Most states that have requirements for licensing a private investigator and demand some sort of prior investigative background to be a licensed investigator. Many private investigators are retired federal investigators or police or sheriff detectives. To be an effective investigator you need to have the experience behind you. Training and formal education can sharpen the tool, but it needs to be wielded by an experienced hand. Few occupations emphasize experience like the investigative endeavors.
Private Investigators Help You Find Justice
Doing the job of an investigator is collecting the evidence to capture the perpetrator of the crime, not just anyone, but the actual bad guy. If an innocent person is accused and convicted justice has not been served. And justice served in civil litigation is just as important as criminals finding justice. Good investigative technique is applicable to all forms of investigation, including intelligence, civil or criminal.
Eyewitness Testimony
One of the primary, and probably the most unreliable is eyewitness testimony. Separating the wheat from chaff is the investigator’s responsibility. Police attempt to separate individuals that are at a crime scene. Collusion in testimony is a subliminal activity, not meant to be a lie, but as people talk their perception of an event tends to take on a common theme. Not usually a collusion of falsehoods but one of agreement. Also, the witnesses have varying backgrounds, education and life experiences that color their perceptions of an event. Unless two witnesses are standing near each other people will see things from different angles dictated by their position relative to the event’s primary actors. A good investigator uses body language and other techniques to read the voracity of an individual’s statement. Deviations are expected unless the group has had time to converse, and thus color the memory of the event. Interview techniques are a primary tool in the investigator’s arsenal.
Informational Interviews & Confrontational Interrogations
There are two types of interviews. Informational interviews and confrontational interrogations. Informational statements result from an interview or a voluntary statement. Voluntary statements are narrated or written statements from a witness (everybody is a witness or suspect), usually without any interaction from the investigator. Voluntary statements serve as a foundation that allows the investigator to put together an effective interview and may dictate the course of the investigation. An interview is a question answer format where the investigators asks questions and the witness answers. A good investigator will be prepared with a list of questions, but flexible to follow tangents in testimony that may reveal an aspect unknown, not perceived or overlooked by the interviewer. Interrogation seeks an incriminating statement, a confession of guilt and is directed at the accused. The interrogation is the only time that the criminal justice system has a shot at obtaining information from a suspect, as he or she have rights that prevent self-incrimination, and the rules of law must be followed to a tee. But the private investigator is not an agent of the state and though they must follow laws protecting privacy, they don’t have the responsibility of protecting an individual from self-incrimination.
Lead Generation
The investigator needs to develop leads and to capture and interpret information. He must strive to be flexible in establishing a hypothesis regarding the cause. Intelligence analysts develop a hypothesis and then try to disprove it. It has been found that once and individual becomes ‘married’ to a concept is takes seven times the evidence before they drop a hypothesis and consider alternatives. Most investigators work in isolation so they must be willing to test preconceived notions and hypothesis. Private investigators are officers of the court. They expected to be professional and delivery testimony and evidence. Some investigators are hired by both sides in civil litigation and are trying to culpability or exculpatory evidence that confirms or denies the allegations set forth in the suit.
Private Investigations, Security & More in Greater Miami, Sunny Isles, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Weston, Plantation City & Miami Gardens Florida
Private investigations can be exciting but attention to detail is demanded of the investigative professional.
Advanced Private Investigations and Security of Miami, FL can handle all your private investigator and security needs.
