Information Articles Specific to Private Investigators
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Quick Notes!

Interview Mistakes
B Holmes

Avoid these common tendencies to shortcut the interview process:

  • Interrupt the interviewee; re-direct their attention to another topic or time period during a narrative response. This reduces the quantity and quality of information received.

  • Jump in and ‘assist’ the witness or victim recall facts. This alienates the interviewee and potentially leads to inaccurate conclusions.

  • Ask closed, short answer, “fill-in-the-blank” questions as the primary interview method. Opt instead to use open-ended questions. Interviewees will not freely share information or feel a need to recall information when asked closed, short answer questions.

  • Selectively listen to statements made be the interviewee. Investigators miss, or discount important information the interviewee may provide they selectively listen. Further, Investigators reduce their ability to recall information from the interview.

Over time, investigators tend to develop shortcut habits that reduce the quality and quantity of information they obtain in an interview. Shortcutting the interview process is contrary to proven cognitive interview techniques.


Client Expectations

J. Allison


Any PI that does not help their client to understand the expectations for their investigative needs at the onset of the investigation may be creating a failure scenario. 

Depending on the investigation, investigative firm resources and experience of the investigators it is important to review the initial case and provide the client with a worse case scenario. Case investigators should identify the clients expectations through the initial interview then review the case and identify potential for success. Always lean toward the worse case scenario. 

Clearly state the realistic outcomes to the client in the interview or in a follow-up interview once a complete review of the case has been made. Ensure that the client understands the baseline of the investigation and that outcomes may not be what they want. 

Hopefully, your case will progress beyond the worse case scenario exceeding your client's expectations. 

Probable Cause
by PI HQ

Picture
You have been asked by a defense attorney to review a criminal case to determine if the officer had probable cause to search or arrest. What is probable cause? 

Well there is not a specific definition that you can easily hang your hat on, but there are some commonly accepted definitions that may assist you. 

"Probable Cause to search exists where the known facts and circumstances are sufficient to warrant a man of reasonable prudence in the belief that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in the place to be searched."

"Probable cause to complete an arrest exists when the known facts and circumstances are sufficient to warrant a prudent person in believing the suspect had committed or was committing an offense."

Whenever courts try to determine if probable cause exists they will look at the "totality of the circumstances". They look at all the facts known to the officer at the time. 

Your best approach is to identify the facts that were known "at the time" to the officer. This would include information they were given in response to the call, statements made by witnesses to the officer, odors, actions of the defendant and visual clues that the officer could and did see prior to the arrest or search. 

Creating a timeline is one method you can use to demonstrate the probable cause, or lack of probable cause, the officer had at the time. Start with the time the officer received the call, arrived on the scene, order in which the witnesses were interviewed and the time the officer encountered the defendant. This will assist your client in determining if probable cause was questionable. 

Interviews- Cooperative Witnesses
A. Siler

True or False: 
"Interviewing a cooperative witness is easier than interviewing a suspect."


Difficult to determine whether it is true or false. The better answer, an option not given, is: "it depends." 

Interviewing cooperative witnesses takes as much preparation time, thought, and processing of the information they provide as interviews of suspects. Sometimes information provided by cooperative witnesses is not as accurate as information received from a suspect. 

Case Files
by PI HQ

"Its all about the paperwork!"

Completing case file entries is a tedious part of the job for most Private Investigators. It is easy to put off completing case file entries. 

Maintaining your case files is critical to your success as it is the primary way your clients will evaluate your performance. Establish firm guidelines for completing case file entries and share with all of your private investigators or private detectives. At a minimum, include guides or procedures for: 

  • Timely entries
  • Complete content
  • Spelling and grammar
  • Logging calls, visits and missed calls 
  • Contact information requirements
  • Where case files are to be filed, or stored
If you are not sure where to start on creating a policy manual, or if you don't have enough time, get help! It is difficult to build policies and procedures as you go. Constant changing of processes will reduce the compliance of your private investigators and will cause you headaches later on. 

Using a case management software program may be helpful as well. Visit The Case File

Surveillance

Depending on the type, surveillance based investigations can be an expensive alternative for the client and the Private Investigator firm. Surveillance can be divided in to two broad categories: 

Stationary - investigation is focused on specific location where the target is expected to be when they conduct the activity being investigated. 

Mobile - target must be under surveillance to determine where, when, and, if possible, what they are doing. 

Mobile surveillance operations are the most costly in staff. To conduct a proper vehicle surveillance requires two vehicles at a minimum. Additional vehicles are required in more urban areas.