First of all, don’t get angry with your investigator.

Any good investigator will have many questions for you, one of the most important being, where and when will the surveillance begin?

We don’t ask this question to frustrate you. We realize that in most cases, “if you knew that� you wouldn’t need us. Well, here’s the thing, we don’t know your husband/boyfriend/wife/girlfriend at all. I don’t know that your significant other works late on Tuesdays and Thursdays, has dinner with his folks every Sunday at 5 and has his kids every Wednesday and every other weekend, for example.

With that being said, there are a couple of things you can consider when choosing your most effective “start time�.

Rule out the periods of time when you are absolutely certain that it CANNOT be happening, i.e., those times listed above. Once you put pen to paper, you may see a clear pattern of behavior emerge, for example; Aha! Monday evenings, he is supposed to get off of work at 5, but he never gets home until 8. There you have it, your rock solid start time.

But he’s in sales, you say. He is his company’s most valued employee as he is tireless in his dedication to his work and clients. He is ALWAYS working, you say.

Well, have no fear. Here is when some good, ol’ fashioned creativity comes in handy. If cheater offers no clear opportunity, then we will create one for him.

Do you ever travel? Enjoy weekend visits with your folks or old friends? Not usually?

Well, do it now. Hire yourself a professional investigator to monitor the where-abouts of your sweetie. Give him plenty of notice. If cheater is seeing someone else who is supposedly in a committed relationship, this will give them an opportunity to get their stories straight and free them self of their significant other during the same time.

Still nothing? You say, “but we haven’t spent one night apart in 25 years……�

Then you leave your investigator very few options. You must increase your budget.

We hate to ask. We like to work cost efficiently. But in cases such as the above, we just have to ask you to pick a time and go for it. Perhaps you can start with 30-40 hours. Let the investigator get out in the field to get a feel for his subject. He may find that after 5 hours spent tailing the subject, he has an idea of what’s going on and can offer helpful suggestions as far as when the subsequent surveillance sessions should realistically begin.

We do hope that these tips help. We want to help you, but remember, you’ve loved this person for how long now and you don’t know what’s going on.

We certainly have no idea……

The AP reported that the famous saga of a woman who killed her cheating husband by mowing him down with her luxury car returns to court Tuesday in a civil case Clara Harris filed against her former defense attorney. Jury selection is set to begin more than three years after Harris filed a lawsuit claiming Houston attorney George Parnham overcharged to defend her in the 2003 murder trial that garnered international attention.

Harris, 50, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for running over her philandering spouse in a hotel parking lot in 2002 after confronting him with his mistress. The lawsuit claims Harris hired Parnham for $75,000 but wound up paying more than $235,000.

Should people enlist the help of a private investigator to find an old girlfriend?  
The answer is a resounding, absolutely, and, no way.

That makes no sense, you say.  Well, let me give you some points to ponder before you get upset with me.

I don’t know who you are.  I am sure you are a fine person of strong moral character and certainly a pillar of integrity within your community, but none-the-less, you are a stranger to me.  I have been specifically trained to question anything unfamiliar to me.  Please don’t be offended when I am unmoved by proclamations to the effect of “I’m not crazy�.   

You must understand that I have no idea of the circumstances behind the demise of your past relationship.  I am always curious though, if she wanted to remain friends with you, why did she not provide you with her forwarding information?  Never-the-less, I am not always so cynical.  I know that friends lose touch.  I know that people grow up and move away and friendships get lost in life’s shuffle.  If this is true in your case, then nothing will bring me greater joy then to reunite you and your friend, but let’s consider the more sinister side of people and their motives. 

At least once a day, I’ll get a call from a seemingly kind man who “just lost his wife� and would enjoy reconnecting with his “first love� just to see how she is and how her life is going.  Well, my first instinct is to be moved by the romance of it all.  How special she must be that she is thought of so highly after so many years……sigh….but I digress….  

Suddenly, I am reminded of the harsh reality of “sometimes�.  Sometimes seemingly kind man has a restraining order against him.  Sometimes “first love� is unrequited and would tremble if she thought a private investigator revealed her whereabouts to her ex boyfriend. 

As professional private investigators we have a duty to know the intentions of our prospective clients.  We have a policy here from which we never deviate; we will NEVER release our subject’s personal information without her permission.  We also make it our business to know exactly who our clients are so it should not come as a surprise when I ask you for the first 5 or last 4 digits of your social security number on our investigations agreement.  I want to be sure that you are who you say you are. 

Okay, with all that being said, let’s assume you’re on the up and up.  Let’s say that you want to know whether your ex is married or single before you decide to contact her.  No problem.  I am perfectly willing to let you know what I believe her marital status to be (this is not free of charge).  If it appears she is attached, you may decide to hold off on contacting her.  We will file her information for future reference in case circumstances change for either of you. 

If she is free, one of our female investigators will contact her to offer your contact information, or obtain her permission to release hers to you.  We can also forward a handwritten letter from you, to her.  This allows us to withhold her information while still allowing you to reach out to her.   

I’m a huge romantic and a fan of first loves reuniting in the second half of their lives. I just want to be sure that both parties are as pleased as I am about the prospect of becoming reacquainted with each other.  I hope you understand.   I hope you take comfort in knowing that I will protect your information as diligently as I do hers.                                           

 

I had an opportunity to attend a training for investigators recently and during one of the breaks there was an excited conversation taking place within a group of investigators who were new to the business. They had what sounded like a varied past set of experiences, some being from the military, some from law enforcement and at least one from corporate security. They were having a good time pointing out the “problems” associated with domestic cases like infidelity investigations. In particular, they felt the clients, who mind you are going through a very difficult time dealing with the prospect of their spouse cheating on them and who have no idea how investigations are handled, are not smart enough to represent. The labeled these clients as “morons” and began some excellent story telling about cases where the client was charged a large amount of money but, the investigation failed to yield any results.

This same group then began describing how the often charge such clients hundreds of dollars for “data” about the other man/woman, that is nothing more than database runs that cost $ 5 and $10, again laughing about the loser clients who buy that info.

At this point I joined the conversation and asked about their practices, areas od specialization, training, office location and staff size. This lead the another round of jokes about how a PI should always take every case that comes their way and simply farm out the work to someone else for a kick back rather than simply telling the client that they do not do that type of work.

This lack of professionalism is a major cause of concern the “real” private investigators, with real offices, real staff, real reports, real training, real ethics policies and a real commitment to their clients.

IMO, if your PI is working from their home office in the basement, run! You deserve better.