Note: I’m not actually being watched by a PI to my knowledge, and am not losing sleep over worrying about it.
Anyway, if you discover substantial evidence that a private investigator (PI) is watching you, what rights do you have?
E.g., Do you have a right to know who has hired the PI, a right to know what information the PI has gathered (e.g. so you can dispute it), or the right to tell them to take a hike or else be sued or reported to the police for stalking?
We’re assuming that the PI has the proper license. Any jurisdiction would be acceptable.
You could call 911 and report a stalker; I wonder if the police would tell you what they found when they investigate.
I forget which TV show or movie where the person stopped near a school or playground, then called 911 to report a stranger parked in a car near a playground just watching…
I’d assume you have the same rights you always have. If someone is committing a crime, like stalking, you can call the police. If they aren’t committing a crime, why do you think you have any special rights concerning innocent people?
But if you report someone who appears to be stalking, the police have to investigate. Nothing ruins a career like ignoring a stalking cmplaint and then having to explain a murder-suicide to the media. If they don’t explain the situation to you after the investigation to your satisfaction, as far as you know, you are still being stalked… So I assume they tell you it’s OK, he’s a PI, so you will stop calling 911.
Beyond that, who hired him and why is nobody’s business but him and his client, unless the police decide it’s something shady like an ex hiring a PI to stalk his wife for him…
Once you know you’re being followed, you can do the usual like look for GPS trackers, etc.
If you discover the investigation as it is in progress, some public acknowledgement would, I believe, end the investigation immediately, since the whole value of such an investigation is that the information was gathered without the target’s knowledge (if you know I know you’re following me, why would you continue? I could be leading you on a wild goose chase). Calling 911 would probably do it, as would walking up to the PI and saying “I know you’re following me.”
So then what are the target’s rights after the investigation concluded? In the confrontation I describe above, does the PI have a professional obligation to identify himself and/or show his license. My understanding is professional PI’s are licensed by the state–are there any licensing regulations that cover this? Are there further laws regarding your rights to know about the details of the investigation?
I imagine that this situation occurs quite frequently with people being vetted. A quiet word to the security controller along the lines of, “Is your investigator being deliberately blatant?” might do wonders.
In all the TV shows I’ve seen, our first and best source of education on these matters- who hires a PI is a confidential matter between the PI and the client. He has no obligation to tell the police unless there is reason to believe the job is part of a criminal act. The PI certainly has no obligation to tell the surveillee anything at all. Why would you imagine any two private individuals are obliged to share these details. OTOH, when it does get to court (i.e. the PI’s looking for dirt on Ralph Nader for the car companies) this is discoverable details.
As I said earlier, you can probably arrange it so he looks so suspicious (i.e. get him to park next to a playground, then have the parents/teacher phone it in) that soon the police will clue him in to smarten up or lose his license.
Years ago I called the police to report a suspicious vehicle parked outside my house. The person inside was taking pictures, and I’d seen them there several times within the previous week or so. I thought maybe it was a burglar casing my neighbor’s house.
Before too long, a police car rolled up, the officer got out and talked to the driver for several minutes, then left. Sometime later I got a phone call from that officer who said he’d talked to the driver, who turned out to be an investigator for an insurance company. My neighbor had filed a worker’s comp claim and the investigator was trying to see if the guy was faking it. (Turns out he was.)
Apologized to the officer for wasting his time and he said not a waste of time at all.
I was thinking along the lines of credit reports and bureaus and how they must make your report available for you to view and allow you to dispute items on it.
Suppose I am going through a divorce and my soon-to-be ex-wife hires a PI to see if I am “seeing” anyone else, and the PI films my car being driven to a local house of ill repute and the PI duly notes that in his report, but the truth was that I was actually in Chicago for that week on business and was lending my car to a friend for that week. I would hope that I would have the right to review the report and say, wait, that may be my car, but look at these tickets and this hotel receipt - I was in Chicago, that wasn’t me driving the car to that place.
You need to get the investigator following you through busy crowds, preferably in a European capital (if your budget’s tight, Vancouver can double for Prague). But the point is to be able to run down wet cobblestoned streets, dodging flower vendors and beautiful peasant girls with baguettes.
Then turn the tables on him by evading him (I enjoy the “bribe the local urchins to delay him” tactic). Then double back and take him by surprise in an alley behind the boulangerie. After you’ve disarmed him, you can torture the name of his employer out of him.
I emm… “know” a PI. They usually call in with the cops and let them know what is going on, so if anyone calls the cops on them nothing really happens. At least over here in Canadia.
Exactly. If the evidence is presented in a court case, then you have the right to depose the investigator, determine who paid for the report, and whether details were fudged or mistaken (“He went to…” vs. “someone I could not see drove the car to…”). Once in court, all relevant questions must be answered.
Until then, it’s a private matter between the investigator and the person who hired them. You have a right to see credit reports because the credit agency makes them available to any customer and it can significantly affect your life; PI’s do not compile a behaviour list to sell to all customers, they do one job for one customer.
I’m guessing even background checks for government agencies have a security/privacy exception to the Freedom of Information act.
