about us

We are a licensed Private investigations agency out of Genesee County, Michigan, led by retired Flint Police Lieutenant Jason Cate who has over 27 years in law enforcement working crashes, homicides, robberies, fraud and much more

Jason’s experience

Jason brings to the table a vast amount of investigative experience. Anyone that knows him will tell you he’s a humble person, never arrogant, always energetic and willing to help. In 1993, before starting his career in law enforcement, Jason was a Detective for a major retail store where he arrested shoplifters daily. He was recognized one of the years for having the 3rd highest number of apprehensions in the entire chain. In 1996 he began his career at the Flint Police Department were he worked as a Patrol Officer on the streets running radio calls back to back daily. A normal shift for Jason included foot chases, pursuits, gun and drug calls/arrests, crash investigations, assault calls/reports, stolen cars, B & E’s, robberies, etc. While working Patrol, Jason was once recognized for Exceptional Courage & Bravery (2nd highest award at the department) after a foot chase with three suspects who just committed a homicide. The trio was believed to be in the process of committing another homicide not even an hour later when Jason heard an unrelated call go out that was suspicious to him. Although tied up on a crash, he volunteered for the call and responded worrying about an elderly woman’s safety. Arriving first on scene, the suspects immediately fled and Jason gave chase on foot ultimately leading to their arrests and convictions of multiple homicides. The woman on this call was never harmed. Jason was also recognized for another award from a multi-jurisdictional auto theft task force unit called GAIN for having the Most Recovered Stolen Vehicles in a year while working the streets.

After being promoted to Sergeant, Jason moved to the Detective Bureau where he worked Homicide and other areas like Auto Theft, Fraud, Domestics, Robberies, CSC’s and more. When his Homicide team was up (on call), he was routinely called out after hours to investigate critical and fatal shootings, assaults, etc. Due to manpower issues and retirement attrition, Jason was gaining a massive amount of experience. Jason was even recognized and mentioned in local media by the County Prosecutor on two separate Homicide cases that went to trial. After about five years, he was promoted to Lieutenant where he was eventually put back in charge of the Detective Bureau. In this position, he was also in charge of the Major Crimes Unit (Homicide and other violent crimes), an FBI Cold Case Homicide grant/unit, and he was the site coordinator for a SAKI team/unit (Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Project). In addition to numerous administrative tasks, Jason responded to all violent crimes and assisted and supervised both Flint and MSP Detectives working these units.

Jason eventually went back to the Traffic Bureau as the Lieutenant where he was not only in charge of the unit, he was responding to all serious, critical and fatal crashes and reconstructing the prosecutable crashes as well. He was also in charge of special events (writing and executing operational plans) for special assignments like CRIM, Back to the Bricks, Bikes on the Bricks, July 4th, etc. Jason is certified in Crash Reconstruction and has been recognized as an expert in District and Circuit Courts.

In 2021, after 25 years of service, Jason retired from the Flint Police (full time) but stayed part time to help with crash reconstructions, which he still does today. Not ready to leave full time police work however, he also started working full time at the Metro Police Authority of Genesee County for another 2 1/2 years. In this patrol officer capacity, he was also part of a multi-jurisdictional Crash Investigation Response Team (CIRT), responding to serious, critical and fatal crashes in 4 separate jurisdictions. Jason eventually decided to start his own business (Priority One Investigations) which he now runs and operates.

Jason’s Training

Training is ongoing, especially in Crash Reconstruction. Some certifications and training Jason holds are: Reid Interview & Interrogation (+Advanced), Homicide & Crime Scene Management, Hate Crimes, Hostage Negotiations Phase I & II, C.R.I.M.E. 123 Criminal Related Interviewing Made Easy, Investigative Statement Analysis, Courtroom Success, Eyewitness Identification, Social Media Investigations, Homicide Is the Caller the Killer?, Project Pinpoint-Cell Phone Investigations, Shooting Incident Reconstruction, Introduction to Internal Investigations, WZ Seminar on Criminal Interview & Interrogation, Police Use of Force from a Supervisor Perspective, Biology/DNA Evidence Collection & Analysis, Basic Bloodstain Pattern Recognition, Sexual Assault Leadership, Jail Gang Intelligence and Interview Techniques, Why Teens Kill, Defense Against Edged Weapons, Police Officer Advanced Responder, Exploring Violence & The Criminal Mind, Vehicle Theft Investigations, Response to Shootings, and more.

Traffic related training and certifications include: IPTM’s At Scene Traffic Homicide, Advanced Traffic Crash Investigation, Traffic Crash Reconstruction, Airbag Download Bosch CDR Tool, Event Data Recorder Use in Traffic Crash Reconstruction (Levels I & II), Traffic Crash Reconstruction Level II, Traffic Energy Methods and Damage Analysis (CRUSH), Investigation of Motorcycle Crashes, Pedestrian/Bicycle Crash Investigations, Human Factors in Traffic Crash Reconstruction, Introduction to Digital Video Analysis for Crash Reconstruction, Occupant Kinematics for Law Enforcement: Who Was Driving?, Commercial Vehicle Reconstruction, Comprehensive Steps to Investigating the Distracted Driving Crash, Collision Reconstruction from Video, Vehicle Autopsy Post Collision Inspection, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems & Accident Reconstruction, 2023 Crash Conference (MATAI), Vehicle Spin Wheel Analysis, Point Clouds in Collision Reconstruction, Statistics & Probability for Crash Reconstructionist, Lamp Examinations, Safety Belt Examination, Tire Examinations, Forensic Laser Scanner Training, Total Station Forensic Mapping, FARO Scene and Laser Scanner Training, FARO Virtual Workshop Crash Reconstruction Series, Aerial Photogrammetry in Crash Reconstruction, Radar and Lidar for speed enforcement, and more.

In Summary

Jason’s experience in Flint is unique due to the unfortunate higher crime rate and reduced staffing levels which resulted in numerous investigations. He is not partial to any one side and has the ability to look at any case objectively and fairly. Let Jason and his team help you with your case.