You unexpectedly find yourself in a precarious situation, and you realize you definitely require the services of a Private Investigator. You’re not quite certain how to go about finding the right Private Investigator for your needs. What qualifications should you seek? What will it cost? How reliable will the Private Detective be? Not to worry, we understand and, we’re here to help you. The following will undoubtedly answer most of your questions and also provide you with some questions you may not have considered.
HOW TO BACKGROUND CHECK A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR’S REPUTATION
Upon finding Private Investigation companies, you believe might be a good fit for your needs. Your next step is to conduct a cursory background check on those at the top of your list. As an example of a qualified company, let’s look at the Worldwide Intelligence Network. It appears they are ranked among the Top Five Private Investigative Companies in America by the publishers of Vogue and The New Yorker magazines. How long a Private Investigator has been in business is very important. Worldwide Intelligence Network has been a licensed and insured Private Investigation company for the past twenty-nine years in California.
CHECK IF STATE AGENCIES REQUIRE PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS TO BE LICENSED.
It is very important to find out if the Private Investigators you are researching are licensed. A Private Investigator license is mandatory in most states throughout the USA. To obtain a private investigator’s license requires a criminal background check. To qualify for a Private Investigator’s license, some states require the applicant to have apprenticed with a licensed PI for a certain number of hours. The applicant also has to pass a written examination. Law enforcement officers only have to pass the State’s written examination. Passing a Private Investigator’s test requires a sufficient amount of study time as it is a challenging test.
HOW TO CHECK A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR’S LICENSE
State licensing divisions for Private Investigators are obtainable online in most states. Here is Worldwide Intelligence Network’s California Private Investigator licenses.
REPUTATION IS EVERYTHING
The most valuable asset for a personal service business such as a Private Detective Agency is its reputation. Take a moment or two to review what authentic client accolades look like. It is also important to know if a Private Investigative Company is a member of a Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating.
YOU ARE ENTITLED TO RECEIVE A WRITTEN RETAINER AGREEMENT
Ask the Private Investigator if he/she will provide you with a written retainer agreement that will clearly state the assignment you requested, and the amount of the fee you required. The retainer agreement should also state that all of the Private Investigator’s efforts will be legally compliant. Read your retainer agreement carefully to make certain it represents what investigative services you requested. The retainer agreement should also state that the fee being charged cannot be increased under any circumstance, except if it is authorized in writing by you.
THERE ARE MANY OF THE SERVICES OFFERED BY PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS
Take a moment or two to look at these services over to see if what you require is among them.
Surveillance Investigations: Surveillance is the most requested service from a Private Investigator. It also happens to be one of the most difficult assignments to accomplish. It requires a lot of patience and observation skills. There are a huge number of Private Detectives offering surveillance services, and you should inquire as to how long they or their employees have been conducting surveillance assignments and ask if they will take a video every hour on the hour of their location and of course video of your subject’s activity. Ask if you will receive a copy of the video taken along with a written report. A top-notch surveillance investigator usually has thousands of hours of field experience along with state of the art video equipment of which includes covert video devices. The most requested surveillance assignment is conducting Infidelity-Cheater Surveillance. Other surveillance assignments are: following a questionable employee to make certain they are doing their job, surveilling a competitor’s activity and surveillance of an employee who appears to have filed a questionable injury claim that occurred while working at their job. Millions of dollars are spent each year conducting Workers’ Compensation fraudulent claim surveillance investigations all across America.
Locate People You Need To Find: A private investigator should have several years of investigative experience along with the best sources and methods to locate a missing person, a missing relative, a lost love, a runaway child, and difficult to find a witness for an attorney. Worldwide Intelligence Network has a 95% success record for locating people over the past twenty-nine years.
Legal Investigations: It takes years of investigative experience to properly learn how to conduct an investigation assigned by an attorney. Legal issues are complex and the Private Investigator should be fully briefed by the attorney-client to understand the matter at hand. The Private Investigator must not attempt to acquiring information illegally as it will reflect poorly for the attorney. The best investigative results are usually accomplished when working under the supervision of a superb attorney. Clients requiring a private investigator with legal investigative experience should ask the private investigator about what kind of legal investigations they performed. It is perfectly fine to ask the Private Detective for references from their attorney clients. Below are real testimonials from the Worldwide Intelligence Network‘s attorney clients.
I recall three separate investigations you made major contributions to our clients. Your work on an international litigation matter and the location of a significant witness immediately assisted us in obtaining the most positive result. Your finding of sequestered documents during a California matter resulted in extraordinary evidence for our client, and your location of substantial sums in hidden assets helped us to convince the defendants to agree to a favorable settlement – Martin R Pollner Loeb and Loeb
Notwithstanding your last minute retention, you immediately grasped the rather complicated legal principles in issue in this first impression criminal trademark case. You appeared in court well prepared, and were the best ‘second chair’ I have ever had the privilege to work with. Phillip M Prince, Attorney at Law
I write to reiterate my appreciation for the outstanding detective work and litigation support that contributed to the dismissal, at trial, of all charges against our client in the bribery case of U.S. v Mullen et al. (handled out of our Los Angeles office). Your investigative deductions regarding the bogus nature of key government records proved correct, and your identification of the authorship of the handwriting on the critical, so-called “anonymous complaint” was instrumental in establishing the dishonestly of the case agent up whose testimony the government had centered its prosecution – John Lang, Loeb & Loeb LLP
Stalker Investigations: These investigations pertain only to physical and not digital stalking. This is when one person is obsessed with their victim and torments their victim by following them everywhere, calling them constantly, emailing them with their true email address, and not using a spoofed email address. It takes a highly experienced Private Investigators to know how to neutralize a stalker and acquire sufficient evidence to present to law enforcement to make an arrest. The ultimate objective is to make certain the stalker’s victim can return to living a normal and safe life.
Personal Protection Agents, Executive Protection Agents, Bodyguards, and Celebrity Bodyguards: Many of our Executive Protection Agents served with the Secret Service, performed Dignitary Protection for the US Department of State, and provided Military Dignitary Protection for VIP’s entering a theater of conflict. Here is an excellent blog on what to look for in a Bodyguard.
Since 1991, Worldwide Intelligence Network has maintained an astonishing record of success as Los Angeles Private Investigators delivering clients swift resolution for their cases.