這樣的事。
除了調查外遇，她們也會接手一些婚前調查工作。

私家偵探必須常和警察打交道，以避免一些潛在的麻煩，她們會
事先向警方透露一些信息。克拉克說，通常警方不會插手，尤其
是涉及家庭內部的案子，「但是他們倒很希望能了解情況」。

想雇用克拉克和尼克森，得付出一筆數目不菲的錢。一名男客戶
在五個月內就支付了一萬五千鎊。下載監控軟體到手機上需花費
六百九十五英鎊，在電腦上安裝監控系統的終端機需要五百九十
五英鎊，通常幾天內就可知曉結果。

她們從不在孩子面前談論細節。克拉克說：「幾次我在家裡接到
工作電話，都會去別的房間接聽。幸好，我的女兒都覺得我們的
工作很酷。」

在過去的一年中，克拉克和尼克森發現一個很有趣的趨勢。她們
現在的客戶中有四成是男性，且以每年百分之十的速度上升。
克拉克說：「我們必須明白，人們常會陷於不忠。現代不論男女，
都會遇到同樣的誘惑。我認為未來一年，我們的客戶性別將會是
一半一半。」

No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

http://www.e-legal-gathering.co.uk/forum/news/2089-real-no-1-ladies-detective-agency.html

“For many women, the idea of going to a private
detective agency is terrifying,” says Clarke. But that’s
precisely what’s now happening in increasing numbers.
“Many more women are earning and leading their own
professional lives, and they just want peace of mind if
their partners start behaving strangely – such as
spending a lot of time on their mobile in the bathroom,”
Nixon continues. “We also do a lot of prenuptial work. If
a woman is marrying a man who has gone through a
couple of divorces, she will ask us to check that he is
the company director he says he is, rather than an
undischarged bankrupt.”

Clarke and Nixon felt that there was nowhere
sympathetic for women to turn for information if they
felt their partners were being less than honest. “And we
don’t just take a case, deal with it and then that’s it,”
Clarke says. “We always follow up with clients to see
how they are getting on after what can be a traumatic
and life-changing experience.”

Before launching D-Tec UK, they spent a year
researching the market and the opposition. Clarke
phoned up many detective agencies posing as a client
with an unfaithful husband. All her calls were answered
by men; many veered from the voyeuristic to the
disengaged. Satisfied there was a demand for
something more user-friendly, they turned next to a
lawyer for advice on what they could and could not do
under the provisions of the Data Protection Act and
other laws.

“For example, if a car is owned by a couple, part of the
marriage pot, but mainly driven by the husband, then
his wife is within her rights to have us fit a tracker to
that car,” Nixon explains. “But if the car is owned solely
by her husband’s business, then it is illegal for us to do
that. We have to ask a lot of questions when clients
first come to us, so we know exactly where we stand
on who owns what.”

The same applies to fitting the software to a mobile
phone that will monitor texts and calls. “We cannot
agree to a husband’s request to fix his wife’s phone if
she pays the bill,” Clarke adds. One way round that is to
give your erring partner a mobile phone as a present
but to keep paying the bill. “We have had clients who
have given a fully loaded iPhone to their partner as a
Valentine’s Day present,” she reveals. “Once they have
proved that they own the phone, they sign the
software licence and every text in or out can be copied,
along with numbers dialled and received. There’s also
the GPS so you can see the location of that phone at
any time. The client can log on, too, and follow a
partner going merrily about their business.” So much for
romance.

“The hardest thing was learning the technical side,” says
Nixon. “I couldn’t even fit a light bulb, let alone a tracker
and know how it works.” She certainly does now.
Before opening for business they visited all the leading
manufacturers of the gadgets and gizmos of the PI
trade and found themselves in Bangkok. “It’s the best
market,” Nixon says. “Cutting-edge. We’re not selling
gimmicks but stuff that really works. If we don’t record
and report accurately, then our clients and ourselves will
be compromised.”

Announcing D-Tec’s arrival on their website, they had to
endure some initial condescension from established
male counterparts. “I think they thought, ‘Just leave it
to the lads,’” says Nixon. “But we now have good
relations with many other agencies and we work for
each other on cases.” Increasingly, solicitors ask for
their help; for example, proving cohabitation. “A difficult
one that, because it has a big impact on the financial
settlement of separating couples who are not married,”
says Clarke. Seven days of surveillance photography of
parked cars and comings and goings normally does the
trick.

Their first assignment took them to a pub in Evesham.
“Our client was convinced that her husband was playing
away,” Clarke explains. “She had already installed
software on his phone which automatically stored
copies of his texts to her web account, which is how
she knew about the pub, but she needed further proof.
She called us at 1pm and said he was due to meet
somebody at 9pm that evening.” Wasting no time, they
jumped into their silver Mercedes SL. “We drove up to
Worcestershire and sure enough, there he was in the
pub. We spent the evening there alongside him as he
told this girl that he wasn’t married and did not have
any children.” The Evesham Lothario had definitely run
out of wriggle room.

Over the past year, Clarke and Nixon have noticed an
interesting trend. Forty per cent of their clients are now
men, up ten per cent on the previous year. “I think a
lot of guys feel happier talking to a female voice,” says
Clarke. Even if they are now tracking more women, it is
still more likely for men to stray – 47 per cent to 35 per
cent. She points out another difference. “Even when
we have proved something extramarital, the women
don’t tend to leave, but I’ve never had a male client
who has stayed, not one.” As Nixon puts it, “A lot of
women want to keep the lifestyle, so they just want
the mistress out of the way.”

Some find out more than they bargained for, such as a
woman in her late fifties, married for 30 years, whose
husband kept disappearing off to Hull to do “research
for work”. Clarke and Nixon staked out the address;
the husband was seeing a much younger woman.

Confronted by the “evidence”, he confided that she
wasn’t his lover, but the daughter he had fathered after
a one-night stand. Twice a year for 17 years he had
been visiting her to give her money. “Our client said, ‘I
don’t know which is worse, being lied to for nearly 18
years or that he has another child,’” says Clarke.

The private investigation business is not regulated; they
feel it should be. They will not set honey traps where
pretty girls in bars are used to lure men into
compromising situations. Nor will they work for
anybody they think might be a stalker. When one young
man asked them to follow his ex-girlfriend, “I told him
that ‘ex’ meant ‘ex’,” says Nixon.

Hiring Clarke and Nixon doesn’t come cheap. One male
client ran up a bill of ￡15,000 over five months, but
most people find out what they need to know for much
less than that. It costs ￡695 to load software on to a
mobile and ￡595 to put a logger on a computer.
Results usually come in days. Best value is the tracker:
“We rent those out weekly at ￡395, excluding VAT,”
Nixon explains. “It’s not a big spend next to ￡55 an
hour for physical surveillance, and with a tracker you’re
live to someone 24/7.”