My husband occasionally posts under my name. In this thread, **GMRyujin ** requested an “Ask the PI” thread. Hubby says he’ll be happy to answer your questions.
He was an investigator for a large firm for three years, and worked as an investigator in the prison system for two and a half years, or, if you prefer, “internal affairs.” (That job involved investigating criminal behavior by inmates and staff, so much the same techniques were involved.)
Ask away. Either he’ll respond under my name, or I’ll transcribe his answers.
Did you ever have an attractive female client who you knew was Trouble the moment she walked in your door? Was she involved in a complicated scheme, with a whole cast of sordid characters, that you slowly unraveled during the course of your investigation? Was the investigation hampered by the lies that she told to protect somebody else? Did you get roughed up by thugs and menaced by cops who told you to “stay off the case,” yet refused to be deterred? Did you have rough sex with her en route to the tragic, messy resolution?
Has he ever worked with Shaft? And if so, can he attest to the accuracy of the statement that Shaft is “the cat who won’t cop out when there’s danger all about”?
Is it hard to hide the christmas and birthday presents from him?
If you spend a little too much out shopping, does he know the instant you walk in the door?
How do they find out confidential information-- eg. whose name phone number is registered under, criminal records? Do they go through illegal channels?
What percentage of his conclusions are reached based on logic and what percentage is based on gut feeling / street smarts - or as the sissys call it - “intuition.” I’m not talking about ‘conclusions’ he would place in a final report but instead the type of ‘conclusions’ that he would use as a lead when taking the investigation in this or that direction.
I used a search engine that cost about $10 a search that would check multiple databases and would cross reference a person by name and age only (SS# was even better). From this I could learn about licensures you held, marriages you’ve had, all of your former addresses, telephone numbers, your neighbors and their numbers (this was great for diggin up dirt- nothing is better then interviewing the little old lady who lived next to you and was starved for attention), your mail carrier, ownership of land, credit report and criminal history (including arrest) to name a few. With the advent of the internet age, this search was expanded to include the companies that had sold your email address which then gives me an idea of what types of websites you visit (porn was real easy to track). Also, any marketing information you ever filled out (anyone have a grocery card?) would also sometimes be tracked. Each person was unique and it depended on where you lived, etc… how rich the data was.
I got into the line of work because I got a job with an international security firm and two of the clients were the U.S. State Department-embassy security and the Nuclear Regulatory Agency. They paid for my license and I decided to freelance. To get the clearance to use the database they had access to, I had to be finger printed and take the MMPR (to make sure I wasn’t crazy).
There are a few interesting stories, but most of it was really routine type of work. You would be surprised how vindictive people were. One notable client was a guy whose wife was getting a divorce. She claimed he was cheating on her and he molested the children as well. She was really into character assassination. So he hired me to tail her. I was able to catch some good shots of her with this crazy boyfried. who at one time, took the kids into a bar and got into a fight in front of them. It really helped him out a lot.
I did not make moral judgments on the clients, I was just hired to do a job and I was pretty good at it.
One of my favorite tools was doing a garbage grab. In many towns, garbage is legally public domain so I would grab someone’s trash in the middle of the night. I always replaced it with the same colored bags full of wadded paper so they did not get suspicious.
Regrettably, no. Very few of my clients were female. Men are much more liekly to hire private investigators. AND, unfortunately, most of the women involved were lucky to have a full set of teeth.
As for complex stories, they really never happened. Yes, the clients did lie to me as well, but the stories were never really in depth.
I did conduct a missing persons case asisstance one time, but against popular belief, many good P.I.'s have excellent relationships with the police. In fact, they were one of my best resources. I had many friends and contacts in the local police departments that I could go to.
As for being roughed up by thugs, not really. One time a woman saw me taking her picture with the boyfriend and he chased my car. That was it. A good P.I. should not be seen.
9/10 cases were divorce related. Infidelity was one of the major reasons I was hired. Some people are just paranoid and want thier significant other tailed for a while. It was expensive though, because I was paid expenses plus $20/hour. So, if you wanted someone tailed for a weekend, it could run up to $500. When I first got started I made a lot less because I just wanted som extra bucks and something to fill in my free time.
From my limited experience, absolutely not. It is not exciting, I never carried a gun and I never got entangled into an international puppy smuggling ring with the Panamanian Cartel sneaking illegal fireworks across the border in a diabolical attempt to overthrow the leader of the AARP.
Yes, there is quite a bit of money to be made. Especially depending on your location. Many of the guys I knew in the business worked in major cities. They were sometimes hired by insurance companies and other large corporations to gather information on a variety of things. However, you have to possess the connections to get ahead. Taking out an ad in the yellow pages only got me a bout one client a month and many times, once they learned the expense, they just wanted me to follow someone, or check them out using the database, for a minimla fee. Since this was only part-time for me, I made about an extra $300. a month. But, an old college acquaintance who also became a “bail enforcement agent” made about 50k a year and chose his hours.
You have to have an insider track in a private firm or in law enforcement to really jump it off, but I am sure anyone could do it if they had the time.
Ah yes, Shaft. He and I worked together for one case in which we investigated a scum bag who was selling tainted heroin to local youths. I recall one fond memory where we beat up twenty guys and pulled the information about the ringleader out of the last “cat” who was struggling to breathe. We then learned that Barbara Bush was the woman behind it all and we got medievil on her ass.
The typical day depended on the client. Many times, it was late at night hours because that’s when you could get dirt on somebody (that is what most people want). As for the prison job, it is daytime hours, with some night work.
I would suggest not being a P.I. But as for the prison you will need: A Bachelor’s, at least (I have a Masters) in Criminology NOT Criminal Justice, some law enforcement background and some years of experience in the prison system as something other than an investigator. You will also have to be politically savvy to navigate a large bureacracy, make contacts and make friends.