For the Weekend Warriors, Weirdos & Whackjobs - Issue #52

Ghosts, a call for help and a personal story of loss and investigative grief.

This week, our main boss-bizzle,

Kennedy Chappell

, dropped one of our favourite posts of all time: There’s Ghosts in This Data! A perfectly-timed, spooky traipse through all the various methods you can utilize to do background research and investigative work on good ghost haunts and perfect photography shots of abandoned buildings. A completely unique take on OSINT and investigations that we are sure you’ll enjoy.

A Call For Help in Oklahoma

Permanent Record Research has been volunteering with Oklahoma Appleseed to assist with their mission to bring resentencing applications under the Oklahoma Survivor’s Act. From the Appleseed Network’s website:

Key Provisions of the Oklahoma Survivors’ Act

The Oklahoma Survivors’ Act addresses systemic injustices faced by domestic abuse survivors by introducing crucial legal reforms:

1. Sentencing Mitigation: The Act provides a sentencing mitigation procedure for victims of domestic violence who are being prosecuted. This allows evidence of abuse to be presented at a sentencing mitigation hearing, ensuring that the context of their actions is fully considered.

2. Resentencing Opportunities: It allows currently incarcerated survivors to apply for resentencing if they can prove that the abuse they suffered is substantially related to the crime for which they were convicted. This provision offers a second chance for justice for those who have been excessively punished.

We, the investigators, are just one component of this fight. There are records to pay for, experts to hire, and as you can imagine, a mountain of applications coming in from survivor’s of violence.

If you can give? We would ask that you do so. If you are not in a position to do so, please share their link, talk to your family about the Survivor’s Act, forward this post. It is a righteous fight and we can use your help to raise both funds and awareness.

For an extended discussion on the topic we recommend Public Defenseless’s episode here.

What Justin Recommends

This time, it’s a labyrinthine recommendation breadcrumb trail that you must follow. You remember in Storymix #1 when we mentioned a certain private investigator in New York that was highly skilled?

Well, sorry to out you, bud, but we were talking about Brian Willingham of Diligentia Group. He’s good—really frickin’ good. Not only that, but Brian is incredibly well-read, thoughtful, and has a knack for dropping resources and links of high value in his mailing list. You should really go sign up.

It’s Brian’s mailing list where I found the actual recommendation for the week: an article by private investigator Ben Gomez in Pursuit Magazine, a publication dedicated to private investigators and investigations in general. 

Ben tells the story of how a last-minute surveillance job—one that, on its face, is like many—ended in someone taking their life. He poignantly captures what it is like to be involved in a world where you’re uncertain whether you’re doing harm or good, a bystander, a witness or something else. Regardless of how professional you are or how much training you have. It’s not cases that stick with you; those are just collections of facts. It’s people and their stories, their voices, theiremails and pictures. That’s what sticks with you. 

If you’re not struggling in every case with how you are conducting your research, interactions and advocacy, then I would suggest spending some time thinking about it. Ben definitely made me think about it—and that’s the power of good writing. 

So you should go check it out.

— Much Love From The Bullshit Hunting Crew

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