Spies Online E-mail Newsletter 
http://www.spiesonline.net
Issue #2, March 7, 1998 
  

Feature Article: "Meet Australian P.I. Darren Osborne: How A Search 
     For Natural Parents Blossomed Into To An Exciting Career!" 
  by: Joanne Waldron 

     Darren Osborne is an Australian-born private investigator whose specialty is security
and investigations training; although, he does all types of investigative work, for both
individuals and companies, including computer forensics and debugging.  He completed
extensive training with Mr. Peter Rowe who is a former Australian Security Intelligence
Agency Officer and has qualifications that Darren admits would be too numerous to list.
He is also a licensed security guard and a Justice of the Peace.  Darren has a very good
background and interest in electronics and computers and also likes to design web
pages.  As a private investigator, he has done work both in Australia and internationally
which includes covert undercover operations within companies relating to employee
losses.  However, the most rewarding part of being a private investigator for Darren is
locating birth parents or adoptees in adoptions matters and seeing them reunite.  Part of
the reason that Darren decided to become a private investigator is that he was put up for
adoption at birth, and he successfully located his natural parents.  He admits to always
having a general interest in the profession. 

    It was quite an interesting process that Darren went through to find his natural
parents.  First, he obtained his original birth certificate and adoption order which
contained on it his birth mother's name, his adoptive parents' names, friends of his
adoptive parents who provided affidavits of character, and two Irish names.  From this,
he learned that his birth mother was assuming a different name at the time of his birth than
her original name.  His father's name was listed as "unknown" on the birth certificate. 
Next, he commenced a marriage certificate search on his birth mother and learned that
she had been married four times since he was born.  He was finally able to locate his
mother using the information he obtained from the last time that she was married.  >From
his mother, he learned his father's first name and that he was Irish.  After eight months of
searching and taxing his brain, he came to the conclusion that his father must be listed
somewhere on the adoption papers.  There were two Irish names, and one had the initial
for the first name which matched the name of his natural father.  He went to the electoral
roll and found a person by that name living in Sydney NSW.  Then he checked with
directory assistance for the phone number and found one that matched the name and
address from the electoral roll.  He contacted his father and has seen him many times
since.  The whole process took him about eight months and cost him about $600.00.  He
does not get along with his birth mother and has not seen her in a couple of years.   He
did learn about the "why" of his adoption.  His birth mother fell ill immediately after his
birth and already had three other children to look after, and his natural father could not
afford to support four children at that time. 

   Darren's expertise is not limited to reuniting children to their natural parents even
though he enjoys that aspect of his work very much.   One interesting case that he
worked on had to do with what he describes as a "spouse maintenance matter," which he
explained was very rare in Australian law.  The ex-wife of one of his clients was claiming
"maintenance" since her husband supposedly made her give up her job when they got
married.  She claimed that she had no visible means of support or employment prospects
and felt she was entitled to "maintenance" money.  Initial inquiries made to the neighbors
revealed that they had a rather "fiery" relationship?   How fiery, you ask?  Well, one
neighbor reported that they were often seen chasing each other around the yard with
axes and knives and screaming abusive remarks at each other.  Darren jokes, "I've heard
of burying the hatchet, but this is ridiculous!"  Anyway, the wife had a new boyfriend, as
Darren's client had suspected.  After many attempts, he finally spotted them together at
his house where she spent the night on one occasion.  This was enough for the client's
solicitor (like an attorney) to win the case.  Darren found this case to be particularly
challenging as the subjects were always swapping cars and then garaging them.  They
were also coming and going at varying times during the day and night. 

    Darren also works on forensic computing cases.  He once tracked down a pedophile
on the internet via his web domain and an e-mail address.  He monitored the subject's
e-mail and what he had on his computer and then handed over the evidence to LEO's to
deal with and have the subject charged. 

    When Darren is not busy being a private investigator, he is busy instructing others. 
Here are some of the courses that he teaches: 
  
Defensive Tactics Level I 
Armed Hold-Up Awareness Course 
Security License Accreditation Course 
Surveillance Course 
Private Investigations Course 
Retail Security Officers Course(Store detective) 
Law Enforcement Officer Survival Course 
Body Guard Course 
Report Writing Course 
  

    I asked Darren to tell me about his favorite pretext, to which he replied, "No
comment."  However, he does have some advice to offer to anyone who is interested in
becoming a private investigator: 

"Basically, crawl before you walk.  Read as many reputable books as you can.  Pick a
good training course or mentor to train with.  Don't restrict yourself to just one
investigative area.  Start on a low budget.  Either rent equipment for jobs or buy it
second-hand.  Put a small ad in the local yellow pages, and include your web address
and phone number.  Apply the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) theory to the ad layout,
and use some color (especially red) to make it stand out." 

    Before becoming a private investigator, Darren worked as a prison officer in a
maximum security gaols.    When I inquired if he'd ever been in any dangerous situations,
he explained that there were times that inmates threatened to kill him with knives and
times when high-risk escapee maximum security inmates attempted to escape.  He did
receive advanced security and investigations training as a prison officer which included
CS gas (tear gas), hostage negotiation, defensive tactics, preservation of crime scenes,
drug identification techniques,  cell assaults, bomb threats and improvised explosive
devices, fire safety,  high security escort procedures, report writing, riot training and
drills.  He  has also worked in the security industry for ten years and has been an infantry
soldier in the Australian Army Reserve. 

    Darren graciously offers the following advice to fellow investigators: 

"Have plenty of information sources.  Have a good national reverse telephone book
(white and yellow pages on CD ROM).  Network with other investigators internationally
and within your own country.  Have plenty of  pretexts.  Continually update your
information sources and your personal P.I. training.  Be open to new ideas and
constructive criticism from your peers, and never stop learning the trade.  Work hard. 
Charge a fair price, and don't entrap subjects of investigations." 

    When asked if he would become a private investigator if he had it to do over again,
Darren replies, "Most definitely, yes!  I love a challenge, and I like solving difficult
missing persons jobs."  When Darren is not busy teaching and investigating, he enjoys
spending time with his young daughter who will be two in April. 


Copyright 1998 by Spies Online.  All Rights Reserved.  Do not copy/forward this 
publication in whole or in part without permission of the list owner and the writer(s) of
any particular article(s) in question. 

Disclaimer:  This publication is for entertainment purposes, and the publisher of Spies 
Online will take no responsibility for the use/misuse of any information contained herein.