How to Become a Private Eye (Investigator)
How to Become a Private Investigator
Interested in becoming a private investigator? Want to stalk your prey in smoky alleyways with gum on the soles of your shoes? Carry a big gun and romance the beautiful women in any given Mexican border town? Kick down doors and sock the bad guy right in the eye? Tough. The work done by America's private detectives, or private eyes, is as far from television as you can imagine.
What Is a Private Eye?
A private eye is a person (usually licensed) who performs investigations for private citizens. Other organizations may employ private investigators to find debtors using the Internet or for some other non-criminal purpose. Licensed private detectives do lots of work for lawyers in civil cases -- mostly research, very little blazing guns.
Licensed private detectives work for insurance companies who believe they are being defrauded, and yes (true to type) there are plenty of adultery investigations, usually looking for cause in a divorce. Most private eyes will tell you that nabbing cheaters or "bad behavior" by spouses in order to grant a divorce is the biggest part of their business.
Work as a private investigator depends a lot on where you live and what you want to do.
Do I Have to Get a Private Detective License?
Many areas of the country require private eyes to be licensed. In some states, PI's can carry firearms if properly licensed, all this depends on the local laws. In some areas, licensed private detectives are allowed to "trespass" on private property, and in some they aren't.
Here is a list of private investigator licensing laws --notice that they vary by state.
What Experience Do I need in Order to Work as a Private Investigator?
Most people who work in the field of private investigation have prior law enforcement experience, but this isn't a requirement. Think of this way--while certain aspects of police training could come in handy in your work as a private eye, there are certain aspects of any field that teach the kind of skills you need.
Imagine the unique skills that an ex-social worker or hospital nurse would bring to the field of private investigation. Don't get discouraged because you feel like you don't have "the right" kind of background. You'll meet plenty of people in the PI field without military or police history.
What Steps Do I Take to Become a Private Investigator?
In America, the most common way into a career as a private investigator is as an apprentice to a working private detective. There are also plenty of sources of formal instruction in the form of at-home courses or even courses at community colleges or community centers. Either as an apprentice or as a student in the classroom, people learning to be PIs should study a few specific fields.
Investigations--Planning and coordinating reports into people's activities.
Surveillance techniques--This includes legal means of surveillance, descriptions and application of surveillance abilities.
Questioning witnesses--Cops tell us there's an art to examining witnesses. Courses in questioning teach this art.
Evidence-handling- Any evidence you gather is no good if it is not collected and presented properly.
Ethics of investigation--These are similar to courses in ethics taught to police officers. These give the private investigator a moral investigative center.
This specific private investigator training (which usually comes mostly on the job) helps separate the PI from the nosy neighbor with high speed Internet and a pair of binoculars. Private yes understand how to gather information about a crime in such a way as to properly report it to police and present it in front of a court.
Private investigators are trained to keep their evidence in line with the court's rules, meaning they're experts in gathering evidence. If you're looking to enhance your abilities finding old relatives or filling out your best friend's divorce paperwork, you don't need a private investigator license, you need wi-fi.
Do Private Eyes Make a Lot of Money?
Like any field, you get out what you put in. There are private eys with million dollar homes and flashy cars, and there are private investigators stealing from the buffet line at the Ramada Inn. The private eye business requires a combination of left and right-brain skills--a good PI is both logical and creative.
If you want to be a financially successful private eye, there are a few areas you need to focus to turn your business into a cash cow. These are the features that people and organizations look for in a good private investory and will get you more jobs. More jobs means more money.
1. Communication Skills
Needing communication skills sounds like a cliche, but you need to develop an ability to connect with people. As a private eye, you'll deal with people of all kinds, all nationalities, all tastes, all creeds. Regardless of what a person looks like, talks like, or smells like, you may have to deal with them on a face to face basis.
Communication skills are a must when dealing with strangers or bureaucrats. Trust me on this one.
Another time when communication is key is in presenting evidence. Can you present the simple fact that Mr. Smith was in such and such place at such and such time? Present a fact that is clear to the client and still complex enough to fulfill the needs of an investigation.
2. Desire to Learn
The best private eyes are curious people, individuals who want to know the answers to the big questions and the small ones. A good private investigator has a real need to perform a detailed investigation and help the client.
In a way, PI's are scientists, creating hypotheses and testing them in a real world environment. Private eyes are meant to provide facts, not opinions. When a good private investigator hits a dead end, she finds a way around.
Think of a good PI as a researcher or social scientist. That's the kind of mind you need.
3. A Variety of Experiences
You could say that a good PI needs an "interesting life", but that wouldn't be quite it. You need to have a wide range of experiences, the ability to "feel out" a situation, skills that help you know when some one is lying. This is where figuring out who is going to be a good private eye gets interesting -- finding out what brought a person into the field of private investigation and noticing them displaying those intangible skills that come from having a variety of experiences.
Any one can become a private investigator. Even if you've worked in your field for years, you are likely to have skills that contribute to work as a private eye. If you're creative, smart, and inquisitive, consider a career as a PI.
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