Private Investigator Career
Private investigators assist attorneys, businesses, insurance companies, and the general public by gathering and analyzing evidence and other information. They establish connections in clues in order to reveal facts about financial, legal, and personal matters. Private investigators offer several services including corporate, executive, pre-employment verification, celebrity protection, and individual profiles. Some investigators investigate IT-related cases involving email harassment, identity theft, and copyright infringement. They also assist in solving civil liability and criminal cases, fraud cases, insurance claims, child custody cases, premarital screening, and missing-person cases. Private investigators can be hired to investigate infidelity issues between individuals.
Private Investigator Job Duties
Private investigators use several techniques in order to gather and study facts for their cases. Most of their work may be done with the computer. For instance, they can recover lost or deleted files such as documents and emails or they can perform database searches or employ the work of someone who can. Computers allow them to quickly get hold of large amounts of data such as telephone numbers, police records, convictions, motor vehicle information, civil legal judgments, club memberships and other associations, social networking profiles, and photos.
Private Investigator Education
It is not required to hold a degree in order to become a private investigator. However a bachelors degrees in Police Science or Criminal Justice will be very useful. Private investigators who are skilled in computers will also benefit from degrees in Accounting or Computer Science. One third of private investigators hold a bachelor’s degree while around 18% only hold a degree in high school. Most of the corporate investigators however must hold bachelor’s degree in a business-related field. Some of them will also have a law degree or a master’s degree in Business Administration. Others are also CPAs.
How to Work as a Private Investigator
Most US states will require a license plus 3 years of law enforcement experience in order to work as a private investigator. State requirements to obtain a license include holding a degree in Criminal Justice or Law, Political Science, and being at least 18 years of age. Aspiring investigators must also pass a criminal history background check conducted by the FBI and the state Department of Justice. They also must pass a 2-hour written test in laws and regulations.
Many become private investigators as a prospective change. They frequently work with collection or insurance companies, private security, military, law enforcement, military intelligence, and government auditing.
Private Investigator Salary Expectations
Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about one-third of private investigators are self-employed. They also report that another third serve in large private detective agencies and security services. The rest of them work for legal services firms, local and State governments, insurance agencies, employment services companies, and banks.
According to the BLS, the median annual wages earned by private investigators were $41,760 in May 2008. Their wages will vary based on their employer, specialization, and geographic location.
