The Good Private Investigator

Not all Private Investigators are created equal.  I’ve been one now for just under a year.  I started my own firm after a long career as an FBI Agent.  To soak up as much knowledge of the private investigation industry I joined numerous associations, Facebook groups, and organizations related to investigations.

It has been an eye-opening experience.  Coming from law enforcement and specifically the FBI, I became used to a high degree of professionalism, skill, and ethics from my colleagues and myself.  Sadly, out in the PI world, these traits aren’t the norm.  I was shocked at the examples of poor work ethics, poor communication skills and faulty moral compasses employed by many so-called private investigators.  Don’t get me wrong, I have also met great PIs, whose work was second to none.

It is basically a system of buyer beware here in the Lone Star state when a person is shopping for a PI.  In Texas, it takes no proof of competence to get a PI license.  It doesn’t take much to be able to run a PI firm, advertise to the public and take your money.  There are three things a potential client should verify about any PI that they are considering hiring.  I call them the three Es of a good PI.

EDUCATION

In one of my first cases as a PI, I was working on a child custody issue.  I produced several written summaries of interviews and an overall report.  The matter went to court.  When I met the attorney, he was extremely impressed with my reports.  News flash – they weren’t anything special.  They were written with concise sentences, appropriate grammar and no misspellings.  The attorney told me many of the reports he gets from PIs are not written logically and filled with grammar and spelling errors.  He believed if a PI couldn’t write well then the underlying work behind the report was probably not done well.

Insist your PI has obtained a college degree.  We could argue the type of degree is important – but having any college degree shows a person had the wherewithal to further his education beyond what is legally required.  It shows the person possesses drive and ambition.  College also gives a student the time to further refine skills, such as critical thinking, writing and communication ability, familiarity with the latest technology, and knowledge in their area of study.

There is nothing wrong with a person who doesn’t have a college degree unless you need him to write a professional report, communicate effectively and testify in court.

EXPERIENCE

There are a lot of PIs who had no investigative experience before they entered this profession.  This means they don’t have any experience conducting surveillance, conducting interviews, analyzing evidence, writing legal reports, or testifying in a trial.  They don’t know the rules of evidence, and how to support a prosecutor or defense attorney.

A PI who doesn’t have prior complex investigation experience is like a doctor whose only medical training was watching re-runs of Doogie Howser, MD.  There are a lot of people who think they would make great PIs – most are wrong.  Having an inquisitive mind is not enough.  Being able to guess the killer in a movie is not enough.

The best PIs I have met have solid investigation experience, primarily obtained through law enforcement.  Why?  Because everything a law enforcement investigator does is with the understanding it may end up in court; scrutinized by opposing counsel, the judge, and jury.  The law enforcement investigator must make sure his work is wired tight.  This means it has to be relevant, obtained legally and meet the rules of evidence.  Good law enforcement investigators develop a sense of what will and won’t work in a courtroom setting.

I’m not saying that just because someone was in law enforcement for 20 years that they are a good investigator.  A cop who spent his career as a patrol officer is not an investigator.  His job is crucial and represents the thin line between the evil and the rest of society.  Thank God for patrol officers, but they haven’t had the opportunity to develop the investigation skills as a detective who spent 20 years investigating, burglaries, robberies, and murders.

I also think if a person worked 20 years in law enforcement, but the majority of their time was spent as a supervisor, then their experience is lacking.  I can only speak to the culture in the FBI.  An FBI Agent who became a supervisor after 5 years is not an investigator.  As soon as he quits being a street agent and goes into management his focus and role changes.

He no longer is primarily focused on investigating a crime to put the bad guy in jail.  Now he is concerned with time cards, personnel matters, and keeping his unit administratively pure.  I spent 21 years on the Dallas FBI’s gang/organized crime/violent crime squad.  We worked everything from fraud to narcotics trafficking to bank robbery to money laundering to murder.  In those 21 years, we had 18 supervisors.  They came and they went.  Time on our squad was a box they had to check to continue to climb the Bureau ladder.

EXPERTISE

The first two “E’s”, Education and Experience are the main ways to prove a PI is an expert.  When a PI is lacking in either education and experience, they might try to obtain “professional” certifications to prove their expertise.

When I was an FBI Agent I had no “professional” certifications.  It wasn’t necessary.  We were FBI Agents.  Enough said.  Being a retired FBI Agent has served me well in the PI field.  Not only do I get several of my clients because of my past employment and the assumed expertise that comes with it; but I was nurtured by other FBI agents who became PIs prior to me.

When I became a PI I began to learn of all the certifications that are offered out there to demonstrate a PI’s expertise.  Almost every state PI association has certifications.  There are also national associations that can give out certifications.  I came across brand new organizations/associations that gave out certifications, as long as you paid their fee.  Are they worth the letters that are in their name? I don’t know, but I doubt it.  I’ve seen PIs that basically have the entire alphabet of “certification” letters after their names.  To me, it’s kind of like the guy who has the extremely expensive sports car – what is he over-compensating for?

Most clients don’t give a damn about a PI’s certifications.  PIs get them to inflate their own egos.  I have one certification.  I’m a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and I only got it because a job I was interested in required it.  I have obtained 2 clients in my first year of business because I’m a CFE.  They were big clients, and I’m glad I got them.  But the vast majority of my clients don’t know what a CFE is and really don’t care.

Education, experience, and expertise – these are the essentials of a good Private Investigator.