LOCAL PI PICKS UP THE SLACK FOR POLICE

He doesn't wear a trench coat or drive a Ferrari parked outside his palatial estate, but John Clifton of Investigative Associates is a private investigator.

"I don't tuck a .45 in my waistband when I walk out the door either," he said.

Clifton has been in business about five years and said business in the area has been good in recent years, which mirrors the national trend.

As police departments get backlogged with growing numbers of routine calls, residents are turning to private investigators to do work traditionally left up to the police.

From finding missing persons to tracking down deadbeat dads, Clifton said his firm handles a variety of cases, between 25 and 30 at a time.

"I've seen a big rise in workers' comp cases," he said. "Employers will hire me to see if their employees are really disabled."

Insurance fraud cases also are on the rise. Besides workers' compensation claims, he said his firm also investigates fire scenes for insurance companies.

Clifton started his career in law enforcement and firefighting and began moonlighting as a private investigator while still in law enforcement.

After a few years working part time, he plunged into his private investigation business full time.

"I said I would try to take weekends off, unless it was an emergency," he said. "I don't get many weekends off with 25 or 30 cases."

Investigative Associates employs two full-time workers -- Clifton and his wife, Debbie. Five other employees work on an as-needed basis.

Clifton said most of his clients are employers, attorneys or insurance companies. It is more economical for him to perform background profiles or track down potential witnesses than for his clients.

"Other people come to us after they have exhausted every other means in the system," he said.

Clifton has worked a variety of domestic cases. People about to get married sometimes decide they want to know more about their potential spouse, and adopted children often call wanting to find their biological parents.

"Sometimes, I just tell them how they can find the information out for themselves," he said. "Since adoptive children have access to more records than I do, they can sometimes find information that I can't."

Clifton said he travels extensively for clients.

"I've been everywhere from Iowa to the Gulf Coast," he said.

Last week Clifton helped crack a bogus check scheme while working for a client in Jonesboro, Ark., that was paid almost $20,000 for tanning beds. The check was no good and the client, Sun Industries, wanted Clifton to find their property.

"I spent many long days in Arkansas and in Poplar Bluff," he said. "I slept a lot in the van. But the tanning beds turned up, and I got them delivered."

Clifton said he gets excellent cooperation from local law-enforcement agencies.

He said as crime rises and police departments become even more backlogged, private investigators will continue to thrive.

Clifton has an incentive most law-enforcement agencies lack -- profit.

"And they're overworked," he said. "I can spend more time with a case than they can."