“Guardian, I need you to go to the NYS Sheriffs’ Association Winter Conference at The Desmond Hotel. We’re setting up a booth and I will be delayed, so you’ll be on your own for a few hours. Can I trust you to be on your best behavior?”

“I’m stung, Michelle. Am I not always on my best behavior? I will not let you down. I shall print a cheat sheet on light green paper so ours stands out from the many white pages and will bring my new favorite treat.”

The week of the Conference arrived and our fearless mascot struts his way down the halls of The Desmond. Guardian finds a Commercial Investigations’ table and sets up information sheets, some CI products, and his new favorite snack. Not until he is all organized does he look to his left and see none other than the Office of Court Administration. “Ooo hoo hoo, this is going to be fun.” And in walk the first few conferees.

An Albany County deputy comes up to Guardian seemingly interested in CI’s booth. “Well deputy, I see your name is Michelle. Do you know Michelle Pyan? She’s our President and, like you, she is also blonde.”

“Of course. We have a network of blonde Michelle’s in New York. We meet every third Friday. Say, I’ve heard about Cursory Indicator. Can you tell me a little more about it?”

“Absolutely! Since our Michelle is a Licensed Private Investigator, we have access to databases that other companies can only dream about. We can with certainty identify our Subject from others with the same name ... we include misdemeanors and felonies, some of which might be missed in County searches … we include local criminal data ... our results are ready within two to four hours and … (with a sly glance to the left) we dramatically reduce costs demanded by the Office of Court Administration.”

“You mean to tell me Cursory Indicator can completely replace the OCA?”

“Not completely. About ten percent of our searches indicate that a Subject has a criminal record.

In that case, and only in that case, we go to the State to get primary source verification. That is a requirement we have to satisfy for the Fair Credit Reporting Act. But since the Office of Court Administration charges almost $100 per name, we are able to give our clients a quality product at a fraction of the cost.”

“Sounds good! Let me take one of those papers and … have to try this lollipop. What’s in it, anyway?”

“It’s deep fried mouse dipped in chocolate. I call it Mighty Tasty Mouse … well what do you know? She likes it so much she ran outside to tell all her friends.”