Have you ever wondered what a private investigator does? Well contrary to what the TV would have you believe these are not men and women who move around the shadows carrying out shady tasks, the reality is far different in fact. We caught up with Danny Boice, a private investigator who works for the efficient and ever-reliable Trustify alongside his partner Jennifer Mellon, in order to find out a little more about the type of tasks which he carries out each day. Let’s take a look then at some of the responsibilities which someone in this job will take on.
Information
Much of the job involves information gathering from a number of different sources. This could be anything from obtaining court documents to private information, it could even extend to getting hold of business dealings and contracts. In order to be good at this aspect of the job a PI must know where to go to get the information and they will usually have a solid list of contacts in key locations, who they can call on when they need info. It is for this reason why so many ex-police officers take on the career of a private investigator.
Interviews
As part of their information gathering process a private investigator like Danny Boice will also often need to carry out an interview with stakeholders in order to get more details about what they are working on. For example let’s say that a PI’s client has had an accident which wasn’t their fault and they have asked you to gather information to support their claim. In such a scenario one may need to interview potential witnesses who were at the scene, they also may seek to obtain CCTV footage.
Watching
Watching people is also a key responsibility in this line of work and there are many situations which may require the private investigator to carry out surveillance. The majority of the surveillance work which is undertaken is actually from a spouse or a partner who is suspicious that their partner is not being faithful. In many cases we see couples who are about to be married and one of the couple will pay a private investigator to check that the other is being faithful before they get married.
Checking
Trustify records state the the number one most common task which a private investigator must carry out are background checks. More often than not this will be an employer who wants to check out an applicant that they are thinking about hiring. The background check will include a full investigation into the person’s criminal history, educational history, work history, credit history and any other information which is deemed relevant to the position which they will be taking on. Other background checks can come from someone who wishes to enter into a relationship with someone, yet they are unsure whether or not their claims about who they are can be verified.
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