Ask the Private Investigator.

In My Humble Opinion
81

I do not understand why an agency would call and tell the client where to find a person cheating on them. If my client asked me to do that (call them immediately upon spotting infidelity and tell them where to find their spouse), I would seriously question their intentions. There is nothing good that can come from it. This is likely an example of a PI service that does not really care, they only do their jobs.

I have to feel that they have some culpability in this situation, although I would hesitate to consider it criminal. I liken this to my job at the prison. I just had a situation where an inmate was visiting his twenty-year old (newly reunited) son in the visiting room. Another inmate walked in and the kid told his dad, that is the guy who raped me when I was 10. First of all, the man’s child was raped by this guy. Secondly, the inmate did not even know his son had ever been raped. Now, this inmate goes to my staff and says he can work through this and he is not going to hurt the guy. Nevertheless, I don’t care what he says. Thus, I isolate him away from the other inmate because I would be held liable if I showed deliberate indifference to the life of the other inmate.

Granted, as a ward of the state we have a greater burden to protect an inmate, but I see little difference in this case here. If I used the same circumstances from the story you highlighted and placed them into my situation, it would have been the equivalent of telling the inmate his son was molested, giving him the name of the inmate and where he was currently locking. Or, more accurately, saying he is molesting your son right now and at this location.

IMHO, that is deliberate indifference and grossly irresponsible.

Like I said before, when I was a PI I would bring the client in, try to talk to them calmly about what I discovered and then discuss what their options were (not giving advice, just trying to get them to start thinking clearly in an otherwise emotionally charged situation). PI’s who do not do this, in my opinion, are uncaring scum who should be held liable.
“Mr. Lissa”

82

Just a little clarification about the Harris scenario above. I’m pretty sure the investigators did not call Mrs. Harris. I believe I had read that she already knew her husband had been going to that particular hotel and it was a coincidence that the investigator(s) were recording at the time that she also appeared to confront her husband. Mrs. Harris knew alot about the affair- who, when where. The investigators were probably hired to document the affair, as opposed to proving it, because there was alot of money involved. Sorry, no cite. There was alot about it in a small local paper.

So my question is- Do you find that you are more often proving affairs or simply documenting them for the potential future legal battle?

83

Ahh, Ok. I knew nothing more than what the poster had stated.

As for your question, I would have to say that majority of cases were for legal purposes, but most of them had an element of curiosity. I believe some of the clients had hoped that it was not true or just had unproven suspicions. Like I said before, many of them had confronted thier spouses, but they just denied it. They wanted solid proof before making lifelong decisions.

“Mr. Lissa”