Hiring a Private Detective is not something people do every day. In my experience, many people seem to think that hiring a Private Detective is different from hiring any other professional and the reason for this is that the the field of Private Investigation is not well understood. It is an industry that is considered to be filled with shadows and shrouded in secrecy which gives rise to an air of mystery. Potential clients often approach with trepidation and mistrust as unfamiliarity gives rise to discomfort which, in turn, makes people feel unsure and apprehensive about contacting or hiring us. There is absolutely no need for any of this and it is all based on the belief that Private Investigators are shady. Sadly there are rogues in every industry but generally Private Detectives are no more “shady” than anyone else.

The shadowy reputation comes from the covert nature of much of our work and one should not be confused into thinking that we are shadowy people operating only in a murky world and therefore we run our businesses in a similar way. It while it is true that we do not always divulge details as to how we do things this should only be considered as sinister as a journalist protecting their sources would be perceived to be. The way in which a professional detective will do things will be just that. Professional.

Like any other person who offers their services and expertise, you are paying us for our time, knowledge and skills. A good detective will have ethical, legal and moral considerations resulting in a code of conduct which they adhere to.

Like any industry, there are cowboys and dishonest people out there, so how do you know who is who before you hire? What should you look for? While I can not give you a definitive guide, I can certainly point you in the right direction.

Most Private Investigators work alone. They do not have an office outside of their homes because they simply do not need one. Our work takes place either behind a computer or out in the field. An office is an unnecessary overhead. Asking for an office address will tell you nothing about the integrity of the detective. Neither will affiliations or memberships held with organizations because most of the time membership can be bought by anyone who wants one and such organizations serve more to connect investigators with other investigators rather than provide a means by which a client can perform any checks. Detectives of such organizations are unlikely to have any knowledge of work done by other detectives and therefore this is not a good way to evaluate the integrity of a Private Investigator.

Private Detective work often involves covering a very wide geographical area and while it may be difficult for us to meet with a potential client in time for their proposed surveillance to begin due to being involved on another case at the other end of the country, a good detective will meet you if requested, if they can. I am aware of a few companies that refuse to meet potential clients without a good reason and this should be a red flag. In the Czech Republic, there are a number of companies that claim on their websites to have offices and investigators based there but only a German contact number or contact by email only. There are a couple who are not even in Europe but based in Asia or the United States. Once a potential client contacts them, they will simply hire someone locally and charge the client for something that they could easily have done for themselves. Or they will attempt to undertake the work themselves and do a very poor job of things. I get a number of cases every year from clients who have had a bad experience with a detective based outside the country. Do some checks. Look for a mobile number with a country code that relates to the country the investigation should take place in. Talk to the person on the other end. Are they willing to answer questions? Do they have local knowledge/language skills? You do not want to hire an outsider and have them figuring things out on your dollar or as my most recent case was, give the client a lot of false information and charge a fortune for it. Companies that offer guarantees are just trying to get your money. Very rarely, in this line of work, can one be 100% certain of anything. It’s the nature of the job.

It is not essential that you know exactly where the detective’s base is and as it is likely to be their house, you will often get no address or a virtual office. A little research will enable you to establish which city they are in and if you can’t do that, ask them to prove it. If they can’t, walk away. An Investigator should be happy to assist you in this way. Pay attention to how open they are about answering questions and how they come across discussing your case with you.

A good detective should be happy to chat with you (unless they are clearly in the middle of something!) I am always very happy to answer questions and discuss the case with my clients and put them at ease. There is no reason for me not to. Personally, I prefer an initial email to understand the background of the case first. The reason for this is that there is more than one way of approaching something and I do not want to make any poorly thought out recommendations on the spot. I want to have time to think about the best way to do things, establish comprehensive details, fill in any missing information and give a considered response/recommendation. Making recommendations off the cuff is not, in my opinion, best practice. I also find that sending an email requires the client to focus on their own case which also helps to bring up any questions and helps to clarify things for them too. In my opinion, this is when any in depth conversation about the case should take place. Having a conversation about your case while I am unable to make any notes or while I am in the middle of something else is not the best for either of us. A good detective will want to understand your case and give it the attention it deserves. A detective who just wants to talk about money or is not very communicative or interested (without giving a reason) is best avoiding. Look for a detective who is interested and makes time for your questions and is open to discussion.

Approach the subject of cost and think about how the detective comes across on the subject of money. Private Detectives have few clients who have access to an infinite pot of money to throw at an investigation and a good detective understands this. It is unreasonable to expect a client to commit to an unknown amount of work, costing an unknown amount of money. However, using surveillance as an example, we too can not know how long a surveillance will last as we can not make something happen, we can only observe and record what does happen. However, a good detective can guide you on what is the minimum time you should expect a surveillance to run and the hourly rate surveillance is charged at. From there I advise my clients to set out a workable budget that I will not exceed. This way, my clients remain in control of costs. Any detective that seems primarily focused on money, it almost goes without saying, walk away from. While it is the way we earn our living, understanding the details, what the objectives/expectations are and naturally, doing a good job for the client, should come first.

Most businesses are able to point new customers in the direction of satisfied customers and perhaps provide references from happy clients. Due to the nature of our work, for us, this is rarely the case. Our clients often do not wish even those closest to them to know that they have hired a Private Detective and so customers who will vouch for us are hard to come by. Having said that, I do a lot of work with the legal sector and can provide references from there and I am lucky that I have a handful of clients that will openly admit to the fact that they hired me and will provide references. So although it can be tricky for us, I am of the opinion that references can be found if requested. If a Private Detective has no contacts in the legal sector then this should be taken as suspicious as a lot of our work touches this industry and the detective should be able to provide references from there if they have no willing previous customers.

Do your own bit of research, take your time to feel out a potential detective, avoid companies offering guarantees or “Call us now” on premium rate numbers which also hide their geographical location. There are few big investigation companies and in my experience, the bigger a company tries to make itself look, the more dishonest it is. Of course this is a generalization but one I’ve come to for a reason.

http://www.investigatecz.com