Due to blockbuster movies, books and television shows people may have a notion that private investigators sit in their smoke filled offices smoking a pipe while hired by some jilted homemaker to follow around her cheating husband. While investigators do follow cheating spouses, the world of private investigation has expanded beyond our wildest dreams with use of new methods of investigation and ever enhanced technology. Private investigators have existed for over 150 years. In 1850, Allan Pinkerton founded Pinkerton National Detective Agency in France. Eventually it became the most recognized private investigation firm in the United States, even coining the term private eye.
Private investigators of today are creative and masterful in their investigative techniques whether investigating a murder, searching for a missing person, tracking down art thieves, corporate investigations that can include everything from employee background checks to financial and insurance fraud. In essence, the private detectives of today are responsible for ensuring the quality of the workforce today. They can provide clients with background information about a person or corporation.
Instead of smoking a pipe and lurking in the shadows, the private detective of today may be a master at Yoga, sipping on green tea while sitting in his vehicle providing surveillance on a Fortune 500 company employee suspected of embezzlement. Similar to sworn officers, many private investigators are experts in their fields as well as track down witnesses in a homicide case to unearth new information in order to provide a family with justice. They may be infiltrating the child sex trafficking rings to rescue children or making a buy of stolen jewelry from an international crime ring.
Not always the most glamorous job, but the investigators of today possess skills that make them masters in their trade. Gathering and analyzing information, private investigators know where to go to obtain the most up to date and accurate information on subjects of interest. Their findings and expert testimony can make or break a court case. Whether they are on a fact finding mission, verifying an identity, generating new leads on a cold case, tailing a person of interest with GPS, or taking baby diapers out of trashcans to obtain DNA for the subject of a paternity test the new age private eyes are masters of their universe.
About the Author: Kym L. Pasqualini is founder of the Nationals Missing Children Organization in 1994 and the National Center for Missing Adults in 2000. Kym is an expert in the field of missing persons and continues to advocate for crime victims utilizing 20 years’ experience working with government officials, law enforcement, advocates, private investigators, and national media.