Sneaky Cat Private investigations & Process Serving
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- (405)-434-5746
- Keefe@PrivatelnvestigatorOKC.com
- 6051 North Brookline Avenue, Suite 129, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73112
Self-Defense Tips
Anyone who dares enter the dangerous professions of civil and criminal private investigations and process serving, the fields are fraught with danger. Much like working as a bail bondsman or serving valiantly as a commissioned Oklahoma police officer doing a routine traffic stop where anything bad can happen, both process servers in Oklahoma City and private eyes face constant threats of danger. Most times things go smoothly, but all these legal professionals must remain constantly vigilant and aware of their surroundings for dangers that could emerge without warning.
Types of Threats Armed Private Detectives & Process Servers Face:
Each private investigator in Broken Arrow and process server near me faces threats when they go out to serve papers or conduct investigations. Some of these threats are worse and indeed more dangerous than others, but these legal professionals must take great care to avoid all of them and, when needed, take the appropriate countermeasures. Some of these biggest threats include, but are not limited to, the following:
Angry Defendants & Their Families:
The single biggest danger that process servers in El Reno, OK face are from the people they serve and their family members. Because all the court documents bring bad news, few, if any people, enjoy seeing process servers come to their door to perform their official duties. They may wield firearms, knives, or may attack process servers and PIs with their bare fists. These miscreants may also attack their vehicles or try to run over these legal professionals with their cars, SUVs, or trucks.
Most of the time, defendants/respondents are nice or at least neutral toward process servers who come to their door. They simply take the papers, reading them over and possibly expressing some confusion on their faces upon receiving them. This is the norm, and this type of response is not dangerous, and the process servers face no immediate peril. However, this situation does not always occur, and process servers in Tulsa and private investigators in Enid, Oklahoma must act accordingly.
Unhelpful 👮 Police Officers:
Any private investigator in Edmond or process server in Yukon, OK who has ever tried to call a police officer or other law enforcement agency for help has become extremely disappointed. With few exceptions, these legal professionals do anything but act professionally when performing their duties. This is because most of them, save perhaps for sheriffs’ deputies, know little or even nothing about the Oklahoma Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and some even enjoy seeing others harass and even harm process servers.
Police officers do not know the work private eyes and process servers do, and they do not care. These law enforcement often misguidedly and illegally harass and even threaten process servers with trespassing for legally accessing a property just like deputies do to complete their official duties as officers of the court. They just get in the way and cause trouble for those in our chosen legal fields, all the while wanting us to respect their duties and positions and even offer help when they ask.
Indeed, unless a property has a locked gate and fence around the entire property and a sign which clearly states, “NO TRESPASSING,” there is no crime. Most police officers and other law enforcement personnel do not care, especially if they know and like the individual the process server has come to serve. Some law enforcement officers (LEOs) will even illegally and immorally stand in the way of an officer of the court’s attempts to serve someone with court documents, preventing them from completing their job.
Many police officers in Oklahoma will even ask process servers in OKC and Oklahoma private eyes who are merely sitting on a public road conducting surveillance private investigations for a civil or criminal case or waiting for a defendant/respondent to come or go for identification. This is also highly illegal and unethical, as Oklahoma is not a “stop and ID” state. Thus, unless there is probable cause to do so, Oklahoma’s laws specifically prohibit police officers from asking for or demanding to see a person’s identification, unless good cause exists to do so.
Nevertheless, too many cops think they are above the law and push the legal limits anyway. This is yet another reason why many people dislike cops, because while some are great and serve honorably to protect others, many overstep their bounds, exceed their constitutional and statutory authority, and harm those they have sworn to protect and serve.
Process servers in Mustang, OK and cheating spouse private investigators must learn not to rely upon police for help when things go south, and danger arises. They must obtain their Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (C.L.E.E.T.) armed private investigator license, so they may carry firearms while on duty. Carrying pepper gel, tasers, and learning martial arts can also help protect them. Many even use dash cameras and shirt cameras, as well as taking other preventive and defensive measures to keep themselves safe from harm.
Vicious Dogs:
Dangerous canines can also present opportunities for great harm to both postal workers, process servers, and child custody private investigators alike. Some breeds are genetically more dangerous, while many dogs become vicious because of training and how their humans have treated them. When process servers in Mustang, Oklahoma and the best private eyes from private detective agencies must go onto a property where dangerous dogs lurk, pepper gel or pepper spray is often the best option.
Pepper gel allows these legal professionals to keep a safer distance, while also putting a non-lethal substance directly onto these pooches that will help make them think twice about sinking their teeth and claws into an approaching officer of the court or PI who merely wants to complete her/his/their official duties. Pepper gel and pepper spray do not cause permanent harm, and while uncomfortable, will cause the canines no lasting damage.
Inclement Weather:
Another threat that both process servers in Midwest City, Oklahoma and adultery private investigators alike must take precautions for involves bad weather. From tornadoes and floods to hail, sleet, high heat, ice, and snow, Oklahoma’s constantly changing, bipolar, turbulent weather can pose many hazards to the health and safety of legal professionals who are simply trying to do their duties professionally and safely. Fortunately, there are many ways to stay alert and aware when inclement weather strikes. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
Weather Apps:
Weather apps can help immediately alert people to incoming bad weather, both days or even a week or more in advance and when an immediate threat is imminent. The smartest, wisest, best private detectives and process servers in Norman always download a weather app, especially those who live in Oklahoma. This initiative-taking preventive measure is the best primary source of information that helps keep these legal professionals unharmed.
Every Oklahoma private eye and officer of the court must always maintain their vehicles. By having excellent, high mileage tires, windshield wipers that help deflect rain and other precipitation, process servers can stay safer during inclement weather while driving from one place to the other. Proper car maintenance is an essential part of good common sense.
Umbrellas:
Taking an umbrella can also help process servers in Del City and private detectives near me to stay dry. Many people forget to bring them, but they are especially helpful when rainfall begins. Wise people with common sense and good judgment always carry one in their glove compartments or trunks.
Seeking Emergency Shelter:
Another way to stay safe, dry, and out of harm while out in the field is by seeking a safe place to shelter during a storm. Whether a hospital basement or even the home of a random but hopefully nice and non-violent stranger, sometimes weather sneaks up too quickly and unexpectedly, and being inside is usually safer than in one’s personal vehicle. While this should be a last resort and a reactive measure when preventive, initiative-taking methods of staying safe from inclement weather fail, it is always an option on the table, nonetheless.
Staying Home in the First Place:
Sometimes weather forecasts simply predict too much unstable, terrible weather to risk going outside in it. No amount of money is worth the risk of getting injured or killed by a tornado or flood or of having hail or a car accident damage your property, life, and/or those of others. Thus, the best private investigators near me and process servers at our private detective agency in OKC always check the weather first before heading out. If it is too dangerous to go, make the right call and stay inside.
Types of Defensive Weapons During Process Serving & Private Investigations:
There are a variety of defensive weapons that process servers in Oklahoma and infidelity private investigators can bring with them to help themselves stay safe from harm.
Every armed private investigator and process server who has secured an armed PI license should always carry some sort of defensive weapon. This is simply basic safety and common sense, because their fields of work can be just as dangerous and sometimes more than that of law enforcement officers. There are just too many dangers in these legal fields that render going unprepared and unarmed as risky, dangerous, life-threatening professional negligence.
This is especially true for process servers, because they always bring unwanted news with detrimental consequences for the recipients of the court papers or other legal documents. Indeed, many people in society, even police officers, unfortunately and misguidedly detest process servers just for existing and working, even though they are often just honest people trying to earn a living. Without them, the civil and even criminal courts would stop slowly.
Fortunately, the owners of our private investigation agency in Oklahoma, through their decades of experience in these legal fields, have put together some helpful hints for those with the appropriate legal licensing to carry and use while working as cheating spouse private investigators and process servers. These defensive weapons and other safety measures include, but are not limited to, the following partial list of checklist items:
Durable Bulletproof Vests:
Opting to purchase an NIJ Level 4 or RF3 bulletproof vest that can even withstand armor piercing bullets is crucial to staying safe while out in the field. This tactical gear, while costly, is invaluable at helping prevent gunshot wounds and is one of many effective tools which can help save life and limb. No process server in Piedmont or private investigator in Edmond, OK should ever go out to work without wearing this lifesaving equipment.
Bulletproof Helmet with Visor:
Some process servers and kidnapping private eyes will also purchase bulletproof helmets with visors like military service members, police, and other law enforcement officers often wear. This is smart, because while this equipment also costs money, if it ends up saving the lives of these legal professionals, then the benefits outweigh the costs.
Tasers:
Tasers are another option, but they are not one that the owners of our private investigation agency in Oklahoma highly recommend. While they do provide distance that guns do not, they can also misfire or fail to discharge at all, and the user only gets one shot before needing to reload. Tasers are ineffective against defending against multiple people at once, and to continue their effectiveness, the user must also continue to send electricity into their intended target. Sadly, these are not the only downsides tasers have.
Tasers, as well as their discharge units, are expensive to purchase, and there is always the risk that using electricity to immobilize someone could kill them. Thus, while certainly an optional in the arsenal of items that an armed private detective in Oklahoma or a process server can use, their risks and disadvantages often outweigh their benefits.
One of the positive sides of tasers is that, because they are not firearms, process servers may carry and use them while on the job without needing the armed private investigator license endorsement. Oklahoma’s laws do not classify tasers as prohibited weapons, and as such members of the public may carry and use them as desired. However, some private investigator schools, such as SOR Training Center, do offer special taser and OC spray classes that are beneficial and which might even help provide some additional legal protection, if someone ever sues the process server or PI for using a taser or pepper gel/spray while on duty.
Body Cameras and Dash Cameras:
A great way to help preserve evidence in automobile accidents and when situations turn violent or otherwise require evidence collection like witness statements is to utilize body cameras and dash cameras. Since so many people use Ring and other CCTV video and audio recording device nowadays, people are used to seeing these used. Indeed, some police departments use them to help keep their law enforcement officers honest. So, process servers and PIs that use dash cameras and body cameras protect themselves during accidents, record witnesses’ statements, and provide evidence for court when defendants/respondents try to claim they a process server “did not” serve them the court papers or other legal documents.
Steel-Toed Boots:
Buying and wearing a decent, sturdy pair of steel-toed boots can also afford process servers in Edmond and rape private investigators alike with added protection when engaging in hand-to-hand combat with violent defendants/respondents, rapists, and murderers. Plus, they are discreet, so no one else knows the legal professional has them on, unless the individual discloses the fact or the recipient of a hard kick feels the metal meeting their flesh during an unfortunate physical encounter. Indeed, their cost is usually nominal, and they also provide armor of sorts on their wearer’s toes, helping to protect them from harm.
Pepper Gel & Pepper Spray:
Pepper spray and especially pepper gels are perfect for are perfect for process servers and sexual assault private investigators who are working difficult cases. Neither one costs much, and legal professionals can shoot both out multiple times at people who are a safer distance away. While they are no match for an attacker with a firearm, they deal non-lethal damage and thus are more versatile. Thus, a process server in OKC, OK and a private eye can use them in a wider array of situations.
Stun Guns:
Stun guns are like tasers, but they cost less, but the user must get much closer – within striking distance – to defend against an attacker. These are not ideal, because if a defendant/respondent gets too close with a knife or even fists, they can cause significant damage or even death.
Black Pepper Ball Guns – C.L.E.E.T ARMED PI LICENSE REQUIRED:
Black pepper ball guns look intimidating like real firearms, but they are more versatile because they do not cause lethal damage. Thus, they can be used in more situations. However, just like with firearms, process servers and private detectives must have first obtained the armed private investigator license that the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (C.L.E.E.T.) issues. This is because Oklahoma’s laws treat them like real firearms even though they only shoot out black pepper balls. Thus, while their damage is non-lethal, the laws about them are more rigid than pepper gel, tasers, stun guns, and pepper spray.
Firearms - C.L.E.E.T ARMED PI LICENSE REQUIRED:
These are the only satisfactory items for use in true life-or-death combat. When an attacker is charging toward one of our process servers or private eyes with a knife in hand or brandishes a pistol or rifle, the owners of our private detective agency adamantly demand that our team members likewise pull their firearms in self-defense if diplomacy and de-escalation are no longer options. No pepper pel, tasers, stun guns, or pepper spray will overcome an attacker who wields a gun, period.
Bulletproof Windshields on Armored Vehicles with Tinted Windows:
For added safety, the owners of our PI agency always encourage our legal professionals to put bulletproof windows onto their vehicles and to use armor plating on their cars, trucks, and SUVs. While not required, this extra protection helps keep process servers in Edmond, Oklahoma, and child sexual abuse private investigators safer from would-be attackers while in the field.
Use of CB Radios & Cell Phones:
Communication is key for success for legal professionals in all fields. This is equally true for skip tracers and process servers at our private investigation agency in Edmond. Their use of CB radios and cell phones to communicate with supervisors of PI agencies, police, and between fellow process servers and private detectives is vital. If something adverse happens or if newer, better information becomes known that requires sharing, these mediums of communication are crucial to helping ensure everyone stays safe and that the papers get served in a timely manner/PI case gets solved.
Sharing Your GPS Location Data with Loved Ones:
To stay safer, we always recommend that the best process server and all theft private investigators always share their GPS location data with loved ones, prior to heading anywhere on an assignment. That way, if things go south and something bad happens, loved ones and agency supervisors will know where their loved ones/staff were last known to be. That way, if necessary, they can drive there or call for law enforcement backup.
Carrying a First Aid Kit:
Carrying along a first aid kit in one’s car is a smart thing to do for a lot of reasons. If a romance scam private investigator or process server is driving along and sees an accident, then having a first aid kit on hand can help when providing first aid to the victims. If the legal professionals or anyone they are following or helping likewise become injured at any time, then first aid kits can also come in handy.
Bringing Someone Else Along with You:
It never hurts to have an extra witness along for the ride, especially if they are likewise duly licensed as a process server in Oklahoma and/or an Oklahoma private eye. In case something bad happens, like if a violent defendant/respondent begins pulling a gun or trying to hit one of the officers of the court, the other legal professional can call for police backup, run over the attacker with a gun, begin shooting the attacker, or help drive both away to safety, as the situation requires.
As you can see, the owners of our private detective agency in Edmond, Oklahoma have listed a plethora of many helpful ideas for defensive weapons, body armor, and other items that come in useful for staying safe while on the job. This is only a partial list, so there are other things one can bring along to help complete the job with increased safety and professionalism.
The Role of Martial Arts in Self-Defense for Process Servers & Private Eyes:
When terrible situations develop so quickly that there is no time for drawing defensive weapons, hand-to-hand combat might quickly become the immediate reality. When this occurs, a process server in Moore or a private detective in Ardmore who has extensive martial arts training, such as having earned a black belt from a reputable martial arts dojo like Premier Martial Arts of Edmond, will have significant tactical advantages when defending against violent people.
Never underestimate the use of martial arts training when conducting criminal private investigations or serving court papers as an officer of the court. It does cost money and takes time, but it can save your life when diplomacy/de-escalation fail and there is no time to draw a weapon like a firearm, taser, pepper gel, etc. A process server in Bethany is much more likely to survive an attack, if she/he/they has/have both extensive martial arts training and carries defensive weapons.
How Police’s Unhelpfulness Factors into Safety Measures Process Servers & Oklahoma Private Investigators Must Take:
Every private eye and Oklahoma private detective must get it through their heads now that police seldom, if ever, help anyone in our chosen legal fields. If they call them because a defendant or criminal has attacked you, they will often just shrug it off and ignore it. In fact, they will blame the process server and may even issue a trespassing citation for “good” measure. Any help from law enforcement is the exception, not the rule, and every legal professional can bet that police will want every process server in Chickasha and private eye in El Reno to follow their direction and obey their commands, but do not expect them to respect our legal fields or render us much, if any, aid, or other assistance.
Prosecutors are often no better, with most failing to prosecute attacks on process servers. Indeed, assaulting a process server or private detective is only a misdemeanor, under Oklahoma’s statute §21-650.6. Thus, while someone who commits assault and battery against a juror, court clerk, county treasurer, county clerk, county assessor, bailiff, etc., it is a felony. But an assault and battery against a process server or Oklahoma private investigator is a mere misdemeanor. Let that sink in. This is how little society cares about the work we do and who we are as people. They do not value our lives whatsoever. Remember that, and contact your state’s politicians here in Oklahoma and demand change.
For the reasons above, the best process servers and lewd molestation private investigators become self-sufficient. They bring their own defensive weapons, learn martial arts skills, and master diplomatic skills to help prevent dangerous situations via de-escalation efforts. People in these legal fields must never count on law enforcement to help or intervene. They need to learn to make their own preparations and learn to depend on themselves, colleagues, and supervisors.
How Process Servers Must Use the Element of Surprise When Delivering Court Papers & Other Legal Documents:
The element of surprise is crucial to successfully serving court papers and other legal documents to unsuspecting defendants. Thus, instead of going up to a person’s home or place of employment in a uniform and announcing one’s presence as a process server or Oklahoma officer of the court, instead go in plains clothing and pretend to be a friend or potential customer. By letting them know there is a process server present to deliver court papers, it ruins one’s cover and puts the recipients on the defensive where they may deny their identity to avoid having anyone serve them with court papers or other legal documents.
Also, a process server in Choctaw, OK must always assume the individual who opens the front door is the correct person, unless that person tells them otherwise and shows proper state or federal photo ID. Before going to the location, check the mailbox to verify mail, ask neighbors, and/or do skip tracing in advance to confirm the person’s identity, if possible, and never ask if the individual who answers the front door is the defendant, because this gives the individual the chance to deny his/her/their identity.
Once a process server in OKC has successfully delivered the court papers or other legal documents to the defendant, the person should leave as soon as possible. Why? This is because when they first get the documents, they are more likely to feel stunned. However, once they read them and fully understand what they are for and the bad news they bring, they may turn aggressive and violent toward the officer of the court in Oklahoma who delivered the documents.
Without turning one’s back on them, a process server in Oklahoma City should quickly get back into her/his/their vehicle, lock the doors, and drive far away. Sticking around only invites attack and gives defendants/respondents the opportunity to strike. There have been countless cases of these respondents banging on and kicking cars that process servers and private eyes are driving in. Never hesitate in getting out of there and always put safety first!
