By Bill Joynt
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
If you are a professional investigator commenting on another investigator you really don't get too descriptive. The highest compliment one investigator will make about another is that he or she was a good investigator. In our industry that is high praise indeed.
On October 2nd, 2006 Joe armstrong passed away after his courageous fight against pancreatic cancer.
Most of the general public gives little thought to the kind of contributions a private investigator might make to society at large. The investigators the public have seen on television, in the movies or have read about in books often shape their views. Their real work goes largely unnoticed. Over the years, Joe has made substantial contributions. He has uncovered and proved many frauds, he has reunited families and he has helped many achieve justice they would otherwise not have seen. The work of an investigator truly is much different from the Hollywood stereotype and it takes a special kind of person to succeed in the real profession.
Joe armstrong was that special kind of person, he was born to be an investigator Joe came to work at our company 10 years ago as a surveillance specialist. Joe had all the attributes that make for a good surveillance investigator. He was patient, attentive and an aggressive driver when he needed to be. He could drive a car while talking on a cell phone, a radio and into a micro cassette recorder while taking video and loading up a covert camera. But above all else, he was creative in his endeavors.
Over the years Joe continued as a surveillance specialist. This was the job he loved but he also became very adept at locating people and I would often assign those types of investigations to him. On one occasion after I had looked for a missing girl for a week or two he found her in only a day.
During his career with us, at the Investigators Group Inc. he became known as captain video for the extensive amounts of video he was able to get. Joe loved being an investigator. and, he loved to do surveillance of people. He went to work every day with a bright outlook, expecting the results of his endeavors to be successful each time. He spent most days following around folks of all sorts. People claiming disability, people off on WSIB claims, errant sales people and corporate hooligans, he has followed them all.
Joe was a loyal employee he cared about doing a good job for our clients and about the company itself. I know the he truly cared about what happened at our firm. He was also the kind of guy that was generous with his knowledge. Over the years he took many a green investigator under his wing and assisted them in developing their own careers.
Not only was Joe a loyal employee, he was a true friend; he would do anything to help you if he could. I have had the opportunity to meet a number of his friends in recent days and you can tell that he was this way with everyone.
Even when Joe was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, even when he was told that the outlook was grim, he chose to take it in stride, to investigate every possibility of recovery and to communicate with others who were in similar circumstances. To those folks he shared his philosophies of life and his fears of this terrible illness. When Joe knew there was no longer any hope for him, he remained stoic in his outlook and made the best of each day, as his increasingly debilitating illness would allow. Through these trying times, even up to the last days of his life, his humour and his kindness shone through. I some times think that Joe never expected anyone to recognize the kind of good person he was. He did what he did because he loved to do it and he never really asked for any recognition of his successes or his passions. I sometimes feel that he felt so strongly about his job and his view of life that he just assumed everyone else either agreed with him or they just didn't get it yet but would come around eventually and there was no real value in arguing about it.
Myself, my partners, our office staff and especially the other investigators that worked by his side will have an empty space in our hearts over the remainder of our own careers and lives, the space where Joe used to be.
We will miss you, Joe. You were a good investigator.
Bill Joynt is a well-known private investigator with The Investigator's Group in Toronto. He can be contacted at 416-955-9450 or by e-mail at billj@investigators-group.com.
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