Based in Naples,
Retained Across Florida

Gilbertson Investigations Inc. is based in Naples, Florida, and Professor Gilbertson works from that address for counsel throughout the state and throughout the country. He brings 38 years of criminal justice experience, gathered in uniform, in the classroom teaching the same standards officers are trained to meet, and in investigative casework for attorneys preparing matters for trial. The expert practice dates to 2014.

Inquiries are accepted from attorneys and law firms. Professor Gilbertson is not an attorney: he offers no legal advice, gives no opinions to individuals, and makes no attorney referrals. A person who believes a police practices question sits inside a case should retain counsel first, and counsel can bring the matter forward from there. Legal conclusions remain counsel's throughout; the expert addresses police practices and the standards those practices are measured against.

What Florida counsel get is a police practices expert on Florida time and the same record discipline applied in every other engagement, whichever side sends the file. Retentions come from plaintiff's counsel in civil rights matters, from the criminal defense bar, and from counsel defending officers and agencies. The analysis does not shift with the party who retains him: the same national standards, the same complete record, the same opinions, stated the same way. The retention path and the published terms are set out on the For Counsel page.

One of the seven Florida matters in the practice file names Jacksonville in the citation, and the agency that citation names is the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. One of the seven Florida matters in the practice file names Miami Gardens in the citation, and the agency that citation names is the City of Miami Gardens. One of the seven Florida matters in the practice file names Orange County in the citation, and the agency that citation names is the Sheriff of Orange County.

A matter is counted here only when its own citation names the place or an agency of it; nothing is inferred from a court, a docket or a judge. The published results, where there are any, are on the panel above and on the case history page.

The self-defense casework the page takes up below is not what these citations hold. The Jacksonville and Orange County citations are labeled police practices in the file, the first in the state courts and the second in federal court, and the Miami Gardens citation is a false arrest claim in the state courts.

Police practices is the name of the discipline itself rather than of one kind of claim, so a record under that label is read first for which practice the claim puts in issue, and the policies and procedures, the training and disciplinary records, the reports and the video answer that question, not the label. A false arrest claim fixes its own question, and the analysis anchors it to what was known at the time of the arrest, not to what came to light afterward. The false arrest expert witness page carries the false arrest side; a police practices matter is read across the practice areas listed below.

Florida is a stand-your-ground state, and self-defense casework is a standing lane of this practice. It covers civilian and officer self-defense, whether the question comes up in a criminal prosecution or in a civil suit over a defensive use of force.

The framework, the case types and the scope of an engagement are set out on the self-defense and firearms expert witness page, and immunity matters are treated on the stand-your-ground immunity page. The doctrine itself is explained in stand-your-ground versus self-defense in the Library.

Every engagement opens with a conflict check, and counsel hears about a conflict immediately rather than late. A first inquiry holds nothing privileged, only what it takes to gauge fit and scope a review: case type and posture, jurisdiction and case number, the deadlines that matter, what the record holds so far, and the parties to run for conflicts. Privileged material is never exchanged by email. The Library note on what to send with a first inquiry covers it item by item.

After retention the record travels on physical media: a computer flash drive or an external hard drive, by mail or courier. Online sharing services are not used, and there is no upload portal to ask about. Depositions are taken by Zoom or a similar platform, so a Florida deposition does not wait on anyone's travel calendar. Reports require sixty days of advance notice, which means counsel working toward a Florida disclosure deadline should count backward from that date before the drive goes in the mail.

The published fee schedule, the travel terms and the discovery list counsel assembles all sit on the For Counsel page, and a Florida firm works from the same terms as a firm anywhere else. For a Florida trial date, travel runs on those published terms, and venues within driving distance are billed under the same published schedule. Retaining counsel remains responsible for the admissibility of reports and testimony, and no outcome is promised in any matter.