[FIND] Vice - Jim Rockford

"This is Jim Rockford. At the tone leave your name and message; I'll get back to you." - Answering machine message at the Rockford Agency.

It's sometimes hard to craft a story about someone you idolize. Jim Rockford, for lots of people my age and older, is the iconic modern private investigator. There were others before and of course there's magnum and that passel of PIs that came later, but Rockford is, for many, simply the best.

He lived in a trailer (that seconded as an office), drove a gold Pontiac Firebird, and owned a handgun that, according to him, "I just point it. I don't shoot." Rockford entertained flight attendants on layover, continuously bothered his cop buddies, and spent quality time with his old man, Rocky (see photo at right). 

 

He was, as was the era, a bit of a sartorial mess. But he had a life that most men envied. 

An ex-con: "I was pardoned." 

An optimist: "Yeah but look at it this way, an inch or two to the left and he'd have missed me completely." 

A fair fighter: "Ow. If I could do that without a roll of quarters in my hand, I'd be a terror." 

A coiner of classic phrases: "Freeze turkey!"

The Rockford Files was a virtual one-liner factory and James Gardner could deliver those lines like no other. So, it is with respect, admiration, and honor that we at [FIND] Investigations bring you this months [FIND] Vice:

The Cocktail - actually a guest post from our friends over at Q103 in Albany, NY, with the perfect tag line: Go Rock (ford) Yourself. Thank you Brian Bushner, Digital Program Director at Townsquare Media for a fantastic guest appearance here at [FIND] Vice. Here's what Brian has to say:

--------------------

What Beer Would Jim Rockford Drink?

I’m a huge fan of Classic TV shows –  call it part of my nerd charm. I watch The Rockford Files nearly every night and I’m pretty annoyed that NBC is so out of ideas that they are going to remake this classic. So I ask the big question: what would Jim Rockford drink?

When Jim wasn’t being shot at while working on a case that he'd likely never get paid for, he enjoyed sitting in his trailer eating Oreos, or going out to a good steak dinner, or a spicy taco from his favorite restaurant, Casa Taco. Jim always had a beer too with that stuff. Usually it was in a can at home or what I’m pretty sure was a lager at a restaurant or bar.

Beer was pretty boring in the mid to late 1970s. Beers popular at that time included Miller High Life, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Schlitz, and a very limited supply of imported beers for variety.  Things started getting better when the ban on homebrewing was lifted in October 1978. The entire microbrewery movement is a fairly recent thing too.

Basically, Rockford was a beer lover with limited options. But if he could sip a cold one today,  here are a few I'd like to pair with his favorite three foods:

Oreos – best known for dunking in milk, dunk in beer at your own risk. I’d say a chocolate and vanilla stout. Breckenridge Brewery makes an awesome vanilla stout, and the Creme Brulee Stout from Southern Tier Brewing Company goes perfectly with Oreos. Very vanilla scent, along with some chocolate and both scents translate to flavor. 

Steak dinner? I’d go with the Brown Ale from Brooklyn Brewery, a great beer which isn’t too heavy. It goes well with a hearty meal, and the flavor pairing with steak is phenomenal. This beer smells like maple and brown sugar. The sweet chestnut flavors mixed with beef (especially grilled) plays a symphony of delight in your mouth. This beer has a low alcohol content so it’s okay to have a second one because once you taste the flavor combinations you’ll want to keep the flavor flowing.

Jim also liked a “spicy taco” from a fictional local joint. Usually I suggest anything with lots of hops, like an IPA, with a spicy food because the hops help cool the burn and the bitter + spicy flavor contrast is one of my favorites. 

Let’s pair Redhook ESB with the spicy taco. The sweet/butter flavors with the spice kicks the flavor up a notch. There are enough hops in this beer to take it a step further and have it with a spicy fish taco. If you take a sip of this as a chaser, the fish flavor returns for a second quick round. It’s a neat flavor trick!

Not sure if Jim would actually drink all that but it was fun to speculate, no?

Thanks again to our friends over at Albany's very own Q103, Go Rock Yourself.

--------------------

The Cigar - Actually a cigar
By: Joe Zike, Cigar Expert, formerly of UpTown's Smoke Shop. 

Padron 1926 Anniversary Series

Length: 5-1/2" 

Ring Gauge: 52

Filler: Nicaraguan

Binder: Nicaraguan

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Maduro

Rockford knows how to relax, and he's going to need to after getting caught up in his friends' activities, a bathroom brawl or two, and a car chase in his Pontiac Firebird. He'll take time out to go fishing, and he's gonna bring a cigar along. It'd be the Padron 1926 Anniversary Series #2 maduro. Its dark wrapper gives the cigar a creamy undertone. As the cigar smokes, peppery spice and hickory notes alternate and are kept in check by the creamy undertone. Whether he catches any fish or not doesn't matter. 

On a personal note: We said a temporary goodbye to out friend Joe last Wednesday night. He's off to Germany for a summer internship at journalism school. We're proud of Joe and we wish him well. Give us a call when you get back this direction, we'll share a cigar and a glass of wine at Rumours.

What Private Investigators Can Learn From Savile Row

‘Bespoke’ is actually a term from the 17th Century, when tailors held the full lengths of cloth on the premises. When a customer chose a length of material, it was said to have “been spoken for." … More than 20 measurements and figuration details are taken from the customer. Then a personal pattern will be hand-drafted and cut from scratch—not the basic, adjusted template pattern, as used by so many other tailors these days. Using your pattern, the cloth is then cut and trimmed, along with the finest linings and silks available. A single tailor is then given the parts of the garment to sew together, from the earliest fitting stages, to the final, complete suit. Each suit is completely hand-made, even down to the button holes.

                        - Thomas Mahon, Savile Row Tailor

Off-The-Rack and Made-To-Measure Investigations

There are several companies that provide off-the-shelf options for investigations. These larger “investigative agencies” offer pre-selected criteria, a pre-existing template, on which to base their investigations. These are usually database searches and they are usually based on outdated public records. A few of the larger agencies offer similar made-to-measure options where they offer a pre-priced set of services including limited surveillance, background checks, and minimal actual investigative work.

The problem is, these larger firms offer simple variations on the theme of off-the-shelf and made-to-measure services. These firms have size and resources, but they lack fundamental skills. Engaging these firms for investigations is like buying a suit from Men’s Warehouse. They may look impressive. But will their work hold up? These “investigations” are inexpensive and, like a cheap suit, they fall apart under stress and scrutiny.

Bespoke Investigations

The true professional investigative firm operates more along the lines of a bespoke tailor, a boutique style business that demands hard work and long hours. The cost is typically much higher, but the quality is assuredly superior.

It’s fairly clear to me what we, as investigators, can learn from Savile Row. The process of crafting a bespoke suit is not at all different from fashioning a scope of work for an investigation. Each situation, like each person, is different.

A bespoke tailor will visit with his client, get a sense of the person’s style and attitude. They will measure and craft. They will select tools and cloth specifically for the client. They will, in a sense, create a scope of work.

A professional investigator will do much the same. They will meet with the client, interview him and make notes, get to know the situation as much as possible. They will measure the options to craft a complete scope of work. They will select tools and methods specifically for the client. They will, in a sense, hand-craft a pattern for the investigation.

[FIND] Investigations’ Approach

We are a boutique agency. We spend time with our clients, hand craft a strategy, and assign one professional investigator to oversee each case. We pool our resources, our contacts, our combined expertise to create a scope of work that applies specifically to each client’s case. Each case is hand made, right down to the button holes.

The Detrimental Impact of Too Many Rules

I understand that rules are necessary. A company has to have guidelines, processes, a way-we-do-things. I appreciate that these rules are styled to keep the company out of dutch, keep its people in line. But, there's something wrong, terribly wrong, with the way some organizations simply cannot think of enough things to tell their people not to do.

I'm about half way through with Seth Godin's new book Poke The Box. There's a chapter titled, "Allowed (not allowed)." Here at [FIND] Investigations we actually have an allowed list. The things our investigators can do is a lengthy enumeration, and there is no foreseeable end. Full disclosure: we do have a company ethics and style guide, but it is for inspiration, not to shackle.

If we adhered to a list of things that aren't allowed, we'd be just like every other investigative agency. We'd produce reports that look like every other investigative agency's reports.

Excessive regulation is a knee-jerk response to fear and lack of trust. It's an anti-creative measure that stifles real thinking and analysis in favor of simply following procedure. And, I would argue, this is a huge step towards mediocrity.

I have a long history in a very specific type of consulting business. There, regulations have taken on a life of their own. The Uniform Standards of Professional Practice for this industry is barely contained in a document that is so tediously long that there is an additional tediously long addendum of advisory opinions to explain what the standards actually mean. Oh yeah...then there's the equally tedious, long FAQ to help one understand the advisory opinions that explain the.... This document is re-written often.

There are so many specific regulations that all reports are starting to look exactly alike. Regulated sameness in that industry is now more important than a credible work product. If a report meets all of the technical requirements, it is a quality report, according to regulators. Seth Godin says, "If you have quality and they have quality and that's all either of you offers, then you're selling a commodity, and I'll take cheap, please."

Luckily, this does not yet apply to the investigative world. Our clients hire us because they value our opinion.

At [FIND] Investigations, we like to focus on innovation and initiative. We ask our analysts to weigh and consider the information they discover. We study our subjects and all information we gather about them. Once we've considered and studied, we then craft a report that tells a story, much like a journalist would. We incorporate facts and timelines and then craft a narrative. We trust our analysts to approach each assignment with initiative and curiosity. We expect them to be creative. We encourage it, by setting them free.

Quick Response Codes and how you can use them...

Here at [FIND] Investigations, we try to keep up with new technology. That’s why we are so proud to bring you this ten-year-old technology from Japan. QR Codes, or 2D bar codes, are turning up in magazines, on billboards, emblazoned across T-shirts, and embedded in airline tickets. I found one in a Tag Hauer advertisement on the back of Fast Company magazine this weekend. Simply put, a QR Code is a version of a bar code that allows you to put complex information into a graphical format.

Want to hand over your contact card with a quick scan? Generate a QR Contact code.

Want to deliver readers to your website? You could, as we all do, put your web address on your business card and hope they remember to key in the url when they get back to the office. Or, you could place a QR code on your business card and have them scan it with their smart phone. Hey presto, they’re taken directly to your homepage or blog.

You can build a code that, when scanned by an iPhone or Droid, delivers a prospective client to your Facebook page, twitter feed, RSS feed, etc. etc. You can even have the code offer them the chance to “Like” or follow your brand. I just created one code that, once scanned into the iPhone, automatically likes our company’s Facebook page.

Here are a few simple ideas for ways to employ QR Codes in your marketing plan:

Ø      Business Cards – Put a QR Code on your card that contains your contact information. When someone scans your card into their smart phone, a new contact is automatically added to their phone.

Ø      Marketing Materials – Place a QR Code somewhere on your brochure or one pager. Have that code instantly deliver the reader to a specific section of your website or blog that relates to the service.

Ø      Giveaway Items – Say you’re at a trade show. You have a booth set up. Why not have a QR Code on those key chains, pens, and T-shirts?

Ø      Scavenger Hunts – [FIND] Investigations is working on setting up a scavenger hunt in conjunction with our client appreciation dinner this next fall. We’re considering using QR Codes for clues.

I guess the point of this is quite simple: make it easy for people to connect with you and your business. Make your brand--that idea or image you’re trying to build--easy to find. Create opportunities for people to hear your story, that narrative that you’ve created.

Here are a few sources for QR Code generators.

www.beetagg.com

www.likify.net

http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

If you have an iPhone or a Droid, download a QR reader. Search the App store for QR Code Readers or 2D Code readers. Scan the code at the top of this post, share it on Facebook. Put these little codes to work for you today.

Tradecraft Holiday Wish List III

Book Suggestion:

The Real Spy's Guide

By Peter Earnest with Suzanne Harper in association with the International Spy Museum.

I picked this book up in Miami a couple months ago while the team was in South Florida conducting interviews and doing a little training with our FBI pals. I intended to give it to a young friend, the son of one of my best buddies, as a gift, but, I am ashamed to admit, I fell in love with it and gave him, instead, a book on golf.

It’s published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, intended for kids, and written only just above my reading level. The amazing thing is that this book actually has some solid advice that field operatives could (should) know.

There’s the obligatory history of the craft, from the first recorded account of spying in the Court of King Hammurabi of Babylon to the 2008 arrest of Chi Mak, a naturalized U.S. citizen who sold secrets to the Chinese. There are lessons on spy speak, quizzes that help you decide if you have what it takes to be a spy, and really cool stories about actual spies.

You’ll find chapters on how to become a spy, what training is required, and what to expect in the life. You’ll be briefed on how to tell if someone is lying, how to create a cover ID, and how to work undercover.

But for my money, Chapter 6 is the reason to buy this book. It’s a practical guide to honing your skills as an undercover operative. I have bought countless books over the years that claim to be the ultimate text on topics like disguise and surveillance. This one chapter, however, may be the best written, most concise, and optimally useful single source for learning the trade.

I have taken this chapter and made it a kind of training manual for the [FIND] Investigations team. From the basics of keeping an open mind and being curious, to research skills, note taking skills, writing skills, and observation skills, this chapter covers it all and does so with an economy of words. You’ll learn valuable tips for improving memory, being aware of your surroundings, and remembering the details.

I am recommending this book as a gift for the curious kid in your life, that little James Bond wannabe who can’t put down the Alex Rider books, but in reality this book is just fun. Check it out on Amazon here.

THH

[FIND] Monthly Ledger - Volume 1 November 2009

[FIND] just sent out the first volume of the [FIND] Investigaitons Monthly Ledger. If you want to be in the know, need to know a guy who knows a guy, desire to be in on the latest news, take a moment to sign up for the Monthly Ledger. Thank you for taking the time to drop by the blog. More soon. THH