How does a private investigator work?
What we do
Private investigators are legally allowed to:
- Conduct background checks obtain and provide information on the business character or kind of business or occupation of a person
- Search for offenders against the law, search for missing persons, search for missing property.
- In many cases, private investigators are hired to find persons who are missing, because they owe or are owed money to an individual or a company based on a court order, they are part of a criminal investigation, they are party in a court case, or they cannot be found.
- Private investigators can also be used to find missing property and assets, conduct background checks, and assist in child custody investigations.
Legally, a private investigator can use a number of research tools to assist their investigation.
The include:
- Witness statements
- Video surveillance
- GPS when authorized
- Photographs
- Personal observations
Private investigators often conduct their surveillance at public places. They also rely on public sources of information for their research, such as:
- Public databases and internet searches to uncover telephone numbers, addresses, and employment information
- Public libraries to find old newspapers for information
- Personal Property Security Registration searches to identify a lien associated with an individual or business
- Bankruptcy records, divorce records, and land registry databases and corporate searches to conduct background inquiries.