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Frank Dillon
interviewed by Brian Hecht on October 10, 1995
"The detective of the 21st Century is going to be an entirely different animal."
Frank Dillon developed the Detective Information NETwork.
Tripod: Let's say I called up the Detective Information NETwork and we were thinking about hiring, say, a babysitter, and I wanted to know a little bit about the person. What sort of services could you offer?
FD: We have a package for nanny-checks. That consists of verifying the social security number, the name -- to make sure it's one and the same person. We do a criminal and civil history check where the person has resided. We also do a driving check, if the person is going to be driving. But we also recommend doing a credit check. And that requires the person's signed permission, to establish that the person is able to manage their finances.
Tripod: What other sorts of relationships are you skilled at investigating?
FD: We do some personal relationships. We've had situations where a female all of a sudden is approached by a gentleman, and she may have some wealth in her own right, and she begins to suspect that he isn't all that he says he is.
Tripod: What are the tools of your trade?
FD: Basically, we use public record databases that are available to us, and the telephone. Our expertise is because we're either skilled investigators or researchers.
Tripod: How much could someone investigate on their own if they had a good Internet connection and some knowledge of the resources out there.
FD: There are some databases on the Internet. For example, there's a national death registry ... You can't get directly to criminal and civil records. I'm really not too sure about what the public records are on the Internet. Because we have people coming to us who say they've used the Internet and ran into a dead end.
Tripod: What are some of the more surprising or unusual sources you use to investigate somebody.
FD: In many cases, for example, we use corporate records to determine if people offering lucrative investments are in fact a legitimate company. There are many many people now who are starting to check before they actually give over their assets to someone. We feel very good about that, in cases where we can save people considerable amounts of money.
Tripod: A lot of the services you mentioned are useful if you have a specific person in mind and you know something about their background. What if I'm trying to track down, say, an old high school friend, and I have only the barest information -- the name, maybe where they lived 10 or 15 years ago. What would you do with that?
FD: We have several searches that can try to find someone. For example, if this person really hasn't moved, we can normally use a surname search to find an individual. Females are more difficult if they've gotten married and changing their name. But we do have a database where, if you know the person's date of birth, and what their name is, that can sometimes turn up the information.
Tripod: Have you ever had a situation where someone is looking for a missing person, and you just open the White Pages and find them?
FD: [Laughs.] We haven't, but we actually talk to the individual and ask them what they've done ahead of time. Because, if they haven't really done that simple stuff, we suggest that they do that first.
Tripod: Can you give me an idea of the range of your clientele? What sort of people are your most common customers?
FD: In the area of finding people, more finding lost friends. And in some cases, family members -- where the family has split up. We get a lot of that. The other thing that we're doing quite a lot of today is checking out investments for people. And mainly because these scamsters, when they get notoriety in one particular state, they pack up and go somewhere else and start their scheme again. So we recommend that, before you invest money, check things out.
Tripod: Do you -- personally -- do you feel any sentimental links to the great American detective tradition? You know, film noir, or detective novels.
FD: Well, all of us have had experience in that area. And while I enjoy reading those stories today, the detective of the 21st century is going to be an entirely different animal. In fact, if they don't have access to these on-line databases, they're going to become like the buggy whip. In fact, we do work for small private detective agencies. It's not economical for them to have these databases, so they come to us.
Tripod: Who is on your staff? Is it retired law enforcement people, or more cybersurfers?
FD: We have a combination of retired investigators and younger people who are excellent researchers. And we also have a consulting psychologist on the staff, who has considerable expertise on the Internet.
Tripod: Can you give me an idea of the size of your operation, in terms of staff, and also revenue?
FD: Well, I can't go into the revenue business, but we are a startup firm. This is our second year. And we trained 35 people last year. We're located in the Washington, DC area, where we have a lot of retired people who want to work part-time. So if we get busy, we bring them in, they work with us part-time. And we have about five of us who are full-time.
Tripod: It sounds like what you do feeds some of the paranoia people have about information on the Internet. Is that at all justified?
FD: No, I don't think so. We've become such a transient society today that people know very little about others that they meet. And because of the transient nature, people move around the country with various scams and things like that. But I will also tell you that people who really want to not be found, can do that.
Tripod: Tell me about that.
FD: People just stay out of any public databases that will service their location.
Tripod: But is the concept of anonymity completely out of the question?
FD: If you've got lots and lots of money, you can afford a firm that will just go out and spend their money finding you, you probably could. But, let's face it, from the FBI's top-10 wanted list, that gal who was the bomber in the 1960s, she was living out in Oregon. And it wasn't until she turned herself in that anyone found her.
Tripod: So there's still a limit to how much we can know about anyone.
FD: Yes, there is. In fact, we get people coming to us who are looking for lost relatives who tell us, right up front, they don't want to be found. And we're very honest with them and say, if they're very good at it, we'll never find them on a public database.
Tripod: What do you charge, and how could someone get in touch with you?
FD: We charge by the search. We think about exactly what the person's problem is, and then tell them what we can do, and the probability of us being successful. And what those searches would cost. They range anywhere from $50 up to $150.
Tripod: So it actually seems quite affordable.
FD: It is. And that was the purpose of this. To help individuals and small businesses who don't use private detectives, can't afford them, but they need some information.
You can view the homepage for the Detective Information NETwork at http://www2.csn.net/din/index.html
or phone them at 1-800-419-4194
or email them at [email protected]
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