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Warning: this article contains descriptions of violence It was 2022, and Farzana Yaqubi was walking home from work in West Auckland when she was ambushed. The 21-year-old law student was stabbed 12 times in broad daylight. Members of the public attempted first aid, but she died at the scene. Farzana’s attacker was Kanwarpal Singh, a security guard who worked at the same mall as her. Two years earlier, Farzana had reluctantly agreed to coffee with him. She quickly felt uneas

Veritas Investigations has expanded with the addition of Mike Hill (Wellington) & Roya Shields & Marcus Chawner, (both in Auckland). This is in addition to our Bay of Plenty investigators Nga Utanga & Roy Blomkamp. The three latest additions to Veritas all come with a wide range of policing experience and each bring their own unique skills to the world of independent workplace investigations. Most of all, they share in our values - trust, integrity, honesty & desire to do

By Chris Harrowell - Manukau Courier Fraud investigations, background checks, litigation support and stakeouts - that's the life of a private investigator. And in south Auckland, investigators Dave Pizzini and Richard Middleton are revealing that it's not always like what's shown on TV. The two ex-detectives have 50 years of policing experience between them. They can see their old workplace at Manukau police station from the Veritas Investigations' office. Private investigato

In the retail sector, many larger suppliers will set aside a huge chunk of revenue for the loss of stock. In some cases, this amount is in its millions per year and covers such events as damage on delivery, acts of god, faulty and theft. It also covers internal theft which has been on the rise over the last ten years in New Zealand and Australia. Joanne Harrison, a senior manager of the Ministry of Transport was convicted of stealing $725,000 from her employer in February 201

In a somewhat unusual request I was recently asked to find a man-with-no-name for a NZ based client. I thought there was about 1.5 million adult men in New Zealand, how hard could it be? I was then advised by the client that the man-with-no-name had never been to New Zealand and had no connections to our country. At this point it was disclosed that the man-with-no-name was thought to be an American! How hard can it be – finding a man-with-no-name in a country of 300million p

Association of Workplace Investigators Promoting and enhancing the quality of impartial workplace investigations.™ 2019 has been a particularly interesting year for both Dave and Richard at Veritas Investigations. As luck would have it we reconnected with an old colleague - Eugene Collins of Collins Law, a Lower Hutt law firm specializing in Employment issues. Eugene discussed an international organisation (USA based) which helps professionalize Independent Workplace Invest

Sexual Harassment Claims & How to Deal with Them If you happen to have secured your social media feed to only positive news stories or...

The Importance of Criminal Investigation within a workplace Criminal Investigations within an organisation tend to be on the far side of the spectrum when it comes to a crisis, but their importance to your security & resilience planning is equal to anything else you should consider. In New Zealand alone, there has been 267,465 victimisations in 2017. Criminal Investigations cover many events such as staff thefts (which can be widespread in retail or warehouse environments),

People affected by alcohol play a huge part in any police officer’s working life. After spending over two decades working in South Auckland I had literally seen it all when it came to alcohol affected people. I grew up in police working on the ‘beat’ at the Wharf Police in downtown Auckland. I love beat work and would often walk the beat, even in my latter years as an Inspector. Instant assessments and people profiling are second nature to a good street cop. Instinctive j

Bad Law and Unintended Consequences With the Government agreement with The Greens Party to hold a binding referendum on the legalisation...

A few times in my career I’ve had a gut reaction to a situation. On at least two occasions this reaction has certainly saved me from...