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What
is a private investigator?
A
private investigator—also known as a PI, Private
Detective or Private Eye—is someone that is hired to
undertake an investigation. Over 80% of all activities
conducted by a private investigator are civil in
nature and fall outside of the realm of the police.
Most states require PIs to be trained and licensed.
Investigators often have a law enforcement and/or a
military background.
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Who
hires private investigators?
Law
firms, corporations, insurance companies, private
parties and entities not involved with the government
or police all have reasons to use the services of a
private investigator.
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What
should I do before hiring an investigator?
Even if
a private investigator is recommended to you, it is
important you perform your due diligence before hiring
a company. You should do the following:
-
ask for
and check references
-
obtain their license
number and check with the state licensing board to
make sure they are current and have no complaints
-
check for complaints
with the local Better Business Bureau
-
ask for
and check their insurance policy
-
ask for a contract
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Do
private investigators have to be licensed?
Most
states require a private investigator to be licensed.
California has very strict requirements, including
6,000 hours of investigations experience and rigid
testing, to obtain an investigative license, while
other states have no requirements.
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How
do I verify that someone is a licensed investigator?
Many
states have online public databases you can use to
verify an agency's or individual's investigation
license. Additionally, many of these databases will
allow you to search for valid private investigator
licenses for agencies and/or individuals. In
California, an investigator’s license status can be
researched at the State of California Department of
Consumer Affairs website -
Click Here
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How
do private investigators charge?
In
the majority of cases, private investigators will
charge an hourly rate. Hourly rates can vary. Nearly
all investigators will ask for a retainer fee before
taking a case. It is unlikely you will find an
investigator willing to do just one or two hours of
investigative work.
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What
types of things are professional private investigators
NOT allowed to do?
Although
PIs have access to information the general public can
not obtain, they must obey the same basic laws as
ordinary citizens. Three big things they can't do:
-
Pose as
law enforcement officers
-
Wire
tapping
-
Obtain
cell phone records via pre-texting (concealing
one's true intent by deception)
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What types of services do professional private
investigators provide?
Private investigators offer many types of
investigations. Investigators often work for law firms
to gather information on civil or defense cases.
Insurance companies commonly hire investigators to
look into suspicious claims. Private individuals hire
investigators to locate missing people, to do
surveillance on spouses and for many other reasons.
A large majority of detective work is spent in the
field conducting interviews or doing surveillance.
Many investigators do computer searches, background
checks and make phone calls to gather data.
Investigators are often asked to provide detailed
reports on their findings and testify in court on
behalf of their clients.
If you are looking for someone or something, chances
are a private investigator can help you. Below is a
list of some services that PI's perform:
- Accident /
Reconstruction
- Background
Checks
- Child
Support / Custody
- Corporate
- Domestic
- Electronic
Surveillance
- Forensic
- Identity
Theft
- Judgment
Recovery
- People
Locate / Skip Trace
- Public
Records
- Trial
Preparation
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- Arson / Fire
- Bounty
Hunter
- Civil
- Crime Scene
- Due
Diligence
- Executive
Protection
- Fraud
- Infidelity /
Cheating Spouse
- Missing
Persons
- Polygraph /
Lie Detector
- Repossession
- Video /
Photo Surveillance
- Wrongful
Death
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- Asset Search
- Bug Sweep /
TSCM
- Computer
Forensics / Crime
- Criminal
- Electronic
Data Discovery
- Financial
- General
- Insurance
- Mystery
Shopper
- Process
Service
- Surveillance
- Workers
Compensation
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Which types of services does Larson Private
Investigations specialize in?
-
Pre-Employment
Screening and Background Investigations –
Experienced with over 700 detailed background
investigations of police officer and civilian public
safety employees, I am highly confident I will get
you the information you need to make smart hiring
decisions.
-
Criminal
Investigations - I bring over 25 years and
40,000 cases worth of highly trained experience to your
criminal investigations.
-
Deception
Detection – With over a dozen years of
training and experience using recognized professional
interviewing methods, I will provide you with the
most accurate results possible.
-
Trial Preparation
– I can help attorneys with my skilled interviewing,
evidence gathering, and case examination skills.
-
Accident
Investigations – I have over two decades of
objective collision investigation experience.
-
Infidelity
Investigations – I will gather the necessary
evidence to confirm your suspicions or give you peace
of mind.
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What is the difference between a Pre-Employment
Screening and a Background Investigation?
Pre-employment screening
is sometimes referred to as a “background check.” This
is a limited impartial look into someone’s immediate
personal and criminal history. This includes:
-
Name and Social Security Number Verification
-
Age and year of birth scan
-
Driver’s License Verification
-
Countywide search for criminal convictions (7 years)
-
Countywide search for Superior Court civil cases
-
Employment Verification
-
Education Verification
A background
investigation is a deeper examination of someone’s
personal history, criminal history, and professional
background:
-
Includes everything in
a Pre-Employment Screening
-
Includes search for relatives, associates, and
marital status
-
Includes fraud scan for aliases and false SSNs
-
Address history with dates of residency
-
Includes bankruptcies, judgments, foreclosures,
evictions, tax liens, and many other indicators such
as civil cases and divorces
-
Statewide felony conviction search
-
Local search for Municipal civil cases
-
Statewide Superior Court civil cases
-
Education, business and professional history,
military service
-
Source of income, and business affiliations
-
Includes confidential source information
-
Family background and marital history
-
Search for Federal criminal cases
-
Nationwide bankruptcies and tax liens
-
Includes interviews with
direct and indirect references
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Who needs
background checks?
There are many reasons
why you may one day need to run a background check:
- Employee
checks: Not running employment background
checks can make you liable if an employee with a
criminal record uses your business to commit
crimes.
- Criminal
background check: Estimates suggest that
9-10% of the US population has a criminal
record. Knowing whether someone you trust falls
into this percentage can protect you from crime
and fraud.
- Personal
background checks: Dating service checks can
help ensure that the person you're meeting is
safe. Personal background checks can also bring
you peace of mind about a neighbor or friend’s
behavior.
- Caregiver
checks: According to some statistics, up to
14% of child abuse is attributed to caregivers
such as nannies and babysitters. A very high
percentage of abuse of the elderly is caused by
caregivers. Nanny checks and background checks
can help you prevent tragedy.
-
Pre-employment checks: According to some
studies, between 10 and 35% of all job
applicants lie about their education and
qualifications. A background check can let you
know who you’re really hiring.
- Tenant
checks: If you will be subletting, renting,
or otherwise allowing someone to stay on your
property, a tenant check can let you know how
reliable and honest your would-be renter really
is.
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Why are Background Checks and Background
Investigations so important?
It’s simple.
LIE-Ability equals liability. Today, an employee’s background is about a lot more
than just criminal checks.
Hiring and retaining employees in today’s marketplace
is complex; in fact, it’s more of a matter of life and
death for most businesses. The liabilities inherited
with each job offer include:
-
Employee theft
-
Huge turnover rates
-
Unqualified employees
-
Negligent hiring practices and discrimination based
lawsuits
-
Violence in the workplace
Each of these
challenges has a distinct and overwhelming effect on
every business, within every market segment in every
country of the world.
Quality hiring decisions build profitable and
successful companies; bad employees tear them down.
All other problems aside, employee theft alone has
been described as an epidemic... a corporate cancer… a
disease murdering American enterprise. It has also
been characterized as the fastest growing segment of
our economy.
Understand first, that past performance is ALWAYS
indicative of future behavior. You must completely and
accurately gather all of the facts from a potential
new-hire concerning previous work history,
performance, attitude, criminal involvement, etc.
40% of all small businesses which ultimately fail or
are forced to file for bankruptcy do so because they
suffer from employee fraud and theft?
In one research study, in 91% of employee theft cases,
the identified employee was predisposed to causing
loss and he or she had participated in acts that
caused losses to previous employers.
But how do you make an
informed decision when it has been PROVEN that at
least 35% of all job applicants will lie to you?
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What makes Larson Private Investigations background
checks superior?
My agency's backgrounds
are designed with your specific needs in mind. My
experience in detailed investigating and deception
detection combine to create a very clear picture of
the subject of the background. I personally perform
each background investigation and write clearly and
concisely, producing a superior product in an
easy-to-interpret format.
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What is a
Criminal Investigation?
A criminal investigation
looks for clues and evidence to determine whether a
crime has taken place and who is responsible. If a
crime has been committed, a criminal investigation may
look into the background of the accused and may try to
uncover who committed the crime. Police agencies and
law enforcement are committed to criminal
investigations of every kind, but police forces are so
overwhelmed with crime and so understaffed that not
all criminal investigations get fully investigated.
A growing number of
individuals are choosing to launch their own criminal
investigations with the help of professional
investigators.
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Why Do I Need an Independent Criminal Investigation?
Although in the past
many people have allowed law enforcement to conduct
criminal investigations, today a growing awareness of
the problems with this method has pushed many people
to seek independent investigations. A private
investigator is not only exclusively dedicated to
solving a case, but he or she often does not have the
limitations of resources and jurisdiction that a law
enforcement agency must contend with. Plus, an
investigator will look for things on your terms –
whether or not the police are convinced that no crime
was committed. Investigators will even work on
criminal defense investigations, gathering evidence of
wrongful conviction or accusation.
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How Reliable are Larson Private Investigation's
Criminal Investigators?
I possess over 25 years
of highly-trained experience in conducting
investigations into every type of crime, including
homicide, assault, robbery, kidnapping, sex crimes,
and theft / fraud investigations. There are specific
investigation techniques for almost every crime you
could imagine. Since I take cues from you, I will
generally continue to investigate until you are
satisfied, so that the chances that you will get the
answers you seek are quite high.
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What is Trial
Preparation?
Trial preparation
involves gathering and preparing the raw material for
a court or hearing. Trial or hearing preparation can
include evidence gathering, forensic investigation,
private investigations, evidence analysis, preparing
witness testimony, creation of investigation reports,
medical investigations, criminal investigations, and
many other assets. Effective trial preparation can be
essential to winning a case, so it should never be
ignored.
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But won't my lawyer take care of trial preparation?
Unfortunately, many
people lose important court cases because they assume
that their attorney will take care of all the details
before a hearing or court case. The attorney's job,
however, is to prepare the material at hand. If there
is not enough evidence for your case your lawyer may
simply not be able to prepare a strong legal argument.
By taking the process of trial preparation into your
own hands through the hiring of a qualified
investigative professional, you can drastically
improve the chances of success in court.
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How do I know if I need additional trial preparation
from an investigative expert?
If your attorney is not
completely sure that you will win your court case, you
should hire a private investigator, who may be able to
uncover evidence to help you. In fact, if there is any
chance that you may not get the outcome you want in
court, why take the chance? Appeals and additional
trials are costly and time consuming. A private
investigator can help you get the proof you need for
your hearing or court date.
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How can Larson Private Investigations help with trial
preparation?
I possess over 25 years
of highly-trained experience in conducting
investigations, interviewing witnesses, and gathering
evidence to build successful cases for the
prosecution. Who better to know what kind of
investigation could uncover evidence to help you than
someone who knows how the prosecution works? I can
help with surveillance and background checks of
suspects, witness interviews, evidence gathering, and
can even help find missing persons. I can even act as
an expert witness on your behalf. In short, my agency
can help your attorney get the raw material needed to
win your case.
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