What services do private investigators typically offer?

We discuss each of the following services in depth in our online private investigator’s course:

Surveillance
Covert Video Surveillance and Photography
Mobile Surveillance (“Tailing”)
Covert Video Cameras- Sales, Rental, and Installation
Counter Surveillance and Counter Stalking

Insurance
Defense
Workman’s Compensation
General Liability
Premises Liability
Product Liability
Maritime Insurance Liability and Recovery
Automobile Insurance Fraud

Corporate Investigations
Employee and Management Awareness Training
Competitive Intelligence
Counter Espionage
Loss Prevention & Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement
Internal Theft- Employee Malfeasance and Vendor Theft
Thefts from External Sources (Customers, Burglaries and Robberies)
Intellectual Property Management
Copyright and Patent Infringement
Signal Theft, Unauthorized Exhibition, and TV Programming Piracy
Pre-Employment Investigation
Undercover Employee Investigations
Employee Termination

Civil and Domestic Cases
Service of Process, Legal Process Servers and Subpoena Delivery
Employment Claims
Slander and Libel
Judgment Enforcement and Recovery
Nursing Home Abuse Investigations
Divorce
Activity Checks
Child Custody and Custody Exchange Stand-By
Premarital
Cheating Spouses and Infidelity

Skip Tracing and Locating Missing People
What is Skip Tracing?
Finding Friends & Family
Collections and Asset Investigations
Bail Enforcement and Fugitive Recovery (Bounty Hunting)
Missing Children
Missing Heirs
Escheat Accounts and Unclaimed Money
Collateral Recovery And Repossession
Adoptee/ Birthparent Searches

Forensic Computer Examination- Home and Business
Network Intrusion
Wireless Network Security
Personal Safety and Information Security Audits
Email Tracing
Internet Profiling

Criminal Defense Investigations

Political and Discovery Assignments

Many people aspire to become private investigators when they consider career options. Today, there is a rapid growth in the industry making it lucrative for not only those who want to switch careers, but also for those who want to begin their career as a private eye. Being a PI calls for a variety of skills and involves working in different types of situations. It is a competitive industry and those with experience in law enforcement, intelligence-related work, armed forces and other investigative work have better chances in the field. One can seek employment with a private investigation agency or get started with one’s own PI business.

What Private Eyes Do

Private detectives are hired by organizations, individuals and lawyers to find financial, legal or personal information. PIs can also be hired to do the following: • Provide protection to prominent people • Verify background information before someone is employed • Verify an individual’s background • Investigate internet crime related to identity theft, harassment, illegal downloads • Assist in criminal and civil cases • Help with fraudulent insurance claims • Find missing persons • Help with premarital screening

There are many more situations where private investigators are used. The methods used by them to resolve cases vary. These days most of the investigation is handled with the help of computers and the Internet particular because of the vast databases. In criminal cases, computers enable private investigators to get information about a person’s criminal record, arrest record, convictions, decrees, vehicle registration numbers, phone numbers, and details of membership with clubs and associations as well as photographs.

PIs are trained for physical surveillance also. Often they need to be on the go, verifying details like an individual’s income, doing background checks, going undercover or in disguise in order to obtain sensitive information.

PIs often use a variety of equipment that can range from still and video cameras, binoculars, sophisticated cell phones, surveillance equipment, etc. depending on what the client requires. If they are investigating frauds at a workplace related to compensation claims, it may necessitate long term observation to collect visual evidence of the individual’s activities.

While going about their work one thing that private investigators must be conscious about is not to violate the law. There are federal, state and local laws to be mindful of. The legality of investigating methods used can differ from state to state. PIs need to also ensure that the evidence they collect is admissible in a court of law.

What Can PIs Specialize In?

PIs can focus on a particular kind of work and specialize in it. Some prefer to work on cases related to intellectual property theft where they investigate piracy and help clients prevent illegal activity and prosecute.

Some PIs work on financial profiles, collecting information by conducting interviews, research, and other investigations. There are also investigators who are experts at recovery and analysis of data so that it can be used in investigations. They track hackers and have the ability to recover data, lost emails, deleted or lost passwords.

Legal private investigators prepare defenses for criminal cases. They serve legal papers, find witnesses and take care of interviewing the police, and finding the necessary information. Legal PIs usually deal with attorneys. Some private detectives are attached to corporate organizations. They carry out investigations within and outside the organization. Inside the organization they may investigate substance abuse, frauds with accountancy, and ensure that there is no pilferage within the organization.

When organizations are planning to enter into major financial contracts, they use private investigators to do a financial profile of the parties concerned. Often these PIs work with certified public accountants, investment bankers, etc.

Then there are bounty hunters who help capture fugitives for money. Bounty hunters are also called bail agents, bail enforcement agents or fugitive recovery agents. They usually work for bail bonding companies, ensuring that fugitives appear in the court at the appointed time.

Apart from research on the internet, data mining and legal research, there are also store detectives or loss prevention agents who protect the store, preventing thefts.

There are many PI magazines that feature articles about different kinds of private investigators. There are also several blogs and portals written by experienced qualified detectives. These provide information about PIs, training and other qualifications required to become a private detective, along with the current trends in the industry.

Education Requirements

A private investigator license in required in most US states, although there are no specific formal education requirements in most of the states do. Many aspiring detectives usually look for part time assignments with established private detective agencies. There are professional organizations that offer certification and on-going training for practicing investigators.

Being a private investigator offers a career that has a high level of diversity because of the various situations in which PIs operate. With rapid development in technology, today PI business is one of the fastest growing industries with tough competition and plenty of scope for career advancement. Many PI magazines offer tips on how to get into the industry, online courses to get started, etc.

Professional continuing education for private investigators is required in a dozen state in order to maintain state licensing.  Some of the states that require CE currently include Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Iowa, Oregon, New Mexico, Virginia, Minnesota, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Kansas and Kentucky.

Use Of PI Software

Even though private investigation involves physical surveillance and other related activities, quite a lot of PIs have online businesses and use private investigation software for online investigations. With heavy reliance on computers to access data, it is no surprise that there is a variety of software to help PIs. Some of these are background investigation software that enables background checks, computer monitoring software, and software to help with online search and case management tools. Case management tools help PIs manage their information, generate reports and billing. The use of PI software depends on the local law allowing its use.

Thus, for those looking to become private investigators, there is some basic research to be done in order to understand how the professionals in this industry work. It is also important to be aware of the governing state laws to ensure eligibility.

More and more often, I am finding myself in the position of casually questioning people on the street.  After being lied to a couple of times (and not picking up on the lies), I decided to try to seek some training to interrogations.  Can anyone recommend any classes or reading?

Actually, there is a marked difference between interrogations and interviews- casual conversations usually do not involve direct accusations and are more correctly referred to as interviews (field interviews).  The ability to be a great interviewer is not necessarily connected with the ability to tell when someone is lying to you.

We can certainly help with both!

It seems to me that you might be less interested in the mechanics and process of conducting a formal interview and more interested in the “detection of deception.” Most courses in detecting lies involve “Kinesic Interviewing” but it is only a part of the entire process.

Kinesic Interviewing is an interviewing technique used to evaluate nonverbal behavior which can certainly help in the detection of deception, but realistically all kinesic interviewing does is to detect changes in a person’s physical behavior. The idea is that a person’s physical behavior is a manifestation of how a person is feeling (emotion creates motion) but is not necessarily indicative of deception… simply a change of emotion or stress levels (both eustress and distress).  The kinesic interviewer is trained to notice these changes in syntax and relative to the line of questioning and in contrast to the subject’s baseline or “normal” behavior. For example, when a fugitive investigator asks if the subject spoke to a particular fugitive and the subject’s breathing quickens, becomes shallow or stops altogether at that moment despite the subject claiming to not have, then the investigator knows that he needs to probe that area deeper but not make the assumption (yet) that the subject is lying.  Perhaps the subject did not speak to the fugitive but has additional information or strong feelings about the question.  The subject may be frightened by the investigator’s line of questioning, which would also create changes in physical behavior, too.   It will take additional questioning and evaluation before developing a better opinion about whether the subject is telling the truth (and they are all opinions until the subject confesses to lying).  Kinesic Interviewing is very powerful technique when used in conjunction with timeline analysis or statement analysis.

We discuss Kinesic Interviewing techniques in our private investigator course, Investigate This!, and also teach you how to properly apply those techniques to more accurately tell when someone is lying to you.  It is included in the huge section titled “Interpreting Nonverbal Behavior” in Chapter 2.  This is a hyper-critical aspect of being a successful private investigator and those who possess the skill to detect lies immediately stand above their peers in their ability to get conduct a complete investigation.

The ability to quickly and accurately tell when someone is lying will make or break cases in your future!

This is the cover for the e-book training manual that comes with our course on how to become a private investigator.  The online course is entitled Investigate This! The Ultimate Training and Survival Guide for New Private Investigators.