What is the job of a private investigator?
A private investigator works for clients who want to unearth information that can’t easily be traced through other means. However, they are private citizens and not members of official law enforcement.
Before you become a private investigator, you must know and respect the laws of the profession. You must also apply for a license to operate legally as a private investigator and prove your worth as a licensed detective.
The duties of a private investigator in Delhi include the following: Meeting clients, Researching legal information, conducting background checks, researching personal information, carry out surveillance, photographing suspicious activity, researching financial information, interviewing people, procuring witness statements, investigating consumer, banking and online fraud, getting reports made, verifying information, looking into computer crimes and identity theft, collecting evidence, tracing missing persons or assets and so on.
How to become a private investigator
In this field, experience is often preferred over education. However, a combination of education and experience makes you a valuable candidate as a private investigator. It takes time and effort to become a private investigator due to the sensitive nature of the profession.
Here are steps you can take to become a private investigator:
Every state has its own requirements for private investigator licenses. Depending on the state, there may also be a minimum of working hours required. Persons from the military, law enforcement or a degree in criminal justice, paralegals, process servers and collections agents may choose second careers as private investigators.
Education
To become a private investigator, you require a high school diploma or something like it. An associate or bachelor’s degree in criminal justice or a related field is required by some employers. Classes may educate you on local, state and federal laws, understanding how the court system works, privacy requirements, criminal and civil law, documentation and preparation of, legal procedures, due process, surveillance, research, interviewing etc. You should have enhanced computer skills and knowledge since these are primary tools for private investigators.
Undergo firearms training
As a private detective, you can carry a weapon for self-defense and undergo firearms training and self-defense training. Use of chemical sprays, tasers, stun guns, batons, nightsticks and truncheons may be required.
Fulfill the minimum requirements
Alongside education and experience, a private detective will have to be at least 18 or 21 years old, not have any conviction in any jurisdiction nor found by a court to be incompetent due to mental disease. A background check so that you submit your fingerprints for a federal criminal database is required.
Besides the technical skills required for the job, private investigators require personal skills, such as
- Communication skills, like the ability to ask sharp questions, listen interestedly to the answers and pay careful attention to details
- Critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making to think and act quickly as the situation demands
- Patience to take long hours of surveillance and fact-gathering
- Initiative to follow wherever the information leads
- The ability to keep secrets and information confidential until the matter is resolved by the client
