Skills Required for Becoming a Private Investigator

Private investigators learn the skills they need through experience and generally not in any academic institution, so degrees are relatively unimportant to success as a private investigator. An investigator should be mature, able to work alone, think logically, react quickly, exercise sound judgment, and keep a professional distance from work. A solo private investigator should have the skills required to make any small business successful, including solid budgeting, client-relations skills, a strong work ethic, and an independent style. Private investigators in larger agencies must be skilled at prioritizing, writing reports, using a variety of institutionalized resources, and working with teams of other detectives.

To be a private investigator you should have street sense, analytical abilities, and curiosity. You should be detailed, diligent, and thorough. Your communication and other social skills should be excellent so that you can listen, put others at ease, put on an act if needed, and understand body language to assess credibility. You should be able to maintain professional distance, tolerate stress, and persevere. Private investigators should be confident and knowledgeable about many areas of life, but tolerant and non-judgmental at the same time. They should be in excellent physical condition and health with a calm and steady temperament. Operational knowledge of photography and videography is helpful during surveillance and undercover operations.

As a private investigator, you should be able to effectively deal with legal professionals and their demands, even if difficult and tenuous at times. You will have to perform many tasks routinely assigned to attorneys, learn how to investigate a person, and develop valuable investigative contacts. Involvement with legal issues and lawyers is one of the most prominent features of a private investigator's daily life.

Initially, private investigators should conduct in-depth interviews with clients regarding the investigated persons habits, activities, and schedule. They should utilize this information as much as possible during their work. They may request a photograph; home and work contact information; date of birth; drivers license and social security numbers; and make, model, year, and tag of an automobile, along with a list of addresses for friends, family, acquaintances, and frequently visited establishments. The more facts private investigators learn from the client, the more likely they will be able to anticipate the activities of an individual, especially if surveillance is requested.

An investigator may search electronic or other on-site databases for information regarding a subject. Most private investigators subscribe to various expensive on-line services that they use to locate people and perform credit and other background checks.

Private investigators frequently search court records for prior workers' compensation claims, criminal charges and convictions, marriage information, and litigation history. Many court dockets are now available on-line and anyone can search by party name for litigation and criminal charge history. Although many free Internet resources are available, they may be not be current enough for an investigators needs. However, because so many public record databases are on-line, many private investigators utilize these resources on a continuing basis for basic background information. Here are some of the best sites for general information regarding subjects.

Before conducting any surveillance, private investigators should discover whatever they can about an individual's prior criminal, financial, marital, employment, residence, credit, and other histories. Private investigators may also review tax filings, recorded deeds, news reports, and other periodicals, depending on the purpose of their investigation. Private investigators investigate subjects or locate missing persons through their comprehensive review of electronic databases to which they subscribe, as well as the Internet and by searching court records. They also have confidential contacts and conduct personal interviews to acquire information.

"Dumpster Diving"

Prior to the formulation of efficient surveillance recommendations, many private investigators engage in "dumpster diving," which involves picking up trash placed in a designated area for public disposal. With latex-gloved hands and rubber boots, private investigators sift through a subject’s trash to learn about the habits of an individual, as well as to acquire any incriminating or otherwise enlightening materials. In many states, once a subject places trash on the curb for public disposal, the subject can no longer claim a privacy interest in the garbage. However, state laws vary and the investigator should research and comply with these laws according to the law in a given area.

Surveillance Activities

Private investigators should attempt to coordinate surveillance activities with the best estimated optimal times to catch the subject in compromising activities. After conducting all interviews and background investigation, and performing dumpster diving, private investigators should have developed a plan of surveillance at the most optimal and cost-efficient manner. Breaking up surveillance sessions is usually the best way to provide a client with maximum coverage.

Much surveillance work is tedious and boring as investigators wait and watch on foot, in a building, or generally, in a vehicle, for hours on end. Many times, private investigators should use other investigators to assist with proper surveillance, but cannot due to limited client funds for such services.

Tailing individuals is generally the most difficult of investigative skills to master. Many private investigators use nondescript vehicles with two-way radios and a series of disguises to avoid recognition.
 

• Fixed surveillance activities require private investigators to remain at a fixed location from the best possible shielded vantage point. Private investigators sometimes covertly hide in the backseat of a car or van so that it appears no one is in the car. Other times, they may pretend their vehicle is broken down and they await the arrival of the automobile club to help.
• Loose fixed surveillance is required when a fixed vehicle would cause too much attention. This requires sporadic checks by two vehicles to decrease suspicion that might be present with one vehicle.
• Private investigators may pretend to be telephone repair people, power company employees, street repair people, traffic counters, and road surveyors, as long as they dress the part with the attendant tools, and acquire appropriate permission. After all, no one is likely to question a private investigator who dangles from a telephone pole and appears to be fixing a line!
• Finally, private investigators may be hired to perform undercover work and assume an identity to get direct answers from an individual that cannot be obtained by any other means. Undercover work is generally designed to discover deviant activities, watch people without arousing their suspicions, perform security checks, and assess loyalty and character. Private investigators who perform undercover work must be able to act and learn their roles and appropriate jargon to fit within a group.

Reports

Investigators should create written reports upon client demand and payment. These reports measure the standard, quality, and professionalism of an investigators performance. A well-written report should paint a factual picture of a person or incident, contain factual information that will influence a reader, and guide a client toward further action without bias or embellishment. They should be concise, factual and informative, clear, chronological, complete, accurate, and objective. Profiles of interviewees should include a physical description of gender, ethnicity, hair color, eye color, age, height, and weight. Additional standards exist for the descriptions of vehicles and other property in written reports.

When preparing a written report, private investigators should review their notes and prepare an outline of their activities along with the results. The report should be drafted with reference to specific times, dates, and quantities; reports that are concrete rather than abstract are the preferred style of investigative reports.

Without consent, private investigators may not divulge investigative information to anyone other than his client. Private investigators may not willfully make a false statement or report to a client, employer, or authorized representative concerning information acquired.