Our investigation process begins when our investigation director or case coordinator contacts the client in response to an occurrence claim. During the brief phone interview, we gather information about the type of activity occurring, where the property is located, who the activity is centered around, as well as basic contact information. The information is reviewed with our senior members to determine the urgency with which an investigation needs to take place. We then schedule a specific date and time with the client for the investigation. Scheduling is based on priority and location. Investigations outside of the Phoenix area will be scheduled at least two weeks out unless it is a priority case. If the investigation is scheduled for a later date, the investigation coordinator will contact the client one week prior to confirm the date and explain the process in further detail.

After the investigation is scheduled, the research begins. We study the property history, past and current ownership information, possible causes for the activity, and any other data we find important to the specific case.
Depending on the size of the location, the number of investigators will vary from five to thirteen. This is determined based on the square footage and number of rooms. We do this to prevent unnecessary contamination of evidence. On the day of the investigation, to help calm any unease, lead investigator, command center manager, investigation director, and tech manager will introduce themselves to the client and explain the process. We conduct a quick walk-through to locate any hot spots of activity and determine the best location for our equipment set up. The remaining members of the investigation team are then brought in to help set up the command center and begin the investigation.

Lights are turned off to avoid electrical or magnetic contamination and we take baseline readings of all the rooms for later comparison. The command center manager will send teams of two to three investigators out to designated areas for a specified period of time to investigate. This process is continuous throughout the duration of our investigation. At the end of the investigation, the team takes down the equipment and performs a sweep of the location to make sure the property is exactly how we found it. The founder will conduct a debriefing with the client to explain the review process and give a time line for when the findings will be revealed.

The investigation team then regroups to study the evidence. This takes one to two weeks depending on the length of the investigation. For every one hour of investigation work, we have at least eight hours of evidence review time. Once the review is completed, the founder and one other member will travel to the client’s location to reveal the results.  West Coast GAPS will treat every case with professionalism and the attention it deserves.