~ use it, or lose it ~

Have you ever had a clerk at a public agency tell you that they could read you the information on their computer screen but they couldn't print it? I don't mean that the agency didn't have the capability of printing it but just decided that they couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't. Let your fingers do the walking over to The Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, Tapping Officials' Secrets, an online guide to using the open records laws in every state. This is a database of their interpretations of the laws backed up by case law and statutes.

Among the search results for "california public record" was this item:

"The fact that public records may be stored in a computer does not affect their status as public records. Cal. Gov't Code § 6254.9(d). "

This database helps you read and apply the law. Exercise your rights. You just might save a few of them.

~ ya gotta pay down the deficit to get THOSE public records ~

The Iowa Department of Public Safety has kept public crime reports out of the hands of citizen researchers by commingling them with the confidential investigative conclusions. But, under pressure from journalists, the Public Safety Department suggested that, for a donation to the state coffers, this public information might be reformatted and then generally available.

"The head of the Iowa Department of Public Safety
says his agency is prepared to consider whether it can make crime
records more readily available to the public if The Des Moines
Register makes a financial donation to his agency." Read the complete story

I'm all for private financing, considering the condition of state budgets and the intransigence of law enforcement agencies. It's not a matter of political influence or massaging the data. These reports already exist. We just want to get our hands on them. I say, "Donate Here!"

~ court rules:private investigator not a stalker ~

From the hallowed Supreme Court of Michigan, via the Detroit Free Press:

A private investigator's surveillance for an insurance company does
not constitute harassment under the state's anti-stalking law, the Michigan
Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. Read the full story

The Court of Appeals' ruling included this analysis of the state stalking statute:

The civil stalking statute, MCL 600.2954, creates a civil cause of action for victims of stalking as defined by the criminal stalking statute, MCL 750.411h, regardless whether the alleged stalker is charged or convicted under the equivalent criminal stalking statute. According to MCL 750.411h(1)(d), "stalking" is the "wilful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested and that actually causes the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested." The term "harassment" as used in subsection 411h(1)(d) is defined as:
. . . conduct directed toward a victim that includes, but is not limited to, repeated or continued unconsented contact that would cause a reasonable individual to suffer emotional distress and that actually causes the victim to suffer emotional distress. Harassment does not include constitutionally protected activity or conduct that serves a legitimate purpose. [MCL 750.411h(1)(c).] {Emphasis is mine.}

You have to wonder what planet the Court of Appeals was on when it determined that the surveillance was NOT serving a legitimate purpose. Here's some more of the Appeals Court's insightful conclusions:

After the first surveillance was thwarted when plaintiff made it clear that he did not consent to being followed by Conley, Conley nonetheless continued to appear within plaintiff’s sight until the police arrived. Once plaintiff detected Conley and Stovall in the second and fourth surveillances, a question of fact arose with respect to whether their continued appearance in his sight were unconsented contacts for purposes of the civil stalking claim. {Emphasis is mine.}

This made me laugh. How do these judges think we accomplish legitimate investigative goals when the subject is an adversary of our client? Walk up to him and say, "excuse me, I would like your consent to gather evidence that may undermine your claim"?

Thankfully the Michigan Supreme Court displayed better reasoning powers.

We conclude that surveillance by licensed private investigators that contributes to the goal of obtaining information, as permitted by the Private Detective License Act, MCL 338.822(b)(i)-(v), is conduct that serves a legitimate purpose.

Now, that was easy! Private investigators are being challenged in courts and legislatures in our pursuit of information through gathering documents and in observing human activity. This is where the demand for privacy rights has gotten out of hand. Private investigators are not observing for idle curiosity. We perform information gathering in legal cases for the purpose of establishing the legitimacy of a claim, not to intrude or make contact that creates emotional distress. But that hasn't stopped the litigious!

~ HOT: database of political influence ~

The Center for Public Integrity makes the links between legislators, companies and industries in this searchable database of outside interests, as reported in 2002. Our Private Legislatures Search Database draws data from the financial disclosure forms filed by state lawmakers. The data includes "outside jobs, investments, directorships and closely held business interests in all 50 states." Read their methodology. New data is being added as the financial disclosure forms are submitted to each state. See the schedule for your state.

The San Francisco Ethics Commission's Financial Disclosure Database allows you to search financial influence of local candidates and ballot measures by committee name, candidate, contributor and employer. This is a bias identification tool that can supplement your background reports on witnesses and experts.

Do you know of other jurisdictions that have this type of search tool? Add it to the comments link at the bottom of this post.

~ dog delivers probable cause ~

Perhaps we Americans have a distorted expectation for privacy in the car. But if it's going to be challenged, we want a human, not a dog to do it. A 6-2 decision by the Supreme Court of this great land has just ruled that a dog can determine if there is probable cause for law enforcement to search your car. This presents another good reason to drive the speed limit. Man drives a little over the posted speed threshold, gets stopped by cop. There are no drugs in sight, which would provide the police probable cause to search. But a drug-sniffing dog gives the signal that there is something suspicious in the trunk. Even the Illinois case cited a study that these dogs return 60 percent false positives.

Justice Stevens presented the opinion of the Court: "In our view, conducting a dog sniff would not change the character of a traffic stop that is lawful at its inception and otherwise executed in a reasonable manner, unless the dog sniff itself infringed respondent's constitutionally protected interest in privacy. Our cases hold that it did not." Yeah, like protection from intimidation or racial profiling. I imagine that events proceeding from this law will yield more fear of a "police state" than actual evidence.

Justice Stevens was, clearly, speaking of someone, not himself, when he argued that the "governmental conduct" of sniffing and, possibly, mistakenly prying into your vehicle does not intrude on a privacy interest.

We have held that any interest in possessing contraband cannot be deemed legitimate, and thus, governmental conduct that only reveals the possession of contraband compromises no legitimate privacy interest.

You mean, if no drugs are found my privacy isn't violated? A glance into the car by an officer making a legitimate stop is a very different level of intrusiveness than the "advanced" technology applied by using a dog. Consider the distinction between taking notes during a phone interview without the other parties' "permission" and tape-recording the conversation under the same conditions.

What is the significance of the use of drug-sniffing dogs at otherwise routine traffic stops?

Much hot back and forth has appeared around the 'Net, at Tales of a Wandering Mind, Drug WarRant and pretty much the only different take was expressed at Open Society Paradox.

~ the business people finder ~

The search engine at business.com associates corporate and professional websites with a personal name search term, returning links to those sites and news articles in which the names are mentioned. Like any search device that narrows the field, it misses a lot. Don't limit your field to any one site but this offers a decent first swipe.

~ internet searchers and event observers ~

Here's a curious finding from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which I referred to in an earlier posting, that got me thinking about a serious problem. The Pew study findings reveal that a small percentage of Internet "researchers" can tell the difference between returns on their search terms and the resulting advertisements. Slashdot noted this finding, citing a small story on it at the ABC News site.

The Pew Report makes this wry observation about fuzzy human logic:

Only 38% of users are aware of the distinction between paid or sponsored results and unpaid results. And only one in six say they can always tell which results are paid or sponsored and which are not. This finding is ironic, since nearly half of all users say they would stop using search engines if they thought engines were not being clear about how they presented paid results.

This disconnect between what people observe and what they think they observe got me reflecting on the widely noted fallibility of eyewitness testimony. One of the significant findings Elizabeth Loftus made was the weak correlation of confidence to accuracy. Even as event details deteriorate the witness maintains a high degree of confidence in the accuracy of their recall. James Doyle, Loftus' co-author of Eyewitness Testimony: Civil and Criminal writes here about the intersection of the psychological and legal work. A detailed, hands-on guide to working with this quandary in criminal defense matters is developed in a recent article by Lisa Steele, Trying Identification Cases.

~ Electronic Access, Privacy and Sealing Court Records ~

Far from the politico's pulpit in D.C. emerges a deadly detailed blueprint of the near future debate that we will face in the State legislatures and Congress on sealing court records. A Minnesota Supreme Court advisory group recently issued report on public access to court records reveals the challenges that lay ahead for investigators. Read the pdf document

Wired News examines the Minnesota situation and the redacting of information from Florida Court records.

The National Center for State Courts links to the individual States' pages for searching court records and their policies on public access. Then navigate to the Federal links to see case law and policy papers on electronic access, privacy and sealing court records.

And, want to engage in more blogging discussion on privacy and open government? Add to my posting at Dennis Bailey's site, The Open Society Paradox (which is also his book title), where he comments on issues and technology related to privacy and open access.

~ 50-state new law update ~

New laws passed by 26 state legislatures in the 2004 session that impact law enforcement and criminal justice are summarized in this (pdf) 2004 State Report, issued by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The Oregon Board of Investigators is proposing changes to their state licensing provisions. One of which states that licensed investigators "May not use unlicensed persons to conduct investigative activities." I'd like to receive an interpretation of this proposal. Does this mean that employees must be licensed? Search bills by keyword for individual state legislatures.

~ searching, searching ~

There are varieties of search engines, all culling content by different means. Which gets to my prior post on the limitations of only running your search through Google.

The word, many words have circulated about the new Microsoft MSN search engine, which has a clean look copied from THE most popular search engine but ranks content very differently. It also offers a desktop toolbar, the new area of total computer content searching --retrieving files saved to your hard drive along with those on the Internet. The ins-and-outs of this newly designed search engine has been written about here
and more discussion over here.

~ sharpen your eye on legislation ~

It's a job tracking the bills in Congress that affect your well being and livelihood. But here's a fresh, upstart site that really does it right. Search bills by number or subject, in the current or past legislative sessions. The search results also list "the money trail", organizations that contributed to the coffers of the bills' sponsor. The status, sponsors and content of the bills in listed, and links to similar bills. You don't want to just hope that you remember to check back to find that your favorite bill has come and gone. Several monitoring tools are available to track bill events, including a newsreader feed.

~ more death in public records access ~

California records searchers and private investigators have been restricted from accessing voter registration records for many years. Specific conditions, namely, working on behalf of a government agency (GC 2194(a)(2) or on a court appointed matter, are the exceptions. Illinois has just passed a law that is even more restrictive, making no special allowance for journalists or other professionals.

The FBI has found a means to further restrict access to FOIA requests by only searching electronic records, not paper documents.

~ when you don't want to testify ~

I don't know about you but don't you just hate testifying against your client? Huh? Now, you knew I was going to say "Robert Blake", the current celebrity accused killer. What, is there something in the water? Anyway, his, I guess, former friend and private investigator, is a witness for the prosecution. I don't know how this all came about. Did the PI have a falling out with his client, then was compelled to testify because of an admission by Blake that he wanted to do in his wife?

Usually private investigators are testifying in court under much less dramatic conditions (at least for the investigator). Keep in mind when you're on the stand:

- Tell the truth. That seems obvious. You're there to answer the questions in an even manner, without displaying prejudice.
- That leads to the next obvious point. Answer the question. Only. Don't add what you think the opposing party is asking. This is not an opportunity to exhibit all your knowledge.
- Prepare the attorney for whom you're working. I know, you thought I was going to say that the attorney should prepare you as the witness. That goes without saying. But you should prepare a narrative or resume about yourself in order to establish your credibility with the jury.

One of the puff-'em-up comments I put on my statement of personal facts was that I had previously served in an elected position of the largest investigation organization in the world. The attorney loved it. Choosing your phrasing allows you to frame how the jurors see you.

Are there other thoughts you all have on how to testify?

~ use the tools to get police records ~

All private investigators have had this experience. You go to the local police department to get a police report and you're told: 1. You're not a party in the complaint. We won't release it. 2. A juvenile was named. We can't release it. 3. You're not an insurance company. We won't release it. Or the biggest ass coverer of all time, 4. We will only release it with a subpoena. What's a savvy PI to do? In California you carry the current, amended version of the California Records Act with you. A named category of persons to whom a police report must be released is private investigators.

Go to Government Code section 6254 (f)(3). Read it yourself and make a copy. Carry it with you at all times. Refer to this section of the code in your written requests for police records. A handy Pocket Guide to the CPRA produced by The First Amendment Project is a pdf.

~ worker compensation news ~

The worker compensation news from the insurance companies' perspective is offered at workcomp central The site provides free access to subjects and story summaries, but rather than paying for the full article, look for the complete article through a search engine. Some recent court cases and news listed at workcomp central:

The duty to defend against a civil suit under Part 2 of a WC policy does not extend to actions by a leased employee, says CA 4th.
CA's 4th says that a landlord can not sue the employer/tenant to recover for an IW's third party suit against it.
A NY court upheld a Board decision where a man was refused benefits for reporting an injury more than 30 days after it occurred. NY's 3rd upheld the denial of benefits where misrepresentation of wage earnings and work history was admitted to by the IW.
A NY court denied an IW's claim of disability where it was found that retirement was on the advise of counsel.
A massive TX reform bill, introduced in to the state Senate yesterday, would create CA-style MPNs, raise benefits, and change the Commission.
An IL appellate court ruled that 3 intervening accidents did not break the causal chain of disability.

~ hospital visit records uncover fraud ~

Hospital Trace Reports are a longstanding resource for the insurance fraud investigator, according to a story in PI Magazine. The private investigator, usually with a release from the insurance company, contacts multiple hospitals to determine if the claimant has previously been admitted for similar medical complaints. Some investigators are packaging the hospital trace reports as a distinct service. Here's another one.

~ your continuing education ~

Internet searching is ubiquitous. But, as with so many areas of life, searching skill is not. You want results for the hours and hours you spent culling the web to fact check, develop company intelligence or personal background. Private investigator, get ye back to school! New York City, the spring and WebSearch University! They claim that in two days we'll freshen our knowledge on search engine developments, search strategies, blogging, open access, hidden Web resources, and competitive intelligence. Several teachers are internet searchers I really value. Mary Ellen Bates posts all too infrequently to her Tip of the Month site (aren't we still waiting for January?). Every researcher hungry for the latest in business resources is on Genie Tyburski's The Virtual Chase. Gary Price offers an unending quantity of quality library reports and news over at the ResourseShelf. Those are more than enough reasons to get me to NYC in May.

~ i get around ~

I know I've mentioned somewhere before one of my many brilliant ideas. I'll tell you what it is because it WILL bring clients to you. But you've got to promise me you'll do it. Okay, here goes. Remember that nice little exchange we got going on private investigator licensing (15 comments!), over at Crime and Federalism? Well, there's more momentum. Kempblog, an Indiana attorney riffed on my recent "traffic judge" topic. He found PI News Link, stayed for a comment, then wrote about it at his site.

Blah, blah, blah. What's in it for me, you say? Here's the brilliant part, and the promise that you'll keep.... If you comment on blog postings, at this site or around the Net, you'll get noticed. The comment section has a place for your name and url. The more activity, the further up in the search engines you go, the greater the attention and, you fill in the rest.

~ privacy, it works for me ~

Remember the privacy rights we had in school? The right to have your locker searched by the school. The right of teachers to corporal punishment... A Florida state court supported a school district against a Florida news outlet, in their request for non-identifying information from student records. The request was made under the state public records act but the school countered with the "privacy rights" argument. Fine. But this is not a principled stand. Where do the public schools come down on student free speech. Huh, put that in your hat and smoke it.

~ are you thinking like lawyers? ~

Look into the crystal ball, see where the legal biz, and your lawyers will be in 20 years. Okay, maybe you'll be retired but they're already working like its 2025. Get the scoop

~ now I really feel like a product ~

An enlightening study on the shifting strength and fortunes of search engines appears in e-commerce times. Google may be loosing the "battle for search mindshare" in the local search market. The perfection of targeted results from local searches is destined to get competitive, and this could effect how you market yourself on the web.

~ Vehicle and Accident Databases ~

There is no comprehensive nationwide source for specific vehicle or traffic violation information. States maintain separate databases of vehicles registered in their state. Except for the insurance industry proprietary database the sources for vehicle violation information are limited. The Safe Driving Institute, started by an former traffic cop, disseminates safe driving tips and step-by-step guidance to overturning traffic citations. But the primary value for investigators is their vehicle plate databank of bad drivers. For a fee the searcher can access reports on any plate that has been entered into the Safe Driving system. I think this is built just by public reporting, not court or police records. Unless this service actively gathers this data, it will be of limited investigative value but I guess it could have a deleterious effect on the "bad" driver's insurance.

One statement at the site piqued my curiosity:

Furthermore, many judges are not lawyers and have little to no legal training, yet they have managed to get elected or appointed to a position requiring them to interpret the law.

Is this true?

"Old school" fun was had by chasing traffic reports on police scanners. Audio feeds are still available at many sites: Live Police Scanner.

~ The Mother of Federal Databases ~

Search Engine Watch (reporting on EVERYTHING related to search engines) claims that the University of Michigan Documents Center is "one of the most comprehensive sources for finding government and statistical information on the internet."

~ Fact Or Just "News"? ~

What happens to a news story that turns out to be, well, untrue? It appears in the "mistakes happen" story site at Regret The Error. Reference this site as part of your fact checking of web research results you provide your client.

~Surprising Keyword Search Results ~

Website traffic and targeted search results depend on matching indexed keywords. The Overture indexed keyword matching tool is a fun way to find out the search terms people are entering into search engines. This could be particularly helpful when choosing a name for your web domain. I did this little test. I wanted to see how web searchers found investigators. Here are the stats on the number of searches performed in the last month on particular keywords.

california investigator: 39
private investigator: 36,000
locating people: 3400
people locator: 48,000

The domain names that combine the highly searched terms have already been claimed. I know you knew that!

~ HOT: Opinion On Pretexting Information ~

Hot On the Press: Legal Pretexting. The FTC's regulator talks about the uses of pretext to gain information. Read about it. Joel Winston (I'm not sure what position or authority he has at the FTC.) tosses out this little tidbit:

It is not our priority to be challenging the functions of a PI that are conceivably deceptive during a one on one transaction with someone, as opposed to looking at some broad practices that might cause harm to numerous individuals.

~ Online Libraries: A FREE Investigative Tool

Online libraries provide free research: Public libraries offer searchable databases for researching background on businesses and individuals, and downloading full text articles. An added tool that is often overlooked is a real time saver: the research librarian. The large metropolitan libraries have research librarians knowledgeable about reference materials and databases, and will answer your questions for FREE. The Los Angeles/Orange County library system provides an online means to ask questions, for holders of a local library card. Anyone, not just local residents, can get a library card. The catch at Los Angeles is you have to pick it up in person and show your ID.

On my other ezine, otherwise known as Investigate THIS!, I talk about some of the free library and research services offered on the web and over the phone.

The San Jose Public Library has a legal publications database, LegalTrac, which provides article citations. The Gale Group proprietary database provides, "indexing for all major law reviews, legal newspapers, specialty law publications, bar association journals and thousands of law-related articles from general interest publications." Most seem to be indexed starting in 1980. Publication types range from the ABA Journal to Army Lawyer.

After you get your list of periodical citations, while sipping your latte, from the convenience of your home office, put on street clothes and trundle down to your local law library to get the full article.

~ PIs Solving Crimes, For Free ~

Massachusetts private investigators are working pro-bono to break open cold cases that the police have left for dead. As you would expect, the club of blue is not welcoming the help. The new effort launched by the Licensed Private Detectives Association of Massachusetts, matches victim's families, whose cases have not been solved by the police, with PIs. The group is headed up by a former police chief, Thomas Shamshak.

"My vision is that the law enforcement community will recognize the benefits of having seasoned investigators taking a look at these cases," said Shamshak, who has worked on cases here and in Ireland. "I know as a former police chief I would have welcomed it." Read the article

~ Journalist Gets Parolee Addresses Through CPRA ~

~ The Ca Public Records Act is a means to gather name and address information not otherwise available. An Oakland, California Superior Court judge ruled that the Ca Dept. of Corrections was required to release names and addresses of parolees to a freelance journalist, who made the CPRA request. Reported by the California First Amendment Coalition.

Department of Corrections ordered to release data on recent parolees to freelance journalist
(CFAC 1/6/05)--An Oakland Superior Court judge has ruled that the California Department of Corrections must provide parolee information to a freelance journalist.
CDC had contended that providing the data would violate the California Information Practices Act (CIPA). James Chadwick, attorney for Sacramento-based writer Stephen James, argued that the California Public Records Act (CPRA) mandated release of the information. Superior Court Judge Steven Brick agreed. "Civil Code section 1798.24(g) expressly excepts requests made pursuant to the CPRA from the disclosure restrictions of the CIPA," he said. Brick said the CDC's refusal to disclose the requested information "was not well taken," and ordered the state to pay all costs and attorney fees.
The CDC had also argued that disclosure to the reporter of names, addresses and other information on parolees would violate their privacy rights. Judge Brick's order bars the reporter from publishing such information without the parolees' consent.
Chadwick, a partner at DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, is a member of CFAC's board of directors.

~ Anti-Terrorism Applied to Street Gangs ~

State Anti-Terrorism Law Prosecuting Street Gangs: In the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attack, New York passed a state law that parallels the Federal Anti-Terrorism statute. New York prosecutors are invoking the state law to round up whole street gangs in order to prosecute felony cases that haven't been resolved by the traditional means. Read the article

~ California Attorney General Opinions for Investigators ~

Police "mug shots" are a public record but, then they're not, if the Sheriff so decides. So goes the two-sided Attorney General Opinion on the public releasability of police booking photos, seemingly like every other government record subject to Government Code section 6254. I announced this somewhere recently but now I've found the California AG Opinion that references public access to copies of arrestee photos. AG Bill Lockyer delivered this 2003 Opinion in response to Contra Costa Sheriff Warren Rupf's request inquiring whether photos must be released under the California Public Records Act. It's not a sharp-edged biting opinion. But it'll have to do. And I think there's enough support for release to wave this Opinion in front of "your Sheriff here".

Lockyer concludes,

A sheriff has discretion to furnish copies of photographs of arrested persons, commonly known as "mug shots," in response to a request from a member of the general public, including the news media; however, once a copy is furnished to one member of the general public, a copy must be made available to all who make a request. Read and download this short Opinion

~ Is Google "The Web"? At Your Peril! ~

Search Engine News: Once again, the lowly researcher is reminded by Search Engine Watch that Google is not the uber alles web search engine. See for yourself how the various dominant search engines rank the same keywords and phrases. Apparently Yahoo and Google rarely have more than 50 percent overlap. Better get to work! Go to Thumbshots Ranking, put in your favorite website or phrase.

~ Return of Sex Offender Database ~

Sex Offender - Megan's Law Database report: The San Francisco Examiner revisits the new online California sex offender registry, noting, in this two-part report, that the gradations of criminal offense are absent, unlike in the prior database. Presumably, the Sheriff offices still have the CD for viewing that designates whether an offender is considered high-risk.

~ Are You Searching Blogs? ~

~ Are You Searching Blogs? ~ The Pew Internet Project just released a short summary study of blogs, and the people who blog them. Factoids: 8 million people are blogging or have a personal diary on the web; 12 percent of internet users are commenting on blog entry's. This is a fruitful area for information gathering and competitive intelligence. [Thanks to Searchblog for showing me the way to this item.]
Almost all of the detailed background I developed on one subject in a case came from piecing together all his internet posts. His marriage. His divorce. Why he moved. Where he's working...

Continuing on the topic of blog news...
Infomaniac gave PI News Link a kind mention in her December posting: "links to interesting public records information." And head over to Crime & Federalism for some good, healthy back and forth on the merits of PI licensing. Many from the gang are there, blowing off some thoughtful steam, if steam can be thoughtful.

~ Household Products Databases ~

~ Household Products Databases ~ U.S. National Library of Medicine operates this FREE online database on the hazards of consumer products.
Links to all the online sources for Materials Safety Data Sheets (chemical, physical and toxic properties, and safety and disposal tips for various substances) are at one convenient site.

~ Criminal Statistics ~

~ Criminal Statistics ~ Find the crime where they do the time, and where they don't... Prosecutors' offices, searchable by state and city, returns data on numbers of cases handled and case results.
Felony Sentences in the U.S., 2002. Presented in a spreadsheet format.

Highlights include the following:
Drug offenders were 32% of felons convicted in State courts in 2002.
State courts sentenced 41% of convicted felons to a State prison, 28% to a local jail, and 31% to straight probation with no jail or prison time to serve.
Guilty pleas accounted for 95% of
felony convictions in State courts in 2002.

~ Meta Job Databank Search Engine ~

~ Meta Job Databank Search Engine ~ Indeed.com is a meta search engine, in the beta phase, that boasts an inventory of 1.7 million job postings, in the past 30 days. Wanna identify an employer seeking hires, and in which job positions? Yep, you can specify this in the search mechanism. Target your search by employer or job catagory and further hone the results by city, state or zip code. Indeed.com crawls the major job posting sites and newspapers and produces very specific results. Check out my example search >

The first 5 postings, of 525 results, in the search by keyword "investigator", limited to California, and organized by date follows. A column on the left divides the results into topical folders. Seen here:
Refine Your Search + Child Advocacy Investigator + Investigator any Industry + Criminal Investigator + SIU Investigator + Private Investigator + Market Investigator San Francisco CA + Fire Investigator + Background Investigator + Accordance with Legal Requirements
Actual job postings:
InvestigatorFARA - US-CA-Long BeachInvestigator Full time licensed investigator to conduct insurance defense investigations for SIU. Must have experience and own video equipment. Apply online at http://hr.fara.com or Attn: Chris Will Fax: (504) 888-7614 _*_ E.O.E. From Monster - 1 Day 10 Hours ago
InvestigatorFARA - US-CA-San FranciscoInvestigator Full time licensed investigator to conduct insurance defense investigations for SIU. Must have experience and own video equipment. Please include Salary requirements. Apply online at http://hr.fara.com or Attn: Chris Will Fax: ( 504) 888-7614 _*_ E.O.E. From Monster - 1 Day 10 Hours ago INVESTIGATORDefense Security Service - US-CA-San DiegoCandidates To view a full job description or apply, visit: INVESTIGATOR, GS-1810 - 09 / 12<br /&From AJB - 2 Days 19 Hours ago
Experienced Surveillance InvestigatorLlorente Investigations Inc. - US-CA-Central Valley_*_ From Monster - 1 Day 4 Hours ago
Experienced Surveillance InvestigatorLlorente Investigations Inc. - US-CA-Oakland/East BayCome join our team!!!! Llorente Investigations, Inc. is a premier private investigation firm specializing in insurance defense-related investigations. We have been in business since 1992. Our SIU, and...From Monster - 1 Day 4 Hours ago

~ DATABASE of the Day: Find-A-Snitch! ~

Who's A Rat claims to be the largest online database of police informants. But then, what's the competition? The entries, based on submissions, are drawn from public records. Photographs are also posted at this FREE site.

~ I Can't Get No Respect ~

We're dissed from here to there and often have to correct the record. Usually we're getting hammered by ever more restrictive State and Federal laws, NOT the attorneys who depend on our expertise! The unnamed blogger at an oft sited blog, Crime and Federalism, apparently, an attorney-in-waiting, rants about the existence of laws that disallow some people, such as himself, from practicing private investigations. Read my comments, add some of your own.

~ DATABASE: Human Genome Scientists and Publications ~

I admit, this is a bit outside the circle of our daily work, but sometime you may need to know the researchers who are contributing to the human genome knowledge base. Through this search tool you can identify the names and associated institutions of researchers, genome and chromosome mapping, and published articles.

Johns Hopkins University has developed a database of the genome and genetic disorders. A keyword/number search related to disease, genome, chromosome and genetic abnormalities are cross referenced to each other and to relevant medical articles.

~ Canadian Court Records Index ~

The British Columbia, Canada, Court Services Online provides "Provincial and Supreme Court civil files from 1989 onwards for most court locations across the province." The index search is $6 per name.

B.C. Provincial Judgments index is a FREE search, spanning 1999 to 2004. The B.C. Supreme Court and Appeals Court has a FREE Judgments index for 1990 thru 2004.

Court links to other provinces' FREE searches are listed at the site for Courthouse Library Society.

Other FREE Canadian Court links:

Canada Legal Information Institute. Links to searchable legal sites and court decisions through out Canada.
Unreported Decisions Index. Indexes more than 17,000 unreported B.C. decisions and judgments from other tribunals.
Canadian Employment Insurance Orders. Access all insurance jurisprudence (i.e. CUBs (Canadian Umpire Benefits), Federal Court and Supreme Court decisions).
Tax Court of Canada Judgments. 3,000 decisions rendered by the Tax Court of Canada since November 1997.
Supreme Court of Canada Reports of Published Judgments. Decisions since 1985.
Court of Canada Court Martial Appeal. Decisions since 2001.