Est. 1980 40+ Years · Washington Roots
Northwest Investigative Services has handled investigations here since 1980. We find people and assets, examine phones and computers, run surveillance and protective details, and interview witnesses. Each practice is led by an investigator who has done that kind of work for years, and you deal with that person directly.
Each file is supervised by one of the people below, and you can call them directly. This is who they are and what each one handles.
Founder Emeritus
Accident & incident investigation since 1974
Founded the firm. Mike is a retired Washington State Patrol trooper who holds a charter Washington private investigator license, and he has been investigating accidents and incidents for attorneys and insurance adjusters around the country since 1974.
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Chief Executive Officer
Runs the firm; forensic interviewing, mitigation & investigative psychology
Shane runs the agency and still handles much of its interview and mitigation work himself, in civil, insurance, and criminal matters. He holds a PhD in psychology and an MBA.
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Chief Operating Officer
Operations, private intelligence & investigative technology
Joshua handles day-to-day operations, from intake and scheduling to getting reports out on time. He has a background in intelligence work, writes software, and runs the firm's private intelligence cases.
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Chief Technology Officer
Technology, device forensics, cyber intelligence & security testing
Kyeson oversees the firm's technology and its digital casework, including device forensics, cryptocurrency tracing, OSINT, and penetration testing. He has previously served as CEO, CTO, and CIO of security and intelligence firms.
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Director of Surveillance & Protection
Surveillance operations, protective intelligence & close protection
Chris runs the firm's surveillance operations and protective details. He has spent more than 20 years in surveillance and OSINT and over 15 in close protection for high-profile principals, and he is licensed armed in Washington.
Full profileField Operations
Surveillance, service of process & field documentation
Licensed field investigators who handle surveillance, service of process, and in-person documentation. We leave their names and photos off this site for their safety, and so they can keep working without being recognized.
Full profileMost matters need more than one kind of work. A single case can call for a locate, an asset search, a phone examination, and a week of surveillance. We handle all of it in-house, so your file isn't passed to an outside vendor you've never spoken with.
Finding the people a case depends on, and the facts around them.
What a person or company owns, and whether a creditor can get to it.
What's on a phone or computer, documented with a proper chain of custody.
Surveillance and protective work done by licensed investigators.
Getting a reliable account from a witness, and telling a client's story well.
Who you're actually dealing with, checked before you sign or lend.
A one-person shop, a database subscription and a national panel that farms out work all have their uses. Here is where we differ from them.
The firm started in Washington in 1980 and has worked here ever since. After that long in one region, we know how records were kept before they were digitized and where the older ones ended up. That background is a big part of how we turn up leads on cold files.
Our CEO holds a doctorate in psychology and leads interviews and mitigation. Our CTO is certified in offensive security and runs device forensics, and our director of surveillance and protection has 20 years in the field. Each practice is run by someone who has done the work for a long time.
Lodestone, our search platform, and Bloodhound, our forensics platform, plus 45 years of our own Northwest records. Every report runs through a system that checks it against our standards before it goes out. See the technology.
A locate or a week of surveillance footage is only worth something if it can be defended. We confirm findings against a second source and log the work as it happens. The write-up is formatted so you can attach it to a motion or a claim file.
Find out whether a defendant can pay, then locate the debtor and the assets that can be reached.
Examine the phone or laptop at the center of a dispute, or test the other side's reading of it.
Surveillance and activity checks on claimed injuries, backed by scene work and statements.
Threat assessments and exposure reviews for executives and families, along with protective intelligence work.
Find the witness who moved, and get a statement you can rely on at deposition.
Find out who actually controls a company and what lawsuits and liens follow the people behind it.
We take down the subject information and the matter, and record the lawful basis for the search in the file.
You receive a written search plan with a flat fee and a delivery date before any work begins.
We pull the records and check them against each other. Conflicts get resolved, or flagged in the report if they can't be.
A structured report with sources and exhibits, plus a declaration of the investigator on request.
Financial account information is protected by federal law. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act makes it a crime to obtain customer information from a financial institution under false pretenses, and also a crime to request that someone else do it for you. A vendor who never asks why you need the search is putting your matter at risk.
We document a permissible purpose on every engagement and turn down work that doesn't have one. We never pretext financial institutions. Our reports are investigative work product and are not consumer reports under the FCRA.
If a search can't be done lawfully, we'll tell you and decline it.
We don't take search orders through a web form. Tell us who you are and what kind of work you send, and we'll open an account. After that, assignments run directly with an investigator who knows your matters.