Working PIby Tony Jones, Senior Editor
Bob Washington wasn’t sworn in as the new president of the Texas Association of Licensed Investigators (TALI) until Oct. 5, but he’s already making his mark. Anxious to help the 53-year-old trade association evolve and grow, the president-elect has a clear vision for building upon TALI’s mission to serve private investigators through continuing education, public awareness, advanced certification, networking and legislative involvement.
Washington knows first-hand the benefits an organization like TALI can provide private investigators. As a full-time, in-house investigator for Noteboom, a Texas law firm that specializes in serious and catastrophic injury cases, Washington isn’t required to carry a license with the Department of Public Safety (DPS) because he legally can work under the license of the firm’s attorneys.
In his role with Noteboom, Washington wears many hats including serving as office manager and supervising the construction of trial exhibits and video productions. But as one of two investigators on staff, he specializes in locating difficult-to-find witnesses. He’s also bilingual and facilitates the relationships between the firm’s attorneys and its Spanish-speaking clients.
Though he began investigating personal-injury cases for the firm in 2003, he didn’t pursue his PI license until 2014. “I became licensed because I wanted to be more professional and add more clout to my reports and my word,” notes Washington. “It made me a better investigator. Now, I help mentor other investigators and, in turn, they ask me to help them with cases, which translates into new business for our firm.”
Pursuing his license also exposed Washington to TALI, and he quickly saw how the association could help him and others improve their skill sets and grow professionally. He joined the organization’s board of directors in 2018 and has served as a regional director, director at large and, now, president-elect.
Central to his presidential vision are steps to modernize the association’s functions to help grow membership and increase engagement with its participants. Washington recently sat down with Working PI to discuss three key initiatives already underway.
Membership Drive
Notably, TALI is part of a cooperative known in the private investigator community as the Big 3. Together with the California Association of Licensed Investigators (CALI) and the Florida Association of Licensed Investigators (FALI), TALI is among the largest state associations in the nation and works cooperatively with CALI and FALI to bring professional services and networking opportunities to members.
One of the unique byproducts of this synergistic relationship is for investigators outside of Texas to gain provisional, nonvoting membership to TALI, which offers access to the association’s listserv for networking and referrals, online exposure to the public via TALI’s “Find an Investigator” directory as well as the ability to participate in the association’s continuing education.
Available now through the end of the year, TALI is offering its Big 3 annual membership dues for $87.50, half off the normal $175 price tag. Washington believes once investigators leverage the one-time offer, they’ll be hooked on the association’s benefits. “I want to convince investigators around the world that if they pay half price the first year, they’ll happily pay full price the following year,” he says.
Beyond growing TALI from its current membership of about 600, Washington believes there’s true value in the shared insight, experiences and opportunities new members bring as well as what additional financial resources can afford. “I don’t really have a number goal,” notes Washington. “I want to increase professionalism, education and grow, so that we can afford to do more for our members.”
New Website
As part of Washington’s goal to improve how TALI engages with members as well as the public, the association launched a new website in June that functions better with mobile devices (there’s also a new mobile app) and expands site features and functionality.
“Just a year prior, we spent a lot of money with a web company, but the site just wasn’t functional. We gave them a probation period to try to get it right, but they got only two of the issues fixed,” explains Washington. “This new website is much more user-friendly, much more current and up to date. This is the first time we’ve been able to do everything connected to our website or our association on our phones.”
Among the site enhancements is a connecting link to DPS, direct access to continuing-education certificates rather than having to wait to receive documentation via email, and improvements to the aforementioned “Find an Investigator” feature.
The new directory allows TALI members as well as the public to search for investigators by filtering for name, ZIP code, city, specializations and other criteria. Any investigators who are TALI members, including affiliate participants around the world and via the Big 3 setup, are eligible to be listed in the online directory. In addition to contact information, listings can include a headshot photo as well as professional credentials, such as experience with Homeland Security, the CIA, etc., or current specialty services like forensics.
“It’s a service to our investigators, but it also shows the public who we are, what we do and what we stand for,” says Washington.
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Conference Format
Changes to engagement will also be felt at in-person events, particularly TALI’s annual conference. Though formal education classes and professional-development opportunities for new private investigators and seasoned veterans will remain staples of the association’s offerings, the formal aspects of education during the annual conference will be deemphasized beginning this fall in favor of more entertaining programming and networking functions, notes Washington.
The change stems from how TALI has been able to deliver course credit via online platforms since the COVID-19 pandemic. In Texas, licensed investigators are required to complete 18 hours of continuing education every two years. At just nine hours per year, those requirements were typically met in person during the conference. But with TALI now able to host five monthly Zoom classes as well as two mid-winter educational seminars in different locations around the state, Washington and other board members felt the time was right to up the fun factor during its largest live event.
“Our conferences are no longer about education,” asserts Washington. “They’re about networking, working together and sharing ideas on similar cases, and entertainment. So, we’ll have more cocktail mixers and more team events. Where we previously incorporated more fun with our social events, now we’ll also be doing it with our speaker sessions.”
Washington’s inspiration for the change came from attending attorney conferences. “They have a lot of fun, and they all can’t wait to go back to the next conference,” he says. “I want investigators to have that same feeling.”
To that end, this year’s conference, which took place Oct. 3-6 in Arlington, Texas, featured some true-crime elements during the heart of the event on Oct. 4 and 5 that were designed to pique the interests of attendees. The first and last days of the conference continued to feature more formal education. For example, Oct. 3 offered eight hours of new investigator training, along with a pre-conference speaker (the National Council of Investigation and Security Services also held its annual board meeting), while Oct. 6 featured an eight-hour certification course taught by Brandon Perron on forensic interviewing for criminal defense investigators.
Among the speakers lined up for Oct. 4 and 5 were:
• Dan Riemer, who worked as a criminal defense investigator during the famous Palm Beach, Florida, “Killer Clown” case (Read “Killer Clown Case Resolved by Defense Investigator” here).
• Author Peter Houlahan, who has written a new book titled, Reap the Whirlwind: Violence, Race, Justice, and the Story of Sagon Penn, focused on a 1985 case in San Diego that left two white police officers dead and a young Black man, Penn, acquitted.
• Journalist Rena Pederson, whose fifth book, The King of Diamonds, chronicles the true story of an uncatchable jewel thief who baffled police and tormented high society by brazenly stealing from the mega-rich in 1960s Dallas.
Houlahan and Pederson both conducted book signings during the event, while Pederson also participated in a special award ceremony connected to the King of Diamonds case. “They couldn’t catch this thief for a long time,” notes Washington. “Finally, one detective solved the crime, and he’s currently a TALI member. He’s in his 90s now, and we’re going to give him a lifetime achievement award this year. Pederson will present it to him at our conference.”
Washington points out that what constitutes “fun” in the PI space may not be true outside the profession. “When I say fun, it’s relative to our industry. What’s fun for a private investigator may not be fun for your average person because we’re not very normal. We call that entertainment, not education, because while they may teach us how to solve that particular crime, for investigators, that’s very entertaining.”
Visit www.tali.org to learn more about TALI’s services and events.
About the Author
Tony Jones is the former Senior Editor of Working PI magazine, published by OREP, a leading provider of E&O insurance for real estate professionals. Based in San Jose, California, he has nearly 30 years of business publishing experience and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Arizona.
We’re always listening. Send your story submission/idea to the Editor: kendra@orep.org.
