First, some background information: 

When we met, private investigator and polygraph examiner, Andrea Forrest Brock (nee Andrea Forrest), was already famous for researching and verifying the provenance of looted Nazi art. I was playing all the dives including Max’s Kansas City and CBGB’s; a punk rocker in need of extra income. And so, when Forrest and Associates Detective Agency expanded to include retail theft, marital infidelity, and illegal drug dealing, Forrest asked me to join the team. 

At Forrest and Associates I was trained through a series of night classes, and afterwards, ‘bonded’ (fingerprinted in D.C) as a precursor to owning a gun, the carrying of which I turned down. My first M.O. (modus operandi: method of spying) was to bust up a cocaine den by buying a load of drugs in a sting operation that would take place in a Manhattan office bathroom, and include the FBI. I know it sounds incredible, and looking back I can’t believe I did this, and still lived to write about it, but it’s true and I will write about it here in the future. The point of today’s column is to illustrate how we detectives approach investigations using a recent alleged local incident. 

According to one recent newspaper report, a sheet was ‘hung’ on the Narrowsburg Bridge that ‘allegedly’ had ‘KKK’ written on it as well as a ‘reference to lynching’. According to the article, one eye witness, who remained unnamed, reported the incident to the paper via email. There was no mention of photographs taken or other witnesses regarding this alleged hate crime that supposedly happened on a sunny Saturday.

Here’s how we, at Forrest and Associates, would have advised anyone interested in verifying this alleged crime that, if true, would be horrendous:  

1. Above all, refrain from assumptions and knee-jerk emotional reactions. An honest detective remains at all times impartial and level-headed.

2. Contact the police station particularly the investigating officer. Ask how long the investigation might last. The answer will probably be, “it’s uncertain” in which case you should check back after a reasonable time. While the investigation is open, details will most likely be kept secret, and any information they do give is off-the-record.

3. Find, contact and interview the one unnamed witness. FYI, eyewitness misidentification is considered the leading cause of wrongful convictions, contributing to approximately 70% of known wrongful convictions…meaning a significant portion of wrongly convicted individuals are identified by mistaken eyewitness testimony; studies also indicate that around half of all wrongful convictions involve eyewitness errors. 

4. Visit the site of the alleged crime to assess how and where a sheet could have been ‘hung’ from the bridge, and look for any evidence of implements that might have been used such as rope, hooks, or ties to keep said sheet from blowing away. Estimate how long it might have taken to hang, spot, report, and remove said sheet, and how many more people may have witnessed those moments by counting the amount of vehicles and foot traffic that cross the bridge on a Saturday around 4:30pm when the ‘flag’ was purportedly spotted.

5. Consider becoming licensed to carry a gun. With any investigation you never know what you might encounter. 

6. Be prepared, the case might go cold. A cold case is a suspected crime that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or retained material evidence, or fresh activities of a suspect.

7. Keep an open mind. Ask yourself, what else could this be? If, by the time this column is printed, a suspect has been apprehended, wait for a conviction to be handed down. In this country we are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

RAMONA JAN is the Founder and Director of Yarnslingers, a storytelling group that tells tales both fantastic and true. She is also the roving historian for Callicoon, NY and is often seen giving tours around town. You can email her at callicoonwalkingtours@gmail.com.