36 Investigators Share Their Concerns About the Profession

• July 30, 2014
• by Kimberly Faber
• Business Tips
• Legislation
• Technology

Concerns of 36 Private Investigators

1. Legislation restricting information release to investigators.
2. Enforcement of license requirements.
3. Too many contract persons just starting up a business without license.
4. Unlicensed and/or non-professional investigators.
5. Loss of online records.
6. Lack of consistency and an apparent lack of discipline.
7. PIs not wanting to attend Seminars to get their Continuing Education. They just do it online and skip everything else
8. Ethics.
9. Inexperienced people not willing to ask questions, over-confidence in database information, more concerned with the invoice than the investigation. And most of all government and the courts not giving us the access we need.
10. Licensing and consistency among the states relative to rules and regulations.
11. The fact that the standardization and skill level differentials are quite apparent, even in California, where the same baseline standards apply.
12. Government control.
13. The fact that anyone can apply to become a PI.
14. The competition against each other is lowering the average investigation rate and people fighting for work and lowering the hourly rate to get it.
15. The fact that many other PIs cross border states to conduct investigations without being licensed in the state that are investigating.
16. The criminals and unethical investigators working illegally, undercutting prices, and giving industry a bad name.
17. The lack of prosecutions for non licensed people working as private investigators.
18. The lack of standardized regulations.
19. The flood of low rate investigators coming in from retired law enforcement.
20. Regulation re: licenses and reciprocal for all states.
21. The fact that this is a dying industry. The public has access to so much information that our business has been cut in half by do-it-yourself investigation websites.
22. The laws limiting access of licensed/registered investigators to needed and vital information.
23. There are to many licensed private investigators that should not be licensed.
24. Acute lack of minimum standards of qualifications.
25. Too many newly retired cops undercutting prices.
26. I have a concern that there will be over regulation resulting in loss of business.
27. Myself, my agency, a previous agency that I owned for 24 years and my colleagues spend a great amount of time making efforts to promote the professionalism that this industry offers if the client base is educated on what they should expect for their investment. I am greatly concerned by any agency or investigator that conducts themselves and their business in a way that may set back our industry. Sam Spade is dead and should stay that way.
28. We are seeing an increase in fraudulent and unlicensed people.
29. My biggest concern is that each day we as an industry have to continue to fight to maintain our access to certain databases and information. There is not a week that goes by where I do not hear a story about some new legislation that has been introduced which can eliminate or hinder our access to certain database information. This is a national concern.
30. I am concerned that there are not very many agencies hiring employees. There is a shift to using mostly subcontractors, which makes it difficult for investigators entering the profession.
31. This industry has been good to me for the past 50 years. I was Army trained and entered civilian life as an investigator and have never stopped loving the work. I have had a gun pulled on me three times, but the gun never went off and I walked away. I am the only Private Investigator in the history of the United States to have a case over turned by the United States Supreme Court, based on exculpatory evidence found after the conviction in handwriting comparison. There is a lack of training just about every where I go. In Virginia, they really try to teach techniques, but if you don't have the experience you can't show students how it is to be done.
32. The business is being taken over by people who do not care about their integrity and can do anything to succeed in their goals.
33. PI's all over the country need to be held to a higher standard as to weed out those with no integrity.
34. We have less and less control on things. There does need to be stricter licensing and regulation BUT bring it to the committees and investigators to get their feedback.
35. All states should require a license.
36. I wish there was more standardization between states, and recognition of each state's licensing.

What are your concerns about the profession? Add your comments below.