A silhouette of a woman donning a fur wrap appears on the other side of a glass door. Inside, a man with a five-o’clock shadow on his face puffs a cigarette, then opens the door, asking the woman: “What’s a doll-faced dame like you doing in these parts?”
“My husband is cheating on me and I need you to track him down,” the woman replies, drawing closer to the man, a private eye, whose image is that of a trench-coated gumshoe, trailing underworld elements through shadowed streets and dark alleys.
That TV- or movie-inspired romantic image perhaps was true once upon a time, but the reality today is that private investigators offer such a wide range of services such as basic background checks, security details and elaborate criminal investigations.
Most investigations now are done electronically with public records and other pertinent information online. Some said that it is boring most of the time and good money will only comes in when you have good customers.
The world of private investigations has shifted to that of a man following another around town and taking pictures to that of cyber investigations, background checks and getting police records.
Gone are the days of spy versus spy, covert operations and other adventures that created the mystique of the profession. That’s the persona and perception and in fact has nothing to do with reality and if you go around searching for somebody in a trench coat and a fedora hat, definitely you won’t find it as in my instance, I’m always with my jeans and shirt at the office.
Although investigations have fallen into the realm of the Web, true sleuths like us remain grounded in our experiences in the field, using that knowledge with the luxury of today’s technology to get the job done right and at a much faster pace.
Many in the industry also are former cops.
There are many things the public still don’t know about the techno world with regard to private investigation. With the advancement of various high tech surveillance gadgets for field operatives, you’ll never know that we are capturing your movement or even to the extent of recording your conversation. Apart from that, other available technology such as cell phone tracking through the apps known as “Spy Phone” and others are among those value added services that can be provided by a private investigation agency.
Private investigators who have developed a knack for high-tech probes often find themselves lecturing at law enforcement classes, seminars and conferences .
Back to those days, most private eyes had several clients where most of them wanting to check on cheating spouses. However, the biggest difference in the field today is there’s a wider range of investigation now like corporate law, insurance fraud investigations, security audit and risk assessment, background checking, pre-employment screening and others.
There also is the misguided persona portrayed in the movies about surveillance. A real life investigator can sit for hours watching a location and nothing happens. And if something does occur, it may not be enough for a client to go to court with.
Surveillance, with the aid of state-of-the art spy equipment, the likes of which dwarf what James Bond is issued, helped streamline the business. Now, investigators seldom tail their subjects. For that, there are electronic and sometimes digital tracking devices, miniature cameras and recorders. Images can be transmitted to clients within seconds.
Today, if you steal a piece of property, in the old days, we couldn’t put cameras there, but now we can stick a camera out there and put it in a cell phone and have it send to us a picture every time someone walks into the property
Private investigators must be licensed and to obtain the license, certain pre-requisites set out by the state must be met. One way to gain experience is to work for law enforcement or work for a private investigation agency under a licensed P.I.
Pak Wan