Be Your Own Private Eye

Although the private investigation industry was largely unregulated, it does require aspiring PIs to obtain and maintain a license.  Licenses are usually valid for a set number of years, after which the private investigator will have the option to have it renewed.  However, there are also a number of ways that could cause you to lose your private investigator license.  In case you plan to work as a PI in the future, these are some of the reasons your license could get revoked:

Gross negligence
Negligence in the performance of duties is one of the main reasons that private investigators lose their licenses.  If they are careless or cause their clients or anyone unnecessary harm, it is considered as a violation.

Incompetence
Becoming a private investigator takes skill, training and experience.  Many of the cases that PIs are involved with require specialized knowledge.  If the PI has demonstrated that he or she lacks the necessary skill or ability to perform his duties, it could cause him to lose his license.

Fraud
If the private investigator has committed fraud or any act in which he or she has deliberately cheated his client/s or any person involved directly or indirectly with the investigation, it is considered reason enough to revoke his license.  Fraud may also be committed if the private investigator has obtained money, gifts or favors illegally or through the use of conscious deception.

In case the private investigator used a false identity during the time they applied for a license or if they have falsified their records, they could also stand to lose their private investigator license.  Furthermore, falsification of documents could even result to a criminal prosecution.

Misrepresentation
When performing their jobs, private investigators must sometimes have to use certain techniques in order to obtain the information they need.  They could, for example, use certain pretexts.  However, they are bound by law not to use misrepresentations of any kind.  They cannot claim authority or licenses that they actually do not have.

In case they use advertising to promote their business, private investigators must also take care not to misrepresent their services.  They cannot, for example, promise to perform certain duties that they cannot deliver or for which they have no authority to perform.

Felony conviction
Applicants for a private investigator license are required to have a clean criminal record.  If they can’t demonstrate this, they will not be able to obtain their license.  However, even if they are already practicing as licensed investigators, they could still lose their license in case they become involved in a crime or become convicted of felony charges.  This is especially so if the crime reflects negatively on their moral and professional integrity and honesty.

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Being a private investigator can be tedious and tense all at the same time, and you will need to learn a lot before you can be a professional. You also need to be trained in many different aspects of private investigation before you can start your practice. However, do not be fooled by Hollywood or television and all its portrayals of glamorous private investigators who do sophisticated surveillance and follow people around. Private investigation is more than just spying and looking for answers to marital insecurities. It can be as simple as working for a company that needs to investigate fraud in its clients, or as complex as a collaboration among the police forces of different countries.

You will need to be trained as a private investigator, and there are many different training methods, not to mention courses. For instance, if you are good at electronics work and the Internet, then you may want to get training in how you can use your cyber skills to investigate people. This will involve using databases and search engines, going undercover in Internet chat rooms and forums, and even joining mailing lists and baiting potential suspects, all in the name of getting answers to certain questions. In your training, you will need to get legal training as well, since you could be skirting the bounds of the law with your cyber skills.

Surveillance is another type of private investigation training, and it can be as simple as carrying out a stakeout, or as complex as bugging, listening in on conversations, and planting cameras in order to spy on people. There are many ways that surveillance can get out of hand, and you could violate many different laws if you do not carry out proper surveillance. You need training in this part of private investigation so that you can get evidence that is admissible in court, and that will actually provide answers to questions.

There are many different investigations that you could get involved in, and these investigation types could dictate what kind of training you should receive. For instance, in divorce investigation, you could look for grounds for divorce, and you would need surveillance skills in order to do this. In insurance investigation, you may need shadowing skills, along with knowledge of the law and finance. In arson or homicide investigation, you would need skills in collecting evidence, examining evidence, and knowing what different artifacts indicate. All of these can be received with the proper training, so pick training that will suit your dreams as a private investigator.

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Being a private investigator can be difficult. You need to be constantly on your guard and you need to guard yourself against suspects who may be out for revenge. You need to be allied with the right people, talking to the right law enforcement officials, and constantly networking. Moreover, you will need to update your private investigation wisdom through many different means. You need new research, advice from the pros, and a whole lot of persistence.

If you are a newbie, you need to talk to older private investigators, especially those who have spent a lot of time in the field and have been involved, and successfully, in many different cases. You will want this person not only as someone to help you in your cases, but you will need him or her as your mentor. A mentor is different from a mere teacher. Mentors will guide you through the ropes, and will not only provide knowledge, but wisdom and street smarts that can help you get through your own training and tough times as a private investigator. A mentor, moreover, could be your first link in your efforts at networking.

Do not be afraid to attend conferences and seminars on topics related to your field. For instance, if you specialize in cyber crimes, go to a conference where Internet skills are updated and tested. If you are in security, go to conferences or sales and trade shows where the latest in security and surveillance are shown and sold. If you are teaching the next generation of private investigators, go to an education conference where you can hone your teaching skills through side workshops.

If you are a veteran in the field, be a mentor. Read the latest on private investigation, and learn from new and emerging cases by reading newspapers and connecting with colleagues. Set up meetings with private investigators who specialize in fields other than yours, and make these collaborations regular so that you can continue honing your skills. Do not be afraid to consult, and do not be afraid to collaborate with other private investigators.

These are only a few tips that you can take note of when you are a newbie or if you are a veteran in the field of private investigation. For more information, update yourself on the latest in your field by visiting various Internet websites and reading magazines with the latest news. This way, you can continue your craft and be an expert for a long time.

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Being a private investigator in this day and age can be daunting but exciting. After all, as a private investigator, you have many different sources from which you can take your information. This advantage of having many different sources in order to keep on cross checking your information, however, can be offset greatly by the fact that you have so many different sources of information to choose from. Where do you even begin to start your search? And even if you do get around to starting your search, would you have enough money to pay subordinates that you might need to hire to help you out?

Thankfully, in this age of the Internet and computers, you can have a single tool at your disposal that will help you do your investigative work without losing track of all your sources. There are software packages available for private investigators, and they can help you do a lot of things, depending on the features of the software. Generally, most private investigation software will help you keep track of your contacts. You can thus have a whole digital library filled with notes on your contacts’ information, their aliases and characteristics, and other information that might be too sensitive to be filed in hard copy.

Some software will have case managers that will allow you to keep a lot of digital information about the case that you are undertaking. If you are using a digital camera, this can be a handy tool, especially since you do not have to keep printing out your photographs. Moreover, since you have your photographs on your computer, you can use commercial photo enhancement software to clear up blurs and see your pictures better. Your case manager, moreover, will allow you to keep track of your notes, what your case findings were, and if you were already paid for your investigation gig.

Your private investigator software can also be a great way for you to plan your work. Some software packages will come up with alarms and reminder lists so that you will not miss deadlines. In fact, some software packages can be integrated into your staff members’ computers so that all of you can receive information and reminders regarding your cases.

In addition to all these features, some private investigation software will allow you some search engine capabilities within your data so that you can search through it and print out your findings. You can even create your own case reports, since some software will have their own wizards that will help you format your reports. This way, you can do a lot of your word processing and tabulating work without having to open another software!

image credits to sxc.hu

Being a private investigator in the age of the Internet can be a challenge and a great advantage. For one thing, you will have many different tools at your disposal, and almost all of them online, in order for you to create your own network of sources and get the information that you need. This can be challenging, because if you are a private investigator, you need to have great and reliable sources, and not all the sources online can be great or even reliable. In other words, you will still need to have more than one or two sources in order to carry your investigation through and cross-check your data.

There are many different search engines online that can link you to other private investigators in the United States, or even around the world. There are available search engines that function as private investigator directories. Using these directories, you can find people in other countries who share your passion for private investigation, and you can even find people in other private investigation firms who have expertise in fields that you would like to know more about but were too busy to study. Such directories can also allow you to outsource work to people, especially if you have a lot of work on your hands and need assistance with matters in your investigation.

There are also public record search engines online. Such search engines can allow you to literally search through public records in order to find out if your subject has any criminal records or history, find your subject’s birth certificate and other pertinent documents, and in short, find any document that is on the public record. Of course, you may need to pay a fee for most of the services that are on these public records databases, but if you make a great investment, you can certainly get more investigation work done.

Sometimes, the simplest search engines can yield a lot of information. Many of today’s social networks, hubs for activities both legitimate and illegitimate, are constantly being scoured through by search engines. Moreover, many of today’s forums and mailing lists are constantly run through search engines and can be searched according to keyword. All you need to know is what to query, and you can get your answers in a short while.

These are only a few resources for private investigators to do their investigating online. For more information, click on the links below, and use your favorite search engine’s features in order to maximize your search power.

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Being a private investigator can be an interesting career: you can travel the world, find out about people’s lives, get online and save helpless people from being exploited, and, in general, expose lies that would otherwise harm people had they not known the truth. However, as a private investigator, you are also operating on the fringes of the law, and you could find yourself in trouble if you do not keep up with the law and make sure that you don’t break any rules while enforcing the natural law of society to let the truth out.

Why should following the law be such a big concern to you? For one, you need to collect evidence, and if you do so, your evidence has to be admissible in the courts of law. If you collected your evidence in an illegal manner, then you may jeopardize your case and your client might be wrongly adjudged. The case that you work on must also be legal, and your data and evidence collection methods need to be ethical. There are many ways for you to go wrong in your private investigation stint, and you need to be aware of how you can make grave mistakes so that you do not end up falling over as you go about carelessly and blithely wending your way to the truth.

Another thing that you have to worry about is your safety. You will be spending a lot of your time driving from place to place, doing legwork as you go about collecting evidence, sitting down as you go undercover and wait for the truth to show, spending long nights awake as you either do surveillance work or surf the Internet to wait for a predator to stalk you, and going on chases and hiding that can test your patience and tax on your health. Moreover, the hours that you spend on the job will be irregular, and there may be days when you are doing no work at all. In some cases, you might never get sleep!

If you do plan to be a private investigator, then get yourself ready for a lot of work. You will need to network with a lot of people so that you have a steady income stream, and in order for you to outsource some of your work when your expertise ends. You will need to constantly update your training as a private investigator, so you will have to go to school, attend seminars and workshops, and in general, keep on learning on the job.

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Despite the fact that you can hardly see them, there are actually thousands upon thousands of private investigators in the U.S. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over fifty thousand private investigators held a stable and paying job in 2006, with a little under a third of them holding self-employed positions. Of the latter, a portion were doing private investigation as a second occupation. A third of the private investigators were employed by security and investigation services, as well as private detective agencies that actually pool investigators together in order to unite their individual investigative strengths.

Even department and general merchandising stores had their own private investigators, and they made up a little under a tenth of the total of all private investigators in the U.S. Other private investigators worked for law firms, their local government or state government, companies that acted as headhunters and employment go-betweens, and banks. Although it may seem that there are many job opportunities for private investigators, people who hope to enter this job market should be warned that competition is keen, and despite the fast growth in employment for private investigators, only a few are needed to keep the work going.

However, thanks to the increasing demand for private investigators and detectives, you can expect to find more jobs that will help you use your skills. This is due to the increasing criminal activity online, which can include harassment, illegal downloading of materials that are protected by international copyright laws, identity theft, and credit card theft. Moreover, as job markets expand, more employers around the world will need private investigators to do background checks on their prospective employees. The expanding global economy may also spur growth in the private investigator industry, as this can lead to more competition amongst firms, and thus a need for spying on each other to further trump one’s competition.

If you are looking for a job, you can start by asking at your local detective college about companies that constantly hire fresh graduates out of detective school. You can also talk to your local law firms, insurance firms, banks, and even credit and lending companies, since they employ private investigators regularly. These groups and institutions may even give you contact information for private detective agencies that can hire you. Lastly, you can check online for search engines tailored specifically for jobs, and use these search engines to find a job as a private investigator. Thanks to the power of the Internet, you have greater control over your job searching.

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To make your private investigator company distinguishable from the rest, you need to offer more services and promise better performance at better rates. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Offer Comprehensive Services
Clients prefer to transact with one company for all their private investigation needs. Specializing is one thing, but instead of making your company specialize in one area of investigation, why not hire specialists for each field so you can cater to all your clients’ needs?

Instead of offering just background investigation for domestic and business concerns, consider expanding your company’s services to include solving crimes, obtaining and securing evidence for court use, finding missing persons, investigating fraud, and providing security and protection measures for clients.

Hire Qualified Private Investigators
The reputation of your private investigator company will be largely based on the performance of your investigators. You can start building your reputation by assuring your clients of the exemplary qualifications of your investigators.

To be true to your word, make sure that all your private investigators are licensed to operate. In most cases, this would mean that all your employees are of legal age, have zero criminal records, considerable work experience, and passed the necessary tests for licensing.

Neither would it hurt if you’ve enrolled them in special training programs to give your investigators the necessary skills for client consultations. Many a client have been lost not because of an investigator’s inexperience in the field but more because of his poor communication skills.

Offer Estimates and Negotiable Rates
Rates are almost always variable in private investigation because lots of unexpected factors can come up and affect the direction and cost of the investigation. Clients, however, will feel more comfortable with your firm if you can promise them to estimate expenses every step of the way. If possible, promise them the change to negotiate rates as well; haggling might reduce your rates by a few dollars but it can also assure you a steady line of projects from loyal clients.

Use State of the Art Technology
Private investigations can be wrapped up more quickly if the people handling the case are not just efficient but also have access to state of the art technology. Technology has always been a significant help to investigative cases and it’s to your advantage if you let your clients know that you have the means of using the best equipment to solve cases quickly and affordably.

image credits to sxc.hu

Investigative reports are written by private investigators for the purpose of providing the necessary information to their clients. These often serve as one of the primary bases for their overall performance and it’s therefore important for every private investigator not only to hone his sleuthing skills but his ability to wield a pen as well.

Here are a few tips to help you impress your clients with your investigative report.

Observe professional standards.
Follow common technical requirements for font styles, margins, document size, and make sure to submit your investigative report on time and properly and safely enclosed in a folder or envelope.

Avoid use of colloquial words as they have no place in formal writing. Remember to write objectively and using the third person’s point of view. This is, after all, an investigative report and not an autobiography or memoir.

Use outlines and drafts.
Cohesiveness and coherency are essential in investigative reports. These documents utilize formal writing and, thus, require you to relay the information in a clear sequence of events. An outline will help ensure that you do everything step by step. Drafts, on the other hand, help you flesh out your writing and find small errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Determine the objectives for your investigative report. They will help you stick as closely as possible to your outline and make your drafts less prone to mistakes.

Simplify.
Investigative reports are not legends or poems. They do not require flowery descriptions and complicated sentences. Rather, you need to be concise with your writing. Do your best to explain every issue briefly but clearly. Don’t skimp on detail but don’t include unnecessary or irrelevant information.

Take note of the essential parts.
An investigative report, regardless of the topic, has five essential parts. The introduction gives the reader the case’s background. Methods used in the investigation should also be identified and explained. Results should be stated, evaluated, and interpreted. Conclusions should be made and last but not the least, primary and secondary sources or references for information used in the report should be listed.

Edit and revise.
When you have the final draft ready, give it a rest for a day or two before editing it for possible last revisions. If it’s within your agreement to share your report with other people in the company, it wouldn’t hurt to have another person proofread your report.

Lastly, don’t forget to ask for feedback. Knowing where you did extremely well – or bad – can help improve the next investigative report you’re set to write.

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Technology has allowed the world to advance in many ways, changing not just how people live but how they do business as well. Private investigators are not exempt from the benefits of technology and if you want to do well in your chosen career, here’s a list of software programs you’ll have dire need of.

Private Investigation Background Software
Gone are the days when private investigators have to physically follow paper trails and visit various locations to conduct background checks. Thanks to various background software programs available in the market, PIs can now obtain the information they need with a just few mouse clicks.

Some programs will allow you to perform a single query from just one website and obtain results based on searches of various databases. Sources of information used by such software include but aren’t limited to customer surveys, business entity filings, court and voting records, and telephone directories.

Computer Monitoring Software
Electronic or IT investigation is a new but fast-growing field in private investigation. Although a huge amount of information is exchanged online and through various digital means everyday, a significant part of it can’t be easily accessed and it’s for this purpose private investigators have need for special software programs.

Some software programs allow private investigators to monitor activities performed by a computer. To make monitoring possible, a program may have to be downloaded or installed. Whether this shall be manually performed or not will be dependent on the software requirements.

Monitoring software programs are also available for screening activities in a business network, emails, and mobile phones.

Other Computer Software
Stealth software can be used to determine the identities of unauthorized computer users or those who have performed illegal action using your computer. Data recovery software is, on the other hand, used for recovering data from encrypted storage devices, whether online or not, or those saved in damaged hardware. Security software is also used by private investigators if they wish to help clients ensure their privacy or determine the identities and means in which security measures have been breached.

Online Search Software
In some cases, private detectives rely on the use of online search software programs. These usually require people to pay for membership fees in exchange of a specified period of unlimited access and use of its services. There are many of these offered online so it’s important to choose which of them deserve an investment of your time and money.

In specialized cases, private investigators may also have the need of mapping software for navigation, business software for keeping accounts, and image processing software for analyzing images.

image credits to sxc.hu