Last month I was looking through yearbook photos, and came across a former friend who I hadn’t thought about in nearly 20 years.
Since we shared a certain history together, I tried to look him up on the Internet – but I’ve reached a dead end, since he has an extremely common name, and all of my current friends from back then are no longer in touch with him either. So pretty much, in theory, the only remaining option that I can think of would be to hire a P.I. to track him down, just to discover whatever ultimately happened to him.
How would I go about hiring one, and how much would the whole thing cost?
Keep in mind, this is merely a pipe dream, since it’s not that important and I’m laughably broke nowadays – just curious what general ballpark figures would be, and how the process would work.
How do you think a private investigator would find him? They don’t do magic, instead they are going to search databases and ask people. Why can’t you do this?
Do you know the name of any of his relatives? Do an internet search for them. Use an internet phone book and call them.
Do you know what schools he attended (both K-12 and college)? They have alumni organizations as well as there being sites like classmates.com
At this point I’d rather pay some professional to do the footwork, and like I said earlier, it’s not even that important. I’m merely wondering how much it would cost, if I ever change my mind.
One agency I use charges $225 - $300 for a skip-trace, depending on how quickly you need it. It has been over 10 years since I worked in the business myself, but I think at the time, my boss would have charged $150 - $200 for something so simple, depending on whether or not he’d worked with you previously. Costs obviously go up if it requires doing surveillance, interviews or anything more advanced than a database search to find your target.
I realize that you are just asking hypothetically, but just in case anyone else is contemplating such a thing, PastTense is correct that you’d save money and time by doing it yourself over the internet.
But couldn’t the P.I. access databases that aren’t easily available? Things like hospital admissions, prison records, etc. I’ve perused some websites like veromi.net but without a precise D.O.B., and a name that’s probably the most common in the Spanish-speaking world, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.
And yeah, $300 is way too rich for my blood…at least, until I win the lottery one day.
Speaking very generally, there are some types of databases (such as DMV records and voter records) that can’t be used for just any purpose, and anyone utilizing such databases is legally required to state a general purpose for doing so (such as complying with a court order, or for law enforcement purposes). An individual off the street wanting to track down an old friend is not going to be considered a qualified purpose to use the types of databases that have non-publically-available information in them. So, legally, a PI would be limited in that regard working on your behalf.
In your specific case, though, even though your friend has a common name, it wouldn’t necessarily be hard to find him, particularly if you had an address for him during a period in his life when he was an adult. Our addresses tend to get associated with our social security numbers through things like credit reports, so even though YOU don’t have his SSN, a database would be able to track that the John Smith who lived at 123 Maple Street in Anytown, USA is the same John Smith who now lives at 321 Oak Avenue in Anytown.
For the most part, public records databases. But they are subscribed to services (such as Westlaw, among many, many others) that collect and compile data from all over the country and world. So, nowadays, I think a PI only needs one or two sources to get all the information they need. When I was doing that type of work, we had to track down the data sources from individual states and counties, such as real estate records, marriage/divorce records or voter records. We’d subscribe with the individual counties or states, and they’d send us CDs once a month/quarter/year with updates, and if we were trying to locate someone, we’d have to search through every CD that might be relevant. And if a given location didn’t keep electronic records, we’d have to go down to the county courthouse or recorder’s office or what-not to search through their paper records. Skip-tracing work is a lot easier now than it was 10-15 years ago. And even then, it was far easier than before there were any electronic records (or so I was often told my the older investigators).
I have only worked for a small PI firm, and have generally only worked with the like. I honestly don’t know if the major firms are doing their own data mining, or if it would even be worthwhile when there are so many specialty firms out there that do the same thing.
I was able to find an old long-lost acquaintance (who I really thought was probably dead) not long ago. He has a totally unusual name, and does computer work, BUT – for all I could find, his on-line presence disappeared about 20 years ago. Back then, he had published a few research articles, along with some co-authors.
I was able to track down some of those co-authors, and one of them put me in touch.
As for P.I.'s: Is it true, or just a Hollywood meme, that serious professionals in the business make it their business to develop a network of insider contacts at police departments, prisons, hospitals, government records offices, etc.?
I’m also curious about this, although logically, the answer is probably yes.
Another question for the PI’s in this thread (which I can’t help but ask): How often have you been working late at night, when in walks a mysterious, sexy woman who you knew right away was trouble?
In one of the later episodes of True Detective Martin mentions some databases he can use to track down people but also says that he no longer subscribes to others.
I once had the opportunity to talk with a retired PI, and he told me a couple of interesting things:
Real PIs never carry a gun.
Any PI who declined divorce work (not uncommon in TV shows) would starve to death. The typical PI does 80-90% divorce work, and 10-20% tracking down bad checks. (Paying with check has become so uncommon in the 25 years since; perhaps the remaining time is done skiptracing through the Internet.)
Getting photos of a cheating spouse in flagrente is (a) illegal, and (b) unnecessary. What is necessary is to document that Party A met Party B at so-and-so motel, went to a room together, and stayed there for x hours.
Like Lexis/Nexis, et al. Private Investigating for Dummies is actually helpful, lists many of the tips and tricks used by PIs. Can’t help you on prices, though.
Why is this necessary in the modern world?
Back in the 1950’s-60’s, the legalities of divorce required one side to formally accuse the other in court. There was an old meme of moving to Nevada for a month or two, to establish residency, and then using the Nevada court system, because it was easier than the courts in most other states. But I’m pretty sure that nobody does this anymore.
But today, isn’t the legal system based on no-fault divorce , or “irreconcilable differences”?
If a wife screams at her husband in the kitchen that she knows he’s screwing somebody else, does she actually have to prove it in court with a private investigator?
Back in the 1970s, I was the area manager for a large security company; left them to go to the sheriff’s office. Part of my job was also investigations.
And there was this one time when a woman walked into my office. She was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.
How is this proof of anything? Say Parties A and B claim that they wanted to get away from their noisy kids for a night and play Xbox, and they had lots of frequent-flyer miles that were about to expire so why not spend them on a hotel to at least get something out of them? How can you prove that they weren’t just playing games? Sure, it’s suspicious, but last time I checked suspicious behavior!=proof of wrongdoing.
