The Work a PI Might Do During a Case
Private investigators often seem mysterious. In the movies, they wear certain clothes, hide in dark alleyways to watch their target, go on thrilling car chases, and almost always end up in a shootout at some point or another.
The real life of a private investigator isn’t usually this exciting, but they do conduct surveillance, follow people they’re investigating, and spend time doing stakeouts.
Types of Jobs PI’s Typically Handle
Private investigators handle a huge variety of different cases. A private investigator might be asked to help someone find a long-lost relative or to get evidence that a spouse is cheating so the client can use the evidence in court. Investigators may take on jobs with retail stores to help stop theft or find out if an employee is stealing something or work for a lawyer to track down a missing person so they can be interviewed or served with legal papers.
Private investigators are good at investigating a variety of different situations, whether that means conducting an online or desktop investigation, on a computer researching up information or actually initiating a field investigation surreptitiously following someone to document where they go and what they do. This means they can conduct just about any type of investigation for almost anyone, so long as they don’t end up breaking the law during their work. Investigators:
Follow The Law
Private investigators do follow people around, try to dig up as much information on people as possible, and perform other investigative actions, but they are required to follow the law as well. It’s important for private investigators to ensure they do not do anything that could compromise their investigation. If they break the law during their investigation, it could have serious consequences for the entire case.
If they are conducting an investigation that is needed for evidence in a legal case, for instance, breaking the law to get the information they need could mean the information is not able to be used by the person who hired them. The person who hired them would not be able to get the resolution they need for their case, the evidence may be thrown out entirely, and the opposing party would now have an idea of what is going on and what the private investigator was hired to do.
Conduct Internal Investigations
Private investigators may be hired to conduct internal investigations for businesses as well. They may be hired during audits, if there are suspicions employees are stealing money, or if products are missing from the store that the business needs to find. Private investigators may go undercover in the store to see what they can find out. They may also interview employees, review personal records, or review security footage. They often will install their own surveillance equipment in the store or office, perform computer forensics, or do anything else that can help figure out what’s going on for the business.
During these cases, it’s crucial for private investigators to be careful with how they search for evidence of what’s happening and how they record everything. If they do find any evidence that someone is stealing money or products, or that anything else illegal is occurring, the evidence gathered might be used for criminal or civil court cases. The final report for the investigation should include any evidence that was gathered as well as information on how it was obtained.
Interview Individuals to get Information and Uncover Deception
During cases where the private investigator is working with a business, possibly for a due diligence investigation, they might need to interview employees to try to get more information out of them about what’s going on. Interviewing individuals may be helpful in a variety of other instances as well. But they will need to be able to gain the trust of those who they are interviewing to make sure they can get the desired information out of them.
Private investigators also have to be adept at figuring out whether someone is lying to them. They need to make sure they can tell if the person is untruthful to them so they can get to the bottom of it and make sure they know what the truth is. They might do this by just chatting with the person they’re interviewing and asking questions they already know the answers to. They can then learn what the person does when they do tell a lie, so they can easily figure out what’s the truth and what might not be the truth.
Help Lawyers Serve Papers
Skip Tracing is one of the most common tasks a private investigator will perform when attempting to assist an attorney serve legal papers . A lawsuit often begins by serving the opposing party with papers stating they’re being sued. When lawyers need to give papers to the opposing party, the papers need to be served properly. However, often, the opposing party will try to hide from the process servers so they cannot receive the papers. The case cannot move forward until they are served, so if they are successful at hiding, the lawyer will be unable to proceed with starting the case.
One of the biggest hurdles with serving papers is that the target person is typically in hiding, so they will need to be found. Once they are found, the private investigator will need to confirm it’s them and give them the paperwork. Many private investigators will do this by engaging the subject in a subterfuge conversation about what they’re doing. For instance, they might dress up as a delivery person, then knock on the target’s door. When they answer, the private investigator asks for them to confirm their name and birthdate to receive their delivery. Once the target confirms this information, the private investigator then hands them the legal papers pertaining to the lawsuit and informs them that they’ve been served. It should be noted that unlike portrayed in Hollywood, the individual being served with legal papers does not have to physically come into contact with the documents, nor do they have to be instructed, “You’ve been served.” In certain areas there are also alternate methods for service when the individual cannot be found.
Surveillance and Stakeouts
Surveillance
Private investigators conduct a fair bit of surveillance and stakeouts as well. Surveillance includes watching a person for some time to determine what they are doing. A private investigator might do this to catch a cheating spouse, to determine evidence of fraud, or for other issues. They can spend several hours at a time watching the target and may end up watching them for a few days, if not longer, before they get the information they need. They will likely take photographs and videos of the target to document what they have found out.
Stakeouts
Stakeouts are similar to surveillance, but in these cases, they might not know where to find out what the person is doing. They might spend time watching a building to see if the person enters or exits the building at any point. Once they find the person, they can then conduct surveillance to get the information they need.
Stakeouts can take quite a long time, so the private investigator needs to be prepared to stay in their vehicle or in a building for a long period. Most of the time, the private investigator will conduct the stakeout alone, but they may work with someone else if they are going to be required to be there for at least a couple of days and won’t be able to leave. Working with someone else allows them to take breaks without missing out on the information they need.
Follow the Target
During stakeouts and surveillance, the private investigator generally sits in one location and watches the target. If the target moves, however, the private investigator might need to follow them. Movies depict this as the target running away and the private investigator yelling to a cab driver to follow the target’s cab, but this doesn’t happen often, if ever. Instead, the private investigator will drive behind the target, being careful to avoid being detected.
They’ll need to make sure they have ways to record what is happening while they’re driving, which can include using a dash camera. They will need to keep an eye on the target at all times, but they also need to make sure they’re following traffic laws and driving carefully, so they don’t end up in a car accident. There are various ways to avoid being detected, such as using a vehicle that’s common in the area so it won’t stand out and staying at least a few car lengths behind the vehicle they’re following. If they are following the target on foot, they will need to be even more careful to avoid detection so they can get all of the information they’re looking for.
The Bottom Line
Private investigators work on a wide range of different cases, from serving papers to following people to get evidence of insurance fraud, cheating on spouses, and more. While these cases may not be as exciting as they are depicted in the movies or on television, private investigators do get the chance to conduct surveillance, go through background information on targets, and do a lot of work in the field instead of just staying in their office. They will often have several different cases to work on and can switch between types of cases to ensure the job is always interesting.