Five Reasons to Hire a Private Investigator
I am often hired after someone has already tried and failed to catch a cheating spouse on their own. People often assume that being a private investigator is easy because how hard can it be to follow someone, right? Well, the reality is that it requires a lot more skill than it might seem, and that if you hire a private investigator, you’ll have greater success than going it alone. Here are five reasons why you should hire a private investigator:
1. The private investigator is anonymous to the subject.
One of the main reasons most people hire a PI is because they know they are likely to be recognized and caught if they try to do the work themselves. If you are trying to follow your cheating spouse, it is almost certain that he will recognize your car or spot you, and your cover will be blown. Not only will this result in embarrassment for you or suspicion by him, but it will jeopardize the entire case. If your spouse now believes you are suspicious of his behavior, he will be more cautious in the future, making it more difficult to catch him.
2. Private investigators can legally conduct surveillance.
Clients often mistakenly believe they can follow their spouse and use any evidence found in subsequent court testimony. However, in Connecticut for example, your spouse or significant other can have you arrested for stalking if you are following them. If you are charged with stalking, any evidence you find would’ve been obtained illegally and could be inadmissible in court. Only the police and private investigators are exempt from this law and legally allowed to follow individuals and record their activities.
3. Private investigators are skilled at investigative work.
Being a private investigator requires many skills beyond knowing how to drive and take photos. If you’ve ever tried following a friend’s car to a restaurant, for example, you know how easy it is to lose them on the highway or at a traffic light – and this is when they want you to follow them! So imagine trying to follow someone who doesn’t want to be followed, you may not know the intended destination, and you’re trying to avoid being obvious and getting caught. A private investigator has to be not only constantly aware of a subject’s every move, but also able to anticipate likely actions. Because moving surveillance is so difficult, it is sometimes recommended for multiple agents to be on the case at the same time or, at the very least, for a private investigator to change attire or even vehicles during a surveillance case.
Besides being surveillance experts, private investigators must master many technologies. They need to know how to use overt and covert cameras, install and download surveillance software, keystroke loggers and GPS trackers, perform counter surveillance, retrieve deleted computer files, find elusive background information online, and much more. Above everything, they know which investigative technique is best to use when and how to handle themselves if their cover is blown, to avoid jeopardizing the case.
4. Private investigators know the law.
Gathering evidence is of little use if it’s not admissible in court or, even worse, if the activity is illegal and lands you in jail. A private investigator knows what is and isn’t legal and the proper way to gather evidence in order for it to be admissible in court. For example, you can place a GPS tracker on your spouse’s vehicle as long as the vehicle is registered in your name or is intended for use by the family. This usually means you cannot place a GPS tracking device on your girlfriend or boyfriend’s car. The same law applies to installing surveillance software on a computer. In a situation where a client wants to perform an activity that is illegal, a professional private investigator will know of and suggest an alternate solution which is legal.
5. Surveillance is time-consuming.
Surveillance is often time-consuming and, to the surprise of many, can be very boring. In an average surveillance case, a private investigator might spend an entire evening sitting in a vehicle watching a building door for a subject to emerge. It is unlikely that the first time you conduct surveillance on a subject, that person commits the very activity you were hired to catch. More often than not, a private investigator will need to conduct surveillance on multiple occasions in order to catch someone in the act. It’s just the nature of the work. Most clients have a full-time job or other responsibilities preventing them from spending large quantities of time following their spouse or significant other.
Hey, great post, very well written. You should write more about this.
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