A Private Investigator's Job Description

Surveillance, Stake-Outs, Tailing a Suspect

We've seem them in action: sneaking into an office to get the file that will help to solve a case; eavesdropping on private conversations and recording them, jumping from a window and then running to hide in the bushes. They are Hollywood depictions of private investigators.

But what is it like to be a real life PI? What do they do? What techniques do they use? How dangerous are their cases? For those of you who grew up watching TV series like Magnum PI, while cops seem to be more about muscle, PIs seem to be more about using your brain to solve problems.

A common day for an investigator who is doing surveillance, for example, would start at 6 a.m. and go on until 8 or 9 o'clock at night. You work every day of the week and even when you might get a couple of days off, you usually have to work on weekends.

You know when you are going to start your day, but you never know at what time you'll finish or where you'll end up. It depends on the person you're following. Because of the constant challenges and last-minute changes inherent to this profession, you have to be very versatile.

It's essential to be physically and emotionally prepared to affront challenges and situations that come up out of the blue. You also have to be able to go anywhere at anytime without looking suspicious. Above all, you have to have common sense.

PIs offer surveillance, criminal and corporate investigations, intellectual property investigations, background investigations of people (what's the person is all about, what they do for a living, their status in the community, financial situation and the like) as well as domestic surveillance.

The bread and butter of this industry is, by far, insurance fraud investigation. Usually, insurance companies hire us to go out and follow their insurance claimants just to see whether their injuries are as bad as they say they are. Many people involved in car accidents or who have slipped and fallen say they're so injured that they can't even walk.

When people suspect their partners are cheating on them, PIs follow a person for days and record video footage to show later to the client. They never go out and confront the subject they are shadowing. Afterwards, they hand in a report along with the video to the individual who hired them.

PIs try to tell the news to clients in a way that sounds like good news - it's good they found out now and not later; that they'll be happier with somebody else who respects them; that now they can move on with their life and don't have to worry anymore about whether or not their partners are cheating on them.

PIs get even amounts of male and female clients, but the way they react when they hear the news is quite different. Women are very emotional about it, while guys get mostly angry - very angry. Another interesting difference is that women are right to be suspicious - they're looking for a confirmation of something they already know. They feel it somehow. Men, on the other hand, come driven mostly by jealousy, and about half of the time, they are wrong: nothing is really going on.

Technology has changed PI methods quite a bit. In the past, it was mostly taking photographs. Now, they're shooting videos and researching online databases. Surveillance is often more about the stakeout than the high-speed chase.

Colleges and private companies offering training courses. For a long time, this industry wasn't looked upon as reputable or law-abiding. They can't, for example, record a conversation unless they are part of that conversation. Most PIs are male due to the strength requirements and dangerous environments.

The biggest challenge for PIs is to stay up to date with all the changes that go on in this industry, such as new laws, technologies and trends. The most rewarding parts of the job is knowing that you're helping people.