By Betsy Model

Brenda Starr, Mickey Spillane…there’s always been a certain romance to the investigative skills and tenaciousness that journalists and private investigators or detectives bring to a story line.  In real life?  Well, it’s still pretty interesting stuff that both careers bring to the table and we began to wonder just how similar the skills sets at those tables were.

SPJ New Mexico asked Albuquerque-based private investigator Michael Corwin to tell us a little about his career, his feelings about working in tandem with journalists and what tips and tricks he’s learned over the years to aid in getting the kinds of information that’s kept him in business more than twenty years and led to national recognition, including a Dateline episode about a murder investigation that he and Albuquerque Journal reporter Colleen Heild worked together to break open.

Corwin, 47, is licensed in two states – California and New Mexico – and is the author of two publications about private investigation and consumer investigation.  The first is an academic book aimed for students and the most recent, an online publication, is called the “Everyday Detective Information System” (www.everydaydetective.com.)

Mike, you’ve been a private investigator for more than twenty years now, first in CA and now in NM.  What drew you to the field?

I was a history major in college and always loved to do research. I had been working in construction but felt I was not using my brain enough, toyed with going to graduate school but then saw an ad for the Nick Harris Detective Agency in Van Nuys, CA and decided to check it out. I enrolled in a full time, seven-week program that taught the basics of investigation. That was in the spring of 1988.

What comprises the majority of the work that you do right now?

The majority of my work is case preparation investigations for civil plaintiff attorneys. The work primarily involves locating and interviewing witnesses and conducting public records research (background investigations) on party opponents.  The other main aspect of my work since 2004 has been opposition and self-research on behalf of political campaigns and interest groups.

What similarities do you see between the work you do as a private investigator and the work that an investigative reporter does?  What similar skill sets and personality traits?

I see a tremendous similarity between the two fields (and) I have over the years worked with numerous investigative reporters. We essentially use the same sources of information for our work; walking talking sources – interviews – and documents including public records plus database/internet research.  I think above all else investigators and investigative reporters must be persistent. The willingness to keep plugging away until you get information is what separates success and failure in both professions. As part of that, both professions require an inquisitive nature and an enjoyment of the pursuit of information.

I also think both professions require developing the ability to not only hear but to really listen to what people say during an interview. Listening is an acquired skill that takes practice to develop. Unlike for example an attorney who is trained not to ask questions that they don’t already know the answer to, reporters and investigators need to ask the difficult questions and to really listen to the answer as it will lead to more questions and a deeper understanding of what is being investigated.

An investigator must be able to write reports that convey the information learned through investigation. While not as entertaining as a reporter’s article on a subject, reports must be written to educate the client to the results of the investigation.

Have you ever worked in tandem with a journalist?

I have worked with journalists on several occasions.  Years ago I did a cold case homicide investigation on behalf of the victim’s mother. I worked (in tandem) with Colleen Heild, an investigative reporter at the (Albuquerque) Tribune by sharing information, providing documents and identifying further avenues of investigation for the reporters to follow. I have also worked with reporters in my political research work, providing them documents and identifying further avenues of research to follow.  I have cultivated good relationships with reporters over the years.

I think it is important for there to be a level of trust between the investigative reporter and the reporter when working on the same matter and sharing information. From the investigator’s position, I have to be confident that the reporter will leave me as the source of the information out of the story.

How much of your work is done behind a desk – online and by phone -  versus in the field and in person?

I am old-fashioned in that I prefer to do interviews in person when possible; I can assess the interviewee better by meeting them. I also prefer not to set appointments if the interviewee is someone who may be hostile to my client.  I do a fair amount of phone work but usually that is either set-up work or because the budget, travel distance or timeline on my case does not allow for in-person work.

Online research is usually a starting point rather than an ending point. It can identify documents and people that can provide information but, in the end, I need to review the actual file or get copies of the actual documents in order to cull the information that I need and to use that information effectively.

How often do you tape a telephone conversation or interview?

I prefer to take good notes, either handwritten or typed, over recording interviews whether over the phone or in-person. I have one or two clients that like for me to record  so for them I will record interviews but in conducting somewhere between 7000 and 8000 witness interviews,  I have only had a couple of people claim that my report based upon my notes did not reflect what they said. In one case the judge found my testimony more credible than the witness who tried to deny my summary of the information. In the other case, the witness actually recanted on the stand when confronted with my interview summary and acknowledged that my summary accurately reflected what he had told me.

There is an art to good notes. The note taker should try to document in the interviewee’s own words and manner of speaking what they say  rather than bullet pointed interpretations.

Because my work is in the legal field, I always receive approval from the interviewee when I record. I do not do any secret recordings as they can be deemed inadmissible in court, which does not help when trying to convince a judge or jury to see the case from your client’s prospective.

Single biggest myth about private investigation?

That our only work is following cheating spouses. The second greatest myth is that you have to obtain information from illegal or inappropriate methods and sources in order to be effective.

If you had four or five tips for New Mexico journalists, what would they be?

1. You need the information that a source possesses much more than (s)he needs to provide it to you. Treat him or her with the level of respect (including her time constraints) that this reality requires.

2.  When working with a really critical source learn to cultivate them and turn them into your new best friend. You need the luxury of being able to go back to them time and time again with additional questions and follow ups. If you burn that source your path to critical information gets closed very quickly.

3.  Don’t rely solely on mechanical devices to record your information for you. You still need to be a great note taker and a keen observer. No tape recorder can pick up visual clues from an interviewee such as body language and facial expression.

4.  What we do is not rocket science. Anyone with some training and persistence can find out information and analyze it. The important thing is how we view the pursuit of information.  Think about it like a funnel; start with the general and work towards the specific. Don’t get so locked into a line of questioning that you miss new lines that can be much more fruitful to your research.

Would you make a good journalist?!?

I believe that I would make a decent journalist and have at times thought it would be neat to have an investigative blog. However, I don’t necessarily take editorial criticisms as well as I probably would need to (laughs) in order to be a journalist.