SPY BUSINESS: INVESTIGATIONS CAN BE LIKE GAME OF `CAT AND MOUSE'

Tina Niswonger used a computer and telephone while doing background checks.

Information about people is available online.

The business of investigation is like a game of cat and mouse.

Interquest Information Services in Cape Girardeau specializes in the mouse aspect, as in computer mouse. Investigative Associates Inc. in Cape Girardeau is more like the cat that stalks it's prey.

Stephen P. Parsons, owner of Interquest, said his company grew out of a tenant background information services for apartment complexes. Those same apartment businesses began asking them to do credit, criminal and driving records on potential apartment managers and Interquest grew out of that.

Now, Interquest does about 1,000 pre-employment background checks a month.

"Out of the two companies, Interquest is growing a lot faster," Parsons said. "Hiring is becoming a big issue out of the courts."

Parsons said the average lawsuit award is about $600,000 in cases where someone has sued a company over negligent hiring practices. He said if a company hires people without checking their backgrounds and they injure or murder a co-worker, the company is negligent in not protecting its other employees.

"Before, people were saying it's an invasion of privacy," Parsons said. "It never was an invasion of privacy because there are state and federal guidelines as to what you can do."

Parsons said his company, which employs five investigators, can do a complete criminal, credit and driving check in 72 hours. If the investigator doesn't have to go out of the state for any information, the time is reduced to 36 hours.

"The criminal information is not on line and its the one that takes the longest," he said. "Missouri is set up nicely, I've got a good vendor in Jefferson City where the records are housed."

Parsons said information is usually found by using a combination of the person's name, date of birth and Social Security number. By going through a credit check, he can find when a person has been using an alias as well.

He said it's a good idea for people to do a credit check on themselves occasionally to see if someone else has been using their Social Security number. People can get on to the same Social Security number by accident or design. Parsons said one misplaced digit on a Social Security number entered at a bank or credit service can produce that.

Of all the business Interquest does, Parsons said about 5 percent is done with Cape Girardeau businesses. "A lot of people here think they can tell by just looking at people -- I know their father, I know their family," he said. "I know how it is, I've lived here all my life, "but the days are here that you can't go like that."

John Clifton, who co-owns Investigative Association Inc. with his wife, Deborah, said his end of the investigation business hasn't changed much over the years.

He and his three full-time investigators monitor subjects by direct observation. Clifton said one of the few high-tech gadgets they might use is a fancy cooler to keep their sodas cold.

Clifton said Investigation Associates does most of its work with attorneys and insurance companies. Verifying worker compensation claims is a growing line of work for a patient investigator.

"Even though the trend in Missouri seems to be that the claims are down, our work is actually increasing in that field," he said. "If a person claims to have a bad back or a shoulder injury or a neck injury, we are hired by the insurance company to do activity checks."

To do this, Clifton said, an investigator might spend all day watching the movements of a claimant. This involves little more than patience, an 8mm video recorder with a telephoto lens and a 35mm camera.

"We've found them trimming trees, carrying furniture and doing all sorts of things when they're supposed to be disabled," Clifton said.

Clifton said it is becoming more difficult to conduct a surveillance because neighbors are watching the streets more and calling in suspicious vehicles. He said he usually checks in with the local police department to let them know he will be in the area and why.

He said only once has an investigator been approached by a subject under surveillance.

Clifton added that an investigator can see some unusual things at times.

"We get a lot of laughs because we see people doing things they shouldn't be doing," he said. "It's kind of neat to actually catch them doing something. It's kind of neat to catch a guy who's been bilking an insurance company. You catch him and you kind of get a rush out of that, but, all in all, it's nothing like what you see on TV; it's long, boring hours."