What to look for

What to look for in a PI (http://www.tracepeople.co.uk)

The words "Private Investigator" conjure up all sorts of images of sneaking around, spying, shadiness, and daring moves that movies and television series have implanted in the mind of the general public. Most of the time they are incorrect, and it is surprising to know that the types of cases regularly featured on such programs a regular private investigator wouldn't go near with a barge pole as often results couldn't be delivered to the client except through some form of illegal action! And no private investigator wants to lose their livelihood and be thrown in jail over a measly few thousand dollars (which is what the cases in the movies would often take to solve - a lot of time).

I myself am a private investigator, although I'm far from being the next Tom Cruise. My work rarely takes me out of the office. Why? Its simply cheaper for the client if I can complete my tasks from the office (using the Internet, databases, and the telephone) than spending hours driving about the city! In fact most cases start and end in the office, taking only a few hours. Modern private investigators have a wealth of public information at their fingertips and access to specialist databases that you have to go through countless checks in order to gain access to, and are only shared with investigations and debt collection companies.

I specialise in finding missing persons. Solicitors, debt collectors and members of the general public often need my services in order to resolve legal cases, repayment of debts or to put them back in contact with lost friends and family.

When hiring a private investigator you have to know what to look for, just like how you’d attribute value to a car because you know what to look for. The main thing to point out is that in the UK private investigators aren’t licensed, anyone can be a private investigator. This is all set to change in 2008/09 with the introduction of a licensing and training scheme. At the moment indicators of experience are membership of associations:-

The World Association of Private Investigators (WAPI)

- I’m a full member, you need to have been a PI for 3+ years with them to be a full member. They’re based in London.

The Association of British Investigators (ABI)

The Institute of professional investigators (IPI)

The Scottish Investigators Forum (SIF) – I’m a full member.

Keep in mind that each association charges around Ł100/yr membership fee so most PIs will be a member of 1 or 3 of them but not all.

If you need someone traced give me an email – http://www.tracepeople.co.uk

Thanks, Andy