Chick Check

Jul 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By STEPHANIE SILK

Where Intuition and Information Meet.” That's the slogan for Atlanta-based Busted Inc., a private investigation company run by women. Busteds' years of background checks, investigations and stakeouts prove that security has expanded its role beyond the business world and into the personal world.

Gretchen Lane is a private investigator with Busted, a company that her best friend, Jeanene Weiner, started a few years ago. Since then, they have worked for witness location, attorneys and trials; performed employment and safety-related background checks; and, highest on their list, worked infidelity cases. “I'd say about 90 percent of our clients want an infidelity check on their spouse, soon-to-be spouse or even worse, their child's spouse,” Lane says.

Conditions are right to bring security out of the office and into the home, what with Internet access, surveillance at its peak and even small devices like cell phones becoming spy-worthy.

“Background checks are the greatest tool we have — but the result is often a never-ending story. Many people start by doing a $45 online check themselves and end up empty-handed. So they come to us,” Lane says.

And Busted Inc. is available to do the dirty work for their clients. Similar to a company doing a background check on a prospective employee, the women use a basic database search, an in-depth Internet check and, for more money, they go to courthouses and police departments to retrieve documents. If a client still wants more, Lane says surveillance comes into play.

Busted Inc. uses a plethora of surveillance technology. The company uses many night-capable video cameras, which work for situations in dark restaurants. But they also have other tricks up their sleeves. A “purse cam” — a purse containing a miniature DVR — is a useful tool, which they can place on a table, point anywhere and check inside the purse to watch the screen.

Although most of what Busted Inc. does is technology-driven, they also use low-tech women's intuition. “When listening to a client's story, we get that ‘gut feel’ and we are almost always right,” Lane explains. They also use charm. “Being female, it makes our lives easier because people don't suspect us. We can get away with a lot that men can't,” Lane says. “It looks normal when women take pictures of each other in the bathroom or at the dinner table. Sure, there's a cheating couple behind us in the picture, but, we're a group of girls, we're allowed to ‘accidentally’ get those shots.”

It isn't an invasion of privacy, Land contends. When Busted Inc. catches someone doing something they shouldn't be doing, it's because they are doing it in public. They do not put cameras in the home, they don't bug telephones and they stay away from password-protected documents. “Other [firms] may do illegal things to hurt your privacy, but what we do is all legal,” Lane says.

Here is some advice from an expert on leading a more secure and private life: Take care of the trash.

“Trash — it's a goldmine of information,” Lane says. “Once it's on the curb, it's legal to take. From trash, we can find out a person's job, if they have children, etc.” So how can one protect what he or she tosses? “Shredders are a great idea,” Lane says.

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© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

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