 By Susanna Speier Denver Private Investigator Blogger For the last day of Black History month we're playing tribute to double agent, James Armistead. Born into slavery James Armistead was owned by William Armistead, who granted him permission to join the American Continental Army where the Marquis de Lafayette urged him to pose as a runaway slave so he could join the British army and gather enemy intelligence. After securing the trust of British officer's Benedict Arnold and British General Charles Cornwallis, Armistead guided British troops through the Virginia thoroughfares he'd grown up navigating, while listening in on officer discussions regarding upcoming raids and battle plans. Most of the time he actually listened in plain view of British officers --who didn't regard him as a threat-- and then delivered intelligence reports to Lafayette before returning to British headquarters to gather more intelligence. One of Armistead's detailed reports, dated July 31, 1781, provided the intelligence that Washington and Lafayette used to secure the American/French blockade and force a British surrender at Yorktown. The big reveal happened when Cornwallis showed up at Lafayette's headquarters to surrender and was greeted by the person he, up until that point, had regarded as a personal slave. The Missed in History: Double Agent: James Armistead and the American Revolution podcast looks at possible reasons he fought for the country that enslaved him as well as the reasons he may have returned to slavery after fighting in the Revolutionary War. According to the podcast there was actually strong early support for the Revolutionary war among African Americans and the early continental army, who counted a lot of black soldiers among its ranks. Perhaps they felt the army would provide a better life? The Emancipation Act of 1783 freed slave-soldiers, however the law didn't apply to slave-spies. One year later, in 1784, when Lafayette learned that Armistead was still enslaved, he wrote a testimonial on his behalf. The testimonial resulted in the Virginia General Assembly paying off his owner two years later so he could be freed. Armistead bought his own land, began farming in Virginia and eventually even started receiving a military pension. He died a free man. Additional sources: Army.mil Biography.com
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 By Susanna Speier Denver Private Investigator Blogger Looking to head to DC late March to try to check out the cherry blossoms? There's a The National Council of Investigation and Security Services (NCISS) annual meeting at the Key Bridge Marriott in Rosslyn to justify the trip. Workshop opportunities range from cybersecurity to small businesses and how to run forensic audits using financial software and don't wait too long. Registration deadline is March 1st. Can't make that one? April kicks off with the World Association of Detectives (WAD) mid-term conference happens April 2nd through April 4th in Miami Beach, Florida. Click here to register. If you feel inclined to stay down south, the Florida Association of Licensed Investigators annual conference in Cocoa Beach runs May 4th through the 6th and even includes a pre conference event at no additional cost. If you can clone yourself an mosey up to South Carolina you can also attend the South Carolina Association of Licensed Investigators annual conference, that just so happens to be taking place simultaneously from May 4th to May 6th. Conflict check next time? Finally, while there are no drone training programs for PIs that we know of, the Poynter Institute's drone journalism may be a way to access your missing primer this spring. An interesting thing that the news media and private investigator worlds now share is the fact that both require commercial drone licenses. Sky is still the limit on the ways they can be utilized, once licensed, though.  Private Investigators can bring their stories to the Buntport Theater stage in Denver this month2/2/2017 By Susanna Speier Denver Private Investigator Blogger I've been wanting to figure out to help private investigators bring their stories to the stage for a long time but never had the resources to curate an actual event for the Mile Hi PI community. Just recently, however, my buddy Ron Doyle who runs The Narrators, a monthly storytelling event at Buntport Theater, approached me with an idea. Why not send a private investigator his way this month to tell a story at The Narrators "Red-Handed show"? If you are a Colorado private investigator and would like to be considered for the one remaining slot at The Narrators "Red Handed" show on Wednesday, February 15th at 8:00 p.m. at Buntport Theater, email thenarrators3000@gmail.com to find out more.  “It’s a black box theater that seats about 125-150 so it’s a sizable crowd. The audience is very welcoming. Folks are there to listen and we’ve built up this community to help built empathy and hear experiences from a wide range of voices," Doyle says. "It’s almost all 1st person narrative, memoir style.” There will be a lot of eyes on you which could feel unsettling for a private eye accustomed to hiding in the shadows, however Doyle likens the experience of telling a story on The Buntport stage to the experience of telling a story around a campfire or sharing a story at a dinner party with "not a lot of pretense" involved. "The spotlight and microphone may be intimidating but the audience will be very encouraging." Are you a woman or a minority? If so, you may be given preference. This is because, according to Ron, they get a lot of white males who approach them and would love to come tell stories. "We want a variety of voices and are looking for a variety of folks not visible in the public eye." To find out more about The Narrators you can check out the FAQ section of their website, an article bout them in Confluence Denver or their Facebook page. The show is always free for audience members and participants as the creators consider it a community service. "Facebook is wonderful for what it is. Human interaction is wonderful for what it is," Ron explains. "I think it's important people meet one another face to face as a tool for getting life experience you wouldn't get in your social circle."
By Susanna Speier,
Denver Private Investigator Blogger If you tune into Rocky Mountain PBS on February 1st (tonight) at 7:00 p.m. and Nature's state of the art, animatronic spy cameras will give you access to something that, up until now, only baby crocodiles have had access to.
Nature's five part miniseries, "Spy in the Wild," employs 30 animatronic spy cameras disguised as animals to secretly record the animal's behaviors, revealing strong, complex and very humanlike interactions and emotions. 
Want to know the cam behind the curtain? The final episode, "Meet the Spies," which airs Wednesday, March 1, 2017, explains how the concept of robotic animal spies evolved from the original Bouldercam to the Penguincam and finally to the “spycams” John Downer Productions used to make the series. While the painstaking work that goes into building the lifelike models may be discouraging, it may also inspire professional private investigators to develop the next generation of surveillance techniques. |
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