I had a terrific trip to the United Kingdom, my first time back since 2019. My schedule was hectic as usual, between intermittent meetings with the International Police Association (IPA) and a private investigators conference with the Association of British Investigators (ABI) in Solihull Birmingham as a representative of the World Association of Detectives (WAD). However, I always find time to meet with my international colleagues across the pond, where I was graciously welcomed with open arms.

I have been to the UK a few times before and already have forged connections with colleagues such as Dipesh Dattani and Philip Stubbs, with whom I still remain in contact with throughout the years. Through the IPA-USA, I was connected with Alex William, the IPA London Reception Officer.

The next day, I had two separate meetings. I first met with my IPA UK colleague and friend Dipesh Dattani at the US Embassy for lunch. I visited the new Embassy previously in 2019 but I enjoy returning to fantastic places in perpetuity. My WAD private investigator colleague Mike LaCorte from Conflict International, based in London, joined me as well.

It has always been my goal to close the gap between public safety sector and the private investigation sector. The Memorandum of Understanding between the IPA and WAD, created and implemented in 2019 between then WAD President Dan Rusu from Romania and IPA IEC President Pierre Martin-Moulin, has unfortunately reached its sunset in 2024. However, I continue to forge the bond internationally between the members of both organizations in sharing information that can be utilized to help solve numerous cases on both sides of the public safety and private investigations sector.

Afterwards, I took the train about an hour north of SoHo London where I was staying for the week. It was there I connected with IPA UK member Sergeant Brad Cross from Watford Police Station, Hertfordshire Constabulary. Brad picked me up from the train station in his Panda, or Radio Motor Patrol vehicle. He drove me around the small town and went back to the police station. Brad introduced me to his colleagues there in the beautiful new building. I met his Chief Inspector Andy Wiseman and we exchanged gifts of police regalia. One thing I noticed is the patrol constables still don’t possess firearms for their safety in these every growing tumultuous and insidious times, with the prolonged instability of global terrorism, gang violence, and criminal syndicates on the rise. I have remained in touch with Brad to this day.

Tuesday April 1 was a doubleheader of tours and events for me. The first was a meeting with retired London Metro Detective Inspector Dermott Carroll. We met up by Leicester Square to begin our walking tour by grabbing coffee and exchanging police regalia. Dermott showed me around as we walked all over to Buckingham Palace, took pictures with the armed police by Buckingham Palace residences at Marlborough Gardens in St James’s area.

The next event that evening was at the Tower of London Ceremony of the Keys event that was initiated by Dipesh Dattani once again. This ceremonial locking and unlocking of the gates of the Tower fortress, seven minutes to 2200 hours, has taken place perpetually for centuries since King Edward III mandated the edict in 1340 A.D. I had already been on this tour back in 2019 but it’s always a fun experience no matter how many times one attends. IPA UK member Gary Egerton was my point of contact for that tour and it was phenomenal as always, not to mention being able to have some drinks with the Yeoman’s Warders, aka Beefeaters. My IPA colleague from London Metro, Philip Stubbs, joined me on the auspicious occasion as he did back in 2019. Philip and I met up with some of my WAD colleagues beforehand for impromptu dinner and drinks. Present were WAD president Wes Bearden, past president Mike LaCorte and his Conflict International members Jon and Angelo, and Mike Thompson.

The very next day took me on a visit to the United Grand Lodge of England for a visit with my fellow Freemasons as representative of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. I was able to witness the performance of their Fellow Craft degree and accompany my Brethren as a guest for their collation dinner afterwards.

I traveled on Thursday to Solihull, outside of Birmingham, for the ABI private investigator conference, about two hours outside of London. I stumbled upon the West Midlands Police Station on my way to the hotel from the train station. The first thing they asked was what happened, as they normally don’t receive visitors unless a crime or incident had occurred. I spoke with some of the constables and detectives there, and exchanged police regalia gifts once again.

The ABI conference room place at the Hogarths Hotel, to which I constantly referred to as Hogwarts in a joking manner. All of the WAD members whom I had met up with and previously mentioned during my trip were in attendance, with more at the conference. We welcomed WAD members 1st Vice President Philip Ryffel, Yin Johnson, Mike Wright, Dick Smith, Tony Imossi, Mark Hodgson – Vice President of ABI and Matthew Spaier from ALDONYS and PI Perspectives podcast. The conference had insightful speakers, great vendors and a wonderful countryside ambiance similar to my first one in 2019 Anglesey Wales. To get some sightseeing experiences, I visited the National Trust Packwood House with colleague Yin Johnson. It was an auspicious occasion where our very own Mike LaCorte was sworn in as ABI president at the Gala dinner, and the celebration continued well into the evening. I look forward to future ABI conferences as representative of the W.A.D.

Onward and upward until my wanderlust carries me on my next adventure. Servo per Amikeco, stay safe, watch your six and take care of one another.

Fraternally yours,

Jason “J.E.” Cohen

NYPD Detective (Ret.), Licensed Private Investigator

Owner of Allegiance Investigative Solutions LLC

IPA-USA New York City Region 2

W.A.D. Board Director, Chairman of New Business Committee

The post IPA USA & W.A.D. VISIT TO THE UNITED KINGDOM APRIL 2025 appeared first on World Association of Detectives Blog.

There is nothing greater than traveling the world for business and leisure, so when the opportunity presents itself, consider me there. This time, however, my work conference was down in sunny Florida where I attended the Florida Association of Private Investigators (FAPI) conference as a representative for the World Association of Detectives.

It was great reconnecting with colleagues whom I had not seen for quite some time, and also enjoying the beautiful weather in March while it was still cold in my hometown of New York City. I also enjoyed the networking aspect of meeting with new people and potentially having them consider joining the W.A.D., which is exactly what happened. Ari Morse and his uncle Harvey were great hosts of the conference, and very accommodating for us guest vendors, as they are also members of the W.A.D. and understand the importance of state members networking with a major international association. We give a special kudos to FAPI President Carrie Kerskie for this glorious conference and being a gracious host.

There were a great list of guest speakers such as William Losefsky, Kelly Riddle, Peter Gallo and more. The vendors were top notch and everyone commingled as a family should for the three days. Between the FAPI hospitality room, food for ages, the outdoor pool where many members such as Judy Shea, Ollie Phipps, Peter Gallo, and I would end the night deep in banter and laughs, with the occasional swim in the Florida heat.

From that conference, we received over a half dozen new applicants for membership, and made lasting connections with two different state organizations, the New Hampshire League of Investigators (NHLI) and the Indiana Association of Private Investigators (IAPI). These two esteemed organizations will have myself and other Board members speak at their virtual Zoom webinars in the upcoming weeks and months in order to attract new qualified members for entry into the W.A.D.

Until the next in person conference coming up in Lisbon, Portugal, I implore our W.A.D. family to reach out to your local associations, wherever they may be, and attract more qualified members. The greater the outreach of members interconnected throughout the world, the easier our jobs become for our clients.

Fraternally yours,

Jason “J.E.” Cohen

NYPD Detective (Ret.), Licensed Private Investigator

Owner of Allegiance Investigative Solutions LLC

W.A.D. Board Director, Chairman of New Business Committee

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Once again, my wanderlust was answered when Agustin Sierra Gonzalez from IPA Valles Occidental Barcelona sent the global invitation for their inclusive Super Tour in India February 12-19, 2024 with a secondary trip extension in Thailand afterwards. Agustin and I shared vivid memories of our fantastic IPA Friendship trip to Barcelona and Morocco in 2019 and assured me this trip would be on par, which excited me to see my old friend after five years.

My pre-IPA excursion began in Mumbai aka Bombay where I met with my colleagues from the World Association of Detectives. For those who are not familiar, the W.A.D. is the association that has a Memorandum of Understanding with the IPA since 2019 for networking and training, as well as cross organizational membership. This MOU was approved by then W.A.D. President and IPA member from Romania, Dan Rusu, and former IPA-IEC president Pierre Martin-Moulin.

I stayed at the famous Bollywood Sun n Sand Hotel in Juhu Beach and traveled around sightseeing the area, including the Gateway of India in Colaba and the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel which was the site of the 2008 terrorist attack. During my stay in Mumbai, with connections from my W.A.D. colleagues Sujeet Menezes, Mukesh Bajaj, Nitul Shah and Suhail Buddha, I had the pleasure of meeting with the former Police Commissioner from 2009, D.Sivanandhan at his downtown office. We exchanged patches, pins, cards and coins and had a terrific chat regarding law enforcement policies, similarities and differences between India and the USA, particularly my New York Police Department where I was a Detective within Organized Crime Bureau and Chief of Detectives Office before retirement in 2017.

I was sad to leave my W.A.D. colleagues but the time had come for me to depart for Delhi, two days before the IPA trip was scheduled to begin. Upon arriving at the WelcomHotel by ITC in Dwarka, a quiet suburb of New Delhi, I reunited with my friend Agustin and met up with some old friends, Carmen Alvelo and Karin Azadian from IPA USA Region 2 and met some new IPA members from around the world. Some of the group members and I enjoyed a day excursion with a Delhi Temple tour which included the Birla Temple (Laxmi Narayan), Agrasen ki baoli protected site under the Archaeological Survey of India, and the Lodi Gardens with the god Hanuman Mandir Temple.

Our journey finally commenced the next day and we were off on our adventure in three thankfully air conditioned coach buses to safely guide our group of almost sixty members from all over the world throughout different destinations around India. Our trip would take us to numerous sacred temples and historical sites along the way eventually to Jaipur and eventually to Agra.

While in Delhi, we visited Jama Mosque, Parliament, the Rashtrapati Bhawan or fomer Viceroy Residence and now the President’s house, and Qutub Minar, some of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Raj Ghat or Symbolic Tomb of Gandhi was another place on our pre-planned tour. Some of our tours we rode in rickshaws, two wheeled door-less carts powered by human peddling energy. We learned that during the late medieval period, Delhi was ruled by Ottoman Turks, Afghans, Sultans and Mughal dynasties. Along the way, we met with local police who, even though are not IPA members, wholeheartedly supported our organization. I surprisingly reconnected with an old friend from IPA Czech Republic, Vladimir Macek, a retired police officer from Prague whom I met when the W.A.D. had our conference there in April 2023 (documented in a previous article I wrote).

After three days in Delhi, our caravan of coach buses headed southwest to Jaipur, where we visited Samode Palace, Amer Fort, City Palace (Hawa Mahal or Palace of Winds), and the Jantar Mantar Astronomical Observatory and stayed at the mediocre Ramada by Wyndham. Jaipur, the city of Jai, and also the Pink City, was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the Kachhwaha Rajput ruler of Amer, after whom the city is named. My fellow IPA members joked with me since the pronunciation of Jai Singh is Jasin, close to my name Jason, which made me feel like royalty for three days while we were there.

After departing from Jaipur, we made our way east towards the famous city of Agra, where we would stay at the lovely Grand Mercure Hotel. While en route, we stopped in Chand Baori (deep wells) and the Harshat Mata Temple dedicated to the god Vishnu. Fatehpur Sikri was another city we passed on the way where we gazed upon more temples and palaces.

Once in Agra, I crossed off a major bucket list destination with our visit to one of the Modern Seven Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal, also known as the Crown of the Palace. Built in 1631 out of white marble by the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved wife, Mumtaz (and also housed himself), this 42 acre complex on the banks of the Yamuna river consists of a large mosque and an equally sized guest house.  We also toured the Red Fort next door to the complex, the baby Taj Mahal, the Itimad-ud-Daulah Mausoleum, and the Mehtab Bagh Gardens.

On the return to Delhi for one more night, we stopped along the way in Mathura to visit the god Krishna Temple and old town.

The IPA tour continued in Thailand, but I was not a part of that as I ventured off with another IPA USA and W.A.D. member Juan Leonbravo who met me in Bangkok. I tried diligently meeting up with the group who traveled to Bangkok but time and other factors made it difficult. Unfortunately, India was our final farewell to the IPA tour.

Not only did I connect on a deeper level with my fellow W.A.D. and IPA members, but this trip provided an insight into the ancient ways and fascinating customs of the Indian culture. I look forward to future trips with my newfound friends in both associations, exploring further reaches of the world together.

Until my next adventure in Colombia and Panama City at the W.A.D. Midterm Conference in April 2024, stay safe and as we say in the police and military, watch your six.

Fraternally yours,

Jason Cohen
NYPD Detective (Ret)., Licensed Private Investigator
Owner of Allegiance Investigative Solutions LLC
IPA-USA New York City Region 2 
W.A.D. Board Director, Chairman of New Business Committee

The post IPA and WAD Trip to India Feb 2024 appeared first on World Association of Detectives Blog.

After my amazing three week trip to Prague and Eastern Europe in April and May of this year, my wanderlust kicked in once again and my travels took me to Vancouver British Columbia in October 2023. I was attending the World Association of Detectives (W.A.D.) 98^th annual conference at the Fairmont Waterfront hotel where I was voted in as Board Director. I contacted my IPA USA 2^nd VP liaison Carmen Alvelo who once again assisted me with my endeavors. Carmen put me in touch with William Powell IPA USA Region 5 who subsequently reached out to Karen Frost IPA Vancouver Region 9 VP and Bill Ardill IPA Vancouver Region 13 Travel Secretary.

Once again I explained the W.A.D. and IPA Memorandum of Understanding for those who were not aware. W.A.D. was founded in 1925 and currently contains over 1,000 professional investigative members in 84 countries. W.A.D. past president and chairman Dan Rusu, a member of IPA Romania and past IPA President Pierre-Martin Moulin collaboratively signed this MOU in 2019. The main purposes of the MOU are enhancing and sharing knowledge, training, networking, camaraderie and joint membership between both organizations, including retired police officers who are eligible to join W.A.D. One thing I learned after retirement is that private detectives and investigators can play a vital role in assisting our public sector officers as some of the work goes hand in hand.

I met up with retired Police Officer Karen Frost who became not only my tour guide throughout Vancouver but my friend. Karen mentioned to me that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had suffered a tragic loss of Constable Rick O’Brien on Friday September 22 as the ninth police officer killed in the line of duty so far, with two more Mounties injured during that fatal day. It was due to these horrendous circumstances than many other members could not join us or attend our W.A.D. festivities due to preparation for the funeral services on October 4^th further outside of Vancouver. Also the manpower of IPA Region 9 is suffering due to retirement and active duty members working very long hours.

Karen and I journeyed across Vancouver through Stanley Park and onto Grouse Mountain for some sightseeing whilst enjoying the unexpectedly beautiful weather. After taking the sky-ride lift way up the 4,000 foot (1200 meter) peak, we saw a highly entertaining Lumberjack show and visited with the resident bears. Afterwards, we returned to downtown Vancouver and visited the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) on Cambie Street. Although Karen said the previous experience in bringing an IPA member to the police department was not successful, this particular visit proved fruitful. Not only did we take photos and exchange patches with the officers outside, we were able to take a tour inside due in part to our new friend Patty. Karen said later on that I was her lucky charm in making a new friend for future IPA visitors to gain access to a tour of VPD.

After our police tour, we went to eat at Craft Beer Market False Creek. Since my gracious host extended the courtesy of providing me with a fantastic tour of Vancouver, dinner was my treat.

That was the conclusion of my Vancouver day tour and I was taken back to my hotel.

A few days later, I met up with Karen once again with some other IPA and W.A.D. members for a planned dinner at Tap & Barrel by the Vancouver Waterfront Convention Centre. Karen met me at the Lion’s Pub for happy hour with some W.A.D. colleagues. Afterwards, we headed to dinner and were joined by my W.A.D. colleagues who are also IPA members: Alex Auslander from Israel, my former NYPD detective partner from NYC Juan Leonbravo, and newest IPA Chicago member Detective Michael Basile. IPA Vancouver Region 9 members who joined us besides Karen were RCMP Constable Alex Zaganas and retired Police Officer Jan Fikkert. We exchanged patches and stories of our different police departments and how policing can work together across nations. Some members joined us on a pub crawl after dinner down the waterfront to Mahony’s Tavern to meet with other W.A.D. members. In the end, we came to the realization that policies in policing are quite different based on geographical location as well as cultural diversity, but we can all learn from one another as we all bleed blue.

On a final note, staying active in the International Police Association is vital to the future success as member retention becomes a grave concern. Many regions need assistance with obtaining new qualified members, so make sure you lend a helping hand and reciprocate to fellow IPA world travelers. Onward and upward until my next adventure, Servo per Amikeco and stay safe, watch your six and take care of one another. Have a happy holiday and a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

Fraternally yours,

Jason Cohen

NYPD Detective (Ret)., Licensed Private Investigator

Owner of Allegiance Investigative Solutions LLC

IPA-USA New York City Region 2

W.A.D. Board Director, Chairman of New Business Committee

The post IPA & W.A.D. VANCOUVER BRITISH COLUMBIA TRIP OCTOBER 2023 appeared first on World Association of Detectives Blog.

One of the great benefits about the International Police Association is the ability to visit countries all over the world and instantly become friends with local police officers. My name is Jason Cohen, retired NYPD detective and now licensed private investigator and owner of Allegiance Investigative Solutions LLC in NYC. I am also a proud, long-time member of IPA-USA New York City Region 2.

From my past experiences and trips to Spain and Morocco in 2019, courtesy of IPA Valles Barcelona, and another 2019 IPA trip to Scandinavia (Norway, Denmark, and Sweden), the IPA officers work tirelessly to ensure our members have whatever they need to meet and greet fellow members domestically and internationally. This entails my recent visit to Eastern Europe, notably Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia.

For those members who are not aware, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was drafted in 2019 between the World Association of Detectives (W.A.D.) and IPA. W.A.D. was founded in 1925 and currently contains over 1,000 professional investigative members in 84 countries. WAD past president Dan Rusu, a member of IPA Romania and IPA President Pierre-Martin Moulin collaboratively signed this MOU. The main purposes of the MOU are enhancing and sharing knowledge, training, networking, camaraderie and joint membership between both organizations, including retired police officers who are eligible to join W.A.D. The Secretary General May-Britt Ronnebro of IPA Sweden was cordially invited to our 2019 W.A.D. 94^th Annual conference in Stockholm as our most honored guest and recipient of the Hal Lipset Memorial Truth in Action Award, which was a roaring success for further strengthening the bonds between both organizations.

My current trip commenced with a visit to Prague, Czech Republic for a W.A.D. midterm conference at the end of April 2023. It was there that I met with Vladimir Macek, former police officer and IPA Czech Republic member and host. Vladimir was not only my IPA brother, but also our tour guide and companion for sightseeing around Prague. We went to one of the police stations in Prague city center and met with fellow IPA colleagues hard at work, who also found time to throw me in “the slammer” for, shall we say, educational purposes. We exchanged patches and gifts and shared police stories and policies with some similarities and notable differences between the United States and Czech Republic. Vladimir was our guest of honor at the W.A.D. Welcome Reception and Gala dinner at our fabulous hotel, the Hilton Prague Old Town. Suffice it to say, a glorious time was had by all. Vladimir was a crucial factor in putting me in touch with the other IPA contacts, all of whom I would meet with later on in my three week excursion across Eastern Europe.

Following Prague was a four hour train ride to Vienna, Austria. This was a special country for me because of my part Austrian heritage from my late father’s side, who was never able to visit during his lifetime. Before sightseeing on my own with the Big Bus Hop On and Off tour, I met up with IPA Austria president Martin Hoffman briefly for coffee with his wife. Later on that evening, Martin and I met at a restaurant near my hotel and spoke about W.A.D. and IPA MOU, along with different policing policies between Austria and the USA. Unfortunately I was not able to visit a police station during my visit, mostly in part due to the Labour Day protests running rampant throughout Vienna at that time. However, I still enjoyed my time and look forward to future visits throughout the Austrian countryside.

After leaving Vienna, my journey continued as I jumped on a quick one hour train ride to Bratislava, Slovakia. That is where I met up with another great friend, Ladislav Csollei, IPA president of Bratislava II, Slovakia and some other officers. After taking a tram around Bratislava for sightseeing, the next day Ladislav was gracious enough to pick me up from my hotel and take me to a police station and the US Embassy for a visit. Afterwards, we continued our journey outside the Old Town to Hrad Devin (Devin Castle) after stopping at his favorite place for lunch.

After leaving Bratislava, around two and a half hours later, I arrived in Budapest, Hungary. After sightseeing on my own on the first day, I met up with Budapest IPA member Ida Havasi the next day. Ida was reminiscent of my own maternal grandmother, and as such we formed a unique bond. Unfortunately many of the police officers we encountered, especially at the police stations, were not IPA members. Due to this technicality, we were unable to visit and tour any police station. The furthest we were able to enter was the lobby of the downtown headquarters. After our multiple bus trip across the city, we enjoyed some dinner and parted ways.

Next on the trip, I was picked up in Budapest by a friend Martina from Slovenia who drove me back to her country about three and a half hours away. We went sightseeing throughout her hometown of Maribor, a lovely city suburb. The next day I met up with fellow WAD member from Slovenia, Tina Kramberger to a police station for camaraderie and networking. The goal was to close the gap between the public law enforcement and private sector investigations in regards to cooperation on certain cases. This was a success as one of the heads of the Maribor regional police department headquarters, Bostjan Velicki, said he would most certainly utilize private investigators to assist whenever feasible in accordance to their laws and regulations.

The following day, we traveled an hour to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, with my Martina and private investigator colleague Tina. After sightseeing with them, Tina and I had an appointment to meet with Marjan Prah-Podborski from Ljubljana Police at a highway district. Once there, we were able to see the vehicles such as motorcycles and riot truck as well as squad cars.

Sadly, my Eastern European trip concluded and ultimately the time came for me to return home to New York City. My three weeks visiting overseas, which took me to seven countries, was a phenomenal experience that will be hard to top. Besides the erratic roller-coaster weather where one minute it was hot and the next was cold, rainy and dreary, these aforementioned pictures are a mere snapshot of countless memories that will never be replicated and certainly not forgotten. I still keep in touch with my European IPA colleagues to this day and hope to see them again. Onward and upward until my next adventure, Servo per Amikeco and stay safe, watch your six, and stay tuned…

By Jason Cohen, NYPD Detective (Ret.), Licensed Private Investigator, IPA-USA New York City Region 2,
W.A.D. Sgt at Arms, Chairman of New Business Committee

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