We need
legislators to know about the problems at the LSBPIE.
Coming soon, you will be able to click here and get a
punch list as to what we need you to do!
WHY WAS THIS SITE MADE?
When
Representative Mert Smiley first suggested in his
legislative hearing last April that he might want to
combine the services of the LSBPIE under another board
as a cost savings measure, many of us opposed that
concept. We recognized that there were problems
but incoming Chairman
John Mowell promised change and an
open forum like we had never seen before. We fell
for it hook, line and sinker and the changes that were
promised actually created less open communication.
CHANGE MUST
COME and upon reflection, it would appear that the
LSBPIE believes that they can do whatever they want,
whenever they want, regardless of the rules or the law.
COMPLAINTS
WERE FILED, but we believe that the best chance for
change is with the legislative session and will propose
two bills, one to change the make up of this board and
the other to abolish it and place its duties under the
scope and authority of another governmental entity.
KNOWLEDGE
IS THE KEY
.
Because the volume of information that has been
uncovered is so much, this site is an ever changing
project and will be updated often. Our initial
focus was to just get live, but you will find that
documentation will be added soon. Please check
back!
IS THIS SITE A BULLY SITE?
What is
cyber stalking and is what you read on this site
considered stalking?
Cyber stalking
laws do not apply to any peaceable, nonviolent, or non
threatening activity intended to express political views
or to provide lawful information to others.
While this
site may be colorful, and is intended to express
outrage, nothing contained herein threatens harm to
anyone. The authors feel as if we have been taken
advantage of and we want a change in the law!
ITS ABOUT FREE
SPEECH
.
THIS SITE IS A POLITICAL COMMENTARY
SITE
NO THREATS OR HARM TO ANYONE IS BEING MADE
IT IS INTENDED TO EDUCATE LEGISLATORS AS TO THE PROBLEMS THAT
WE SEE WITH THE WAY THE LSBPIE IS BEING OPERATED!
One
only has to look at the history of the Board's Training
and Education Program to see that the standard operation
is to change it whenever a new person becomes the
Training and Education Chairman. To that
extent, we agree that the single event that causes the
most turmoil for the board is Continuing Education.
But we think that the reason for the turmoil is that the
system is ill conceived.
TIMELINE:
The time line is a quick reference for the massive
changes that have been happening relative to training
and education, just in the last year. One would
have to spend time in the minutes to grasp the full
nature of all the changes. Warning, its confusing.
Prior to January
2011
The Training
Chairman had spent a great deal of face time
at the board meeting to develop a new
training program.
2-23-2011
Letter is written
to Providers to update them that the pending
rules will be pushed back to May 1 to
provide them notice.
5-1-2011
New Training Rules
are said to now be in effect. All
Education providers must submit all their
training materials to the board by this date
in order to be approved.
7-19-2011
The Board
suspended the LPIA and Steve Divine from
providing Continuing Education until such
time as both parties would appear back at
the board to respond to questions. SEE
THE LPIA INQUEST FOR DETAILS
9-20-2011
The Board decides
to Suspend Rule 518 on a simple vote after
an executive session to no longer require
investigators to have 8 hours of CE in order
to renew their licenses. This is a
promulgated rule that they simply decided to
push aside.
Thereafter a
complaint is made to the Inspector Generals
Office to investigate whether or not the
board violated the law in doing so.
They did nothing to investigate or address
the issue as for as we can determine.
10-26-2011
Board office
request providers that wish to provide
Continuing Education to re-submit all their
information to the board to be approved.
The Board office
issues licenses to people that do not have 8
hours of CE in direct violation of Rule 518
Faced with the
information that there is a problem, the
Board decides to offer license extensions
rather than renewals until this matter can
be addressed.
2-14-2012
The board has
decided to re-instate continuing Education
on the basis that they will offer up a new
rule to change the old rule...in that they
will make CE only required every other year.
Rule will be written, and voted on with the
idea that it will not take effect until
September 2013
3-20-2012
Freel reports to
the Board that she will file the new rule
for promulgation this week and start the
process with a timeline of approximately 4
months expected to complete the process.
A member of the
audience asked if he needed to turn in his
Continuing Education Certificate and it is
reported that he was told by the Board that
his education is valid now for 2
years...even before this new rule has been
published.
To appreciate
the irony of this is to understand that
on September 20, 2011 the board voted to
ignore the law. Thereafter they
have issued licenses to people that are
not qualified under the law in that they
did not provide the board with proof
that they had obtained the required 8
hours of CE and NOW.....after a
complaint has been made, they are now
re-writing the law, while still in
violation of the law.
The stated
purpose of the change in the law states
that it is being done to address recent
issues involving Continued Education and
to develop changes for the purpose of
improving continuing education courses
but I can find nothing in this proposal
to address the problems that this board
created in the continuing education
mess. Question? How will
changing the number of hours and when
effect an improvement on the approval
system, or the manner in which the Board
is administering the private
investigation training?
Later, the statement is made that the
change is being made to reduce the
oversight by the board...Page 899 line
1. Good grief.
This proposal
suggests that:
8 hours of
approved CE training will be
required every two years in order to
qualify for license renewal
Odd number
years will be the time that it is
required, (I suppose that will call
for increase in office staff)
Even
though they issued licenses in
violation of the law, they are going
to require you to go back and get 8
hours prior to your renewal in
2012...thereafter you have to have
it biannually before the odd year.
A new
investigator must have 8 hours prior
to their second renewal date..
(Again this odd year thing is
confusing if someone is licensed in
2012 and have to have it by 2014 so
how does that odd year thing work)
You have
to complete the form under penalty
of perjury EVERY YEAR...(Section
B..I guess you have to submit a form
no matter what)
AND here
is the best part.,...now after they
have already done so, the board
wants to be able to legally suspend
the education requirement for good
cause.
There is
nothing in this rule that defines
what an education program will be
like...what the qualifications are
or what we might expect.
IS IT A VIOLATION
OF LAW TO LIE ON A PROMULGATED RULE
REQUEST?
Under Economic Impact, Section III, they
wrote that as of September 2011 there
were approximately 107 continuing
education providers that were approved
to offer course credit. Yet under
the numerous public records requests
filed, this information has not been
uncovered and in fact, under the
guidelines in effect at the time of the
Suspension, very few were in compliance.
This gets even
more confusing...who writes these
laws....
If you renewed in 2011 without a CE
certificate, you have to have 8 hours
prior to your renewal of 2012...
That is supposed to be valid for two
years...but then you must have it done
again by the next odd number year.
So, if you renewed in 2012 with a CE
certificate, you are valid for 2 years
which means it is valid until 2014 but
you don't have to have it again until
2015? Or do you have to do it in
2012 and then again in 2013 to do the
odd year thing?
READ
THE HISTORY BELOW:
Continuing Education was established by Rule 518 of the
Rules and Procedures:
§518. Continuing
Education
A. Each
licensed private investigator is required to complete
a minimum of eight hours of approved investigative
educational instruction within the one-year period
immediately prior to renewal in order to qualify for a
renewal license.
B. Each
licensed private investigator is required to complete
and return the LSBPIE continuing educational
compliance form with the request for license renewal
each year. The form shall be signed under penalty of
perjury and shall include documentation of each hour
of approved investigation educational instruction
completed.
C. Any
licensee who wishes to apply for an extension of time
to complete educational instruction requirements must
submit a letter of request setting forth reasons for
the extension request to the Executive Director of the
LSBPIE thirty days prior to license renewal. The
training committee shall rule on each request. If an
extension is granted, the investigator shall be
granted 30 days to complete the required hours. Hours
completed during a 30-day extension shall only apply
to the previous year.
Each
Training Chairman has attempted to define the training
program with a multitude of changes whenever a new
chairman is elected. Then as each member left the
board, they immediately went into the training and
education business. One simply needs to read the
minutes and you can see that this one subject has been
on the forefront at all times. You might say
"FOLLOW THE MONEY"!
Maria
Dugas was appointed to the LSBPIE and almost immediately
assumed the position of Training and Education Chairman.
Admirably she took a systematic approach to defining the
training program and over time, and after much
discussion produced the following guidelines:
The
problem is that they were never enforced and the date
kept getting pushed back. I wanted to put this
documentation on the site, but honestly it is so much
that I am having to dig through it.
At the
July LSBPIE board meeting, the board decided to hold an
"informal hearing" relative to the LPIA and a program
that was presented in May 2011 in Baton Rouge. At
the end of that meeting, the LPIA and Steve Divine along
with his company Creative Cyber Innovations were
suspended pending a continuation of that hearing
in September 2011.
Steve
Divine appeared before the board on September 20, 2011
and asked "WHY" his company had been suspended to which
no one would answer because as Mr. Fayard stated, they
were going to discuss that in Executive Session.
Charles Bryant with the LPIA spoke on behalf of the LPIA.
After each party spoke, the board retired to executive
session, after which time they came out and stated that
due to the problems that Continuing Education have
caused, they are going to suspend Continuing Education
entirely.
READ THE MINUTES
Problem
with that is that they broke the law in doing that.
You can't change a promulgated rule on a whim, but
apparently their attorney did not advise them of this.
Naturally, there were several complaints relative to
this action. Think about it for a moment there are
1300 investigators in the state and each needs CE to
renew and the going price is about $85.00 for the
training and they just killed that business? You
think providers are happy?
So if
you renewed after September 20th, 2011 you will not be
required to have CE Hours. But there was a catch
and this is where we just go around the circle.
What they did was illegal. So they had this
emergency board meeting on October 25, 2011 and although
the minutes have yet to be posted, we learned from
sources that they are re-instating CE requirements
effective with the November 15, 2011 board meeting.
Are you
serious? How many times must we submit the same
materials? If you were approved previously, why
are you not approved now? Remember, the new
guidelines required us to send in the courses before May
to be approved. Providers have already done this.
But apparently the board can't use that or wont use that
and we have to do it again.
THIS
SITE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION---and it is changing
daily. Please check back as we organize the
material that we have already.
MARIA'S REQUEST FOR MORE INFORMATION ON A SEMINAR
It's interesting that while
Board Members are not required to follow the law to be
in good standing to be licensed, Ms. Dugas is suggesting
that "speakers" at a conference should be in good
standing. When asked what authority she was
requesting this, no response.
PROPOSED POLICY IN 2000
Ms. Moral proposed some policies by which the meetings
would be conducted
9-19-2000 POLICY MANUAL
A policy manual was written by private citizens based
upon the minutes and presented to the board
LSBPIE COURSE SCHEDULE AS IT WAS LISTED IN FEB 2011
CLICK ON THE
IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE
LSBPIE
COURSE SCHEDULE AS IT WAS LISTED IN JUNE 2011
CLICK ON THE
IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE
LSBPIE COURSE SCHEDULE AS IT WAS LISTED IN JULY 2011
LSBPIE COURSE SCHEDULE
AS IT WAS LISTED IN OCTOBER 2011
LSBPIE AGENDA FOR THE
10-25-2011 MEETING
MUCH MORE COMING SOON!
CHANGE BEGINS WITH ME
THIS
SITE IS AN OPINION SITE AND IS NOT CONNECTED WITH THE LOUISIANA
STATE BOARD OF PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR EXAMINERS IN ANY WAY.
FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTIONS APPLY!
