Over my many years working in the field of Private Investigation, some misconceptions regarding how potential clients assume we work and how we actually work come up time and time again. In this post I will discuss some of these misconceptions and set the record straight which may also help some individuals to realistically manage their expectations as well as give some understanding as to how we actually do our job (as opposed to how people think we do our job.)
First of all, it should be noted that practically all of the information/blogs and so on that I come across in relation to Private Investigation work originates from America which leads potential clients down the wrong path. It doesn't matter if the potential client is in Europe or in the States (the main areas my clients come from,) the misconceptions tend to be the same.
Data and Privacy
Potential clients regularly assume that all laws relating to data and privacy are the same as in the States and I can tell you that they are very different indeed! In the States there are many databases and records that are open to be viewed by anyone (often via a fee but accessible all the same) and in Europe and especially here in the Czech Republic, data and information relating to individuals is very strictly controlled and is 100% out of the question to be accessed without a Power of Attorney from the individual the information relates to, or proof of being a blood relative of that individual, therefore, we can not just go and look up information for clients especially if we are supposed to be doing the investigation covertly.
This leads us into a much more investigative way of working rather than performing what is essentially, a research role.
Databases
This leads me onto the use of databases. It is quite clear that many people who contact me think I do one of two things.
a) Access a magical database where I will be able to just look up some information that the client wants or
b) Hack into databases (usually held very securely by the government) which is obviously absolutely not happening. Clearly, I am not prepared to commit a crime and do jail time for my clients. I'm sorry but that's a hard NO.
And so again, the client needs to understand that using my skills and experience as an investigator, I shall investigate on your behalf to establish the information that is required. The clue is in the job title!
"I only want......"
Enquiries that include sentences containing "I only want..." "I just need..." etc usually mean that the client does not appreciate that they are contacting a Private Investigator who's job it is, as I said before, to investigate! They are often more concerned about paying a minimal fee than appreciating what it will realistically take for me to obtain the information that they require.
In order to get that "I just want..." information, I will in fact, need to have time to perform the investigation, which means going down all available avenues, whatever they may be, in order to arrive at the point where I have the information for them.
This is best explained by an example. A very simple one would be "I just want to know where (someone) works" The misconception is that I willl look on my magical non existent database and Bingo! I can see exactly where the person works. Job done=10 seconds. This is obviously a misconception!
In reality, I may be able to see where their trade license is registered if they are self employed but that address may only be where the trade license is registered and not where the persons actual place of work is and so an investigation is needed to establish where that location is.
If the person is employed, then a more extensive investigation is often required which commonly involves some surveillance hours to establish this information. If their place of work is not visible online, which is usually the case because the individual has sought out my services in the first place because they can not find it out themselves, then quite a bit of time and energy is going to go into finding out where the person works and it is clearly not a simple case of just looking it up for them somehow.
Quoting a cost.
It is entirely reasonable for a client to ask how much the investigation will cost but this comes with the misconception that we know exactly what avenues of investigation will be available to us and exactly how long it will take to go down those avenues of investigation will take to reach the end of. Simply using the previous example "I just want to know where (someone) works, how much does that cost?" is impossible to answer because I do not know yet whether they are self employed, work at the physical address where the trade license is registered or at another address, work for a company or are in fact unemployed and so I can not possibly know how long it will take me to find out until I start the investigation. What if the person just got a new job and left the company that it says they worked at on LinkedIn for example? Each investigation is different and I need to investigate each case depending on what information I have to work with. Giving me a list such as: Their name, age, address etc without telling me their actual name, age and address and so on doesn't help me at all because I need to know the actual information I have to work with on this case. Once I am given the details, I can perform a preliminary (free) investigation to try to establish what may be involved in order to guide the client as to cost, we can then work out a budget so that the clients remain in control of costs. It is simply impossible to do this any other way.
In conclusion
There are a number of misconceptions that clients commonly have when contacting us and these are a few of the most common ones. To speak frankly, if the work of a Private Investigator was as straight forward and simple as many people think it is, then none of us would have a job and as we do, that probably says all you need to know!
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