What Does a Private Investigator Do?
Sure, you’ve seen lots of TV shows featuring PIs, but what does a private investigator do? They play crucial roles in finding missing people, investigating crimes, conducting surveillance, analyzing information, and more. In this article, we will take a look at what the best private investigators do.
What is a Private Investigator?
A private investigator, or PI, is a professional who searches for clues and gathers evidence for private clients and court cases. They find facts, analyze information about financial, personal, and legal matters, conduct surveillance, and some even help investigate computer crimes. Depending on the PI’s specific area of expertise, they can also help locate missing persons, verify people’s backgrounds, and even conduct polygraph tests.
What Does a Private Investigator Do?
Individuals, insurance companies, businesses, and attorneys commonly hire a PI to assist with their needs. While some private investigators work alone, others own agencies. Private investigator agencies offer a wide array of services based on the needs of their clients. They may help by finding missing persons, performing pre-employment background checks, investigating claims or people being accused of stealing money, prove or disprove fidelity for a divorce case, and much more.
The best
private investigator services typically include:
- Surveillance
- Polygraph services
- Business and Corporate Investigations
- Child Support, Custody, & Abuse Investigations
- Insurance or Workers Compensation Claims Investigations
- Locates or Missing Persons Investigations
- Pre-Marital, Matrimonial, and Infidelity Investigations
- and more
When you hire a PI, they will use a variety of tools to gather information. The computer and phone are perhaps their most valuable tools. With computers, they can search social media, computer databases, and other online sources that aren’t easily accessed by the public, and even the police. They also contact people and other sources by phone to ask questions, confirm intel, corroborate stories, etc.
But in many cases, nothing is better than face-to-face contact. Private investigators also conduct in-person interviews or even go undercover to observe a suspect and collect intel. Stakeouts aren’t just for TV, either. Private investigators sometimes do surveillance where they follow a person or watch a location.
Do Private Investigators Break the Law?
Private investigators must respect both federal and local laws, especially those involving privacy. All evidence must be collected the right way, otherwise it can’t be used in court. While the legality of some methods fall in a gray area, the best private investigators use good judgment when pursuing a case.
How to Hire a PI
The best private investigators know the laws and quickly come up with a plan to help with your needs. When looking to hire a PI, be sure to choose one who is reputable and has plenty of cases under their belt. A PI agency, like Castro Investigative Agency, offers a broad range of PI services to meet all your needs.
Contact Us today for a free confidential consultation.
