Investigation Business Basics

Study Unit

Investigation BusinessBasicsBy

Robert Haack

Contributing Reviewer

Leroy E. Cook

Copyright © 2003 by Education Direct, Inc.

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About the Author

Robert Haack received a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from New

York Institute of Technology and a Master's degree in Criminal Justice and

Security Management from Long Island University, C. W. Post, Brookville,

NY. He is a New York State Police Instructor, certified by the New York

State Bureau of Municipal Police.

Mr. Haack is a Detective Sergeant with the Suffolk County, NY police

department. He is presently the Commanding Officer of the Computer

Crime Investigation Unit, a specialized unit he formed to provide technical

support to all investigative commands. Prior to his police career, he was

a probation officer for Suffolk County and supervised a case load of con-

victed drug offenders. During this time he also performed presentence and

background investigations. Mr. Haack has distinguished himself at the

Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and has received the title of

Seized Computer Evidence Recovery Specialist (SCERS).

About the Contributing Reviewer

Leroy E. Cook is the founder and president of ION Incorporated. Prior to

founding ION in 1987, he operated his own investigation agency for 15 years

and served 8½ years as an all lines adjuster and branch manager with the

General Adjustment Bureau. He has been awarded numerous investigative

industry certifications, including CLI (Certified Legal Investigator), CII

(Certified International Investigator), CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), and

CPP (Certified Protection Professional). He has lectured at conferences of

the World Association of Detectives, National Council of Investigative and

Security Services, and the American Society of Industrial Security. He

served as a check pilot and provided flight instruction in Alaska for 12 years.

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As a private investigator, you’ll take

part in many types of investigations.

Each investigation has its own unique

characteristics. Some people argue

investigation is an art; others claim it’s

more of a science. Unless you’re inde-

pendently wealthy, it must be a business

first and an art or science second.

Certain basic steps remain constant throughout the business

of investigation. Everyone involved in the business should

be aware of these basic steps and follow them. For example,

private investigators must have a business structure in

which to work. Within the business, every case has to be

set up and records must be kept. Even when you work for

someone else, cases don’t just happen; they come from

clients. There are right ways and wrong ways to handle

cases, starting with the first contact with a potential client.

There must be a fee charged for work done, and the fee must

be collected. In order for these important steps to occur, good

records must be kept. On television or in the movies, little is

ever said about record keeping, the tedious part of investiga-

tion. In any investigation, record keeping or documentation

is one of the most important steps you’ll perform. For your

work to have value to the client, you must closely document

everything you do, from the beginning to the end. As a pri-

vate investigator, whether you’re working as an employee of

someone else or you’re self-employed, you’ll be working on

your own much of the time. For this reason, your personal

time management is one of the basics of the investigation

business you must master.

As a private investigator, you’ll need to learn about business

structures and the necessary task of documentation—both in

running a business and in all aspects of investigation. Keeping

good, factual records, including specific instructions provided

by your clients, is necessary for writing reports and for billing

purposes. You must learn about establishing a case file

and about various forms that can be used throughout an

investigation. You’ll develop the process of selecting supplies,

equipment and resources you’ll need to conduct investigations.

In this unit, you’ll be introduced to some of the decisions

you’ll need to make before starting to work on a case.

Previewiv

When you complete this study unit, you’ll be able to • Decide which services to offer

• Record and file reports, photos, videotapes, and audiotapes

• Outline an investigation

• Develop information from various sources

• Identify potential clients

• Market your services

• Set up administrative procedures

• Create appropriate forms

• Create an effective report format

• Set up case files

• Control billing

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TERMINOLOGY 1

OLD-FASHIONED BUSINESS BASICS 2

SETTING UP THE BUSINESS 3

A Name for the Business 3Location Selection 4Legal Structure 4Capital 5Insurance 6The Business Plan 6Setting a Price 8Employees 13Record Keeping 13Marketing 14Exit Strategy 14

RECEIVING NEW CASES 17

Qualifying the Client 17Taking Notes 18Opening the File 20Double-Checking Important Information 25Case Details 25Timing and Budget 28Description of Assignment and Notes 30Budget Agreement 30

THE BUSINESS OF PRIVATE INVESTIGATION 33

File Tracking 33Supplies and Equipment 35Case Notes 37The Basic Questions 41Evidence Handling 48The Case File 52Witness Interviews 53Taking Notes during an Interview 53

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE MANAGEMENT (COLLECTIONS) 58

Accounts Receivable 58Collections 59

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Contentsvi

ESTABLISHING RESOURCES 63

Free Resources 63Freedom of Information Act 64In-House Resources 67Subscription Resources 68

PRACTICAL EXERCISES 71

Exercise 1 71Exercise 2 73

SELF-CHECK ANSWERS 75

EXAMINATION 77

1

TERMINOLOGY

Following are some terms you should become familiar with.

These terms will appear throughout this program.

Adjuster An insurance investigator who also negotiates

settlements

Adversarial Having to do with two opponents or enemies

(i.e., plaintiff and defense)

Chronological Arranged by order of time

Data Items of information, as in a databank

DOB Date of birth

Diary Short for “diary date” (insurance term for

“review date”)

Examiner Insurance industry term for foreman or

supervisor—short for “claims examiner”

Identifier An item of data unique to an individual or a small

group of individuals

Intake form Assignment sheet

Overhead All costs of doing business other than direct

production costs

Perpetrator, or perp Police term for “person who committed

a criminal act”

Prospect Anyone who might become a client

Public record Records open to the public that are

maintained by government agencies

Qualify To evaluate or determine the value (quality) of

something

Investigation Business Basics

Sequential Arranged by order of occurrence

SIU Insurance industry acronym for special investigation unit

Statute Short for “statute of limitations”—length of time

allowed for filing a lawsuit

Toll Legal term meaning to suspend or delay the statute of

limitations (for example, if the defendant leaves the state,

the statute of limitations may toll to give the plaintiff

time to track the defendant down)

Variable An item of data that changes with each new case

OLD-FASHIONED BUSINESSBASICS

Let’s look at something we’ve all had close experience with—

a neighborhood store or market. The owner had to have a

location, an inventory, an inventory management system, a

record keeping system, a delivery system, and a way of get-

ting paid. When you’re in business as a private investigator,

you’ll have to deal with the same basics. Your inventory will

be your files, and they’ll have to be managed. You’ll have to

keep records and you’ll have to get paid. This unit will point

out many things that will seem difficult and can cause prob-

lems if not handled correctly, but don’t be discouraged. Think

of the neighborhood store. It wasn’t always easy for the store

owners, but they kept going by doing the basics, day after

day. It’s the same with a private investigation business. You

don’t have to solve all the problems at once.

In the first unit of this program, we said everyone is an

investigator. Those who aren’t in the business of private

investigation might do many of the same things you’ll do

as a private investigator, but they won’t get paid for doing

them. If you don’t get paid for what you do once you become

a private investigator, you won’t be able to stay in business

very long.

Investigation Business Basics2

Investigation Business Basics 3

SETTING UP THE BUSINESS

When you first become a private investigator, it’s recommended

you work for someone else. This way, you don’t have to tackle

all there is to know to succeed as a private investigator and

all there is to know about operating a business at the same

time. The essentials for founding and operating your own

business will be reviewed as a part of this program, but only

briefly. Describing all the issues of business ownership and

operation would require a totally separate program.

Following are a few of the factors a new business owner

needs to deal with:

• A name for the business

• Location selection

• Legal structure

• Capital (startup money)

• Insurance

• The business plan

• Setting a price or rate for services

• Employees

• Record keeping/accounting

• Marketing

• Exit strategy

A Name for the Business

Many factors can be considered when selecting a name for a

private investigation business. It’s best if the name can convey

what the business does. Some people use a word or name

that has special meaning to them, possibly referring to some-

thing from their background, like “Green Beret.” Others use

multiple “A”s at the beginning of their business name to cause

it to be listed at the top of the Yellow Pages in the phone

book. Still others like to have a quality or characteristic in


the name, such as “Integrity” or “Accurate.” Another possibility

is a geographic word like “Metro,” Countywide,” or “Dallas.”

Of course, all of these factors can’t be used at the same time,

or you would end up with a name like “AAA Green Beret

Countywide Accurate Private Investigation Services of

Chattanooga.” It would be too long to fit on a business card,

and imagine the tongue twister when trying to answer the

phone!

Location SelectionPicking a location is very important, because a poor location

decision can virtually doom your business venture from the

beginning. If you like solitude and want to live in a rural area,

you must make some important choices. It might seem as

though being a private investigator and living away from the

city is a great idea, because you can work alone. Unfortunately,

you’ll need clients and things to work on. If there’s very little

economic activity where you choose to live, it will be difficult

to find enough work to stay in business. If you’re in a large

metropolitan area, there’s likely to be more work available,

but depending on what type of investigations you want to

specialize in, you could end up establishing your business

on the wrong side of town.

If you expect to work for private individuals, you’d want to

be located as close as possible to an affluent residential area

where the people would have enough money to hire a private

investigator. If you expect to work for attorneys, it would be

helpful to locate close to the courthouse or the business com-

plexes where law firms are found (Figure 1). If you have a

particular ethnic heritage or speak a second language, those

factors can be an advantage in the right areas but be wasted

in others.

Legal StructureThere are several ways to organize a business. It can be set

up as a proprietorship, a partnership, a C Corporation, a

Subchapter S Corporation, or a Limited Liability Corporation

(LLC), to name some of the options. The actual definitions for

each of these ways of organizing a business can vary from

state to state. The important thing to know is that you do

4


have options. If you get your license and start taking cases

without selecting any specific form of business, you’ll be

considered a proprietorship. If you go into business with a

partner, you’ll be doing business as a partnership. In both of

these cases, the business structure doesn’t provide protection

against liability claims. Business structures such as limited

partnerships and corporations can provide some liability

protection, but they add a level of complexity to being in

business. If you’re going to stay small and don’t have many

personal assets, going into business as a proprietorship is

the simplest way. If you have assets you don’t want to expose

to potential liability from a business-related lawsuit, such as

a home or inheritance, you would probably want to use some

form of corporation. To do this, you’ll need to consult an

attorney.

CapitalIt takes money to start a business. Most states require private

investigators to have a license. The cost of a private investiga-

tor license can cost from about $100 to $500 or more. The

licensing agency could require you to obtain a bond, a type

of insurance meant to protect consumers, before issuing a

license. Bonds and other forms of insurance cost more money.

Equipment, supplies, and facilities all cost money. If you

start out working for someone else, it’s good to be aware of

all these hurdles that your employers had to clear to go into

FIGURE 1—Locating yourbusiness near the court-house is best if you wantto work with attorneys.

business and provide a place for you to get experience. Being

aware of their sacrifices and investments helps you to under-

stand why you’ll be expected to do things their way. After all,

it’s their money at risk.

Insurance

In addition to some states requiring a bond before a private

investigator can get a license, many large clients, such as

insurance companies, require the private investigators they

hire to have professional liability insurance, also known as

Errors and Omissions (E & O) insurance. E & O insurance will

generally cost from $100 to $300 a month, payable by the

year. You’ll also need insurance on your automobiles and

possibly hazard insurance covering your equipment. When

equipment is leased, the owner of the equipment usually

requires the lessee to prove he or she has hazard insurance

coverage (a.k.a. fire and extended coverage).

The Business Plan

If you’re going to start a small private investigation agency

and you don’t expect to borrow tens of thousands of dollars

to do it, you don’t have to have a formal business plan. An

informal business plan can be the vision in your mind, but

it’s better to write it out. Whether it’s written out or in your

head, you do need to have a plan if you expect to succeed.

Finding the answers to all the questions mentioned in this

section, or at least determining where to look for them, is

what a business plan is all about.


Typical Business Startup Expenses

• License fees • Rent

• Security deposit • Office supplies

• Furniture • Equipment

• Automobile/transportation • Initial advertising

• Operating cash • Insurance premiums

• Legal fees • Office setup (also called leasehold improvements)


You should carefully consider the business plan questions in

Figure 2. These will help you make good decisions when

you’re ready to start a business of your own.

The questions in Figure 2 aren’t all you’ll need if you’re prepar-

ing a business plan to support a loan application. That type

of business plan requires more financial statements. These

questions are meant to guide you through the thought process

you need to consider before you start investing money.

Answering some of these questions requires research.

Research is part of investigation, so doing the research

will be good experience.

1. NameWhat will you call the business and why?

2. LocationWhat geographic area will you work in?Where will you establish your office?

3. OpportunityWhat is the market for your products

or services?What target market or types of

customers are available?

4. CompetitionWhat other agencies work in the same

area?How successful are they?How will you set your fees compared to

them?Why do you think you can get customers

away from them?

5. SpecialtiesWhat investigative specialties will you

have, if any?What types of investigation cases do

the other agencies work on most?

6. StrengthsWhat competitive strengths will you

have?What are your personal strengths?

7. MarketingHow will potential clients learn about

you?What advertising will you do?What does the advertising cost?How might you get free publicity?

8. MoneyHow much startup capital will you need?Do you have startup capital?Do you have money to live on while

getting started?How long will it be before revenue is

generated?Who will do your books (keep track of

the money)?What are your revenue and expense

projections?

9. EmployeesWill you hire any support staff?Will you hire any investigators?

Questions to Ask When Making a Business Plan

FIGURE 2—Important Questions to Consider when Making Your Business Plan

Setting a Price

There’s an old joke about two hobos (homeless people) on a

park bench. One said, “I used to have the most successful

Widget business in the city.” The other asked, “What was the

secret to your success?” The first replied, “My prices were so

low, no one could compete, so I took over the entire Widget

market. I bought the Widgets for $10 each and sold them for

$8.99, so no one else could underprice me.” The second hobo

asked, “If you bought them for $10 and sold them for $8.99,

how did you make any money?” The first hobo replied proudly,

“I made up for the low price with high volume.” It’s easy to

see why this fellow ended up broke—if you sell goods for less

than they cost you, you’ll lose money, no matter how much

you sell. This was also the demise of many an Internet

startup in the 1990s. Low price isn’t always the best answer.

The wrong way to set an hourly rate for investigating is to

just pick a number because it seems good or because it’s the

same as or lower than what’s charged by someone else. The

correct way is to first determine how much it will cost you

per hour to perform the service, and then set an hourly rate

sufficiently higher than this cost to not only cover your cost

but to also earn some profit

(Figure 3). This subject is so

important, and so frequently

misunderstood, it warrants fur-

ther explanation. How does a

private investigator know how

much it costs to provide an

hour of investigative services?

Let’s look at some of the ways

to figure it out.


FIGURE 3—It’s important to figure outwhat it costs you to be in business, soyour fees cover your expenses and earna profit.


If the work were to be performed by an employee, you would

know how much you’re paying the employee per hour. If the

employee is paid per billable hour, the cost of office overhead

(costs resulting not from a specific case, but from running

the business itself) would be added to the employee’s hourly

cost, along with an amount for profit, and you would have

your hourly billing rate. If the employee is paid a salary of a

certain amount per day, week, or month, you would have to

calculate the number of billable hours you can expect the

employee to produce, and determine employee cost by dividing

that expected number of billable hours into the amount to be

paid per period. Then you’d add the overhead and profit, as

before, to reach the amount to charge your clients. Let’s look

at the following example:

• Employee salary: $300/week

➣ Approximate number of billable hours: 20

➣ $300/20 billable hours = $15 per hour

• Overhead (rent, electricity, insurance, etc.): $500/week

➣ $500 / 20 billable hours = $25 per hour

• Total cost: $15 + $25 = $40 per hour

• Profit: $5 (this amount needs to be calculated separately,

taking into account what money you need to have left

over for your own purposes)

• Hourly charge to clients = $45

For our purposes here, let’s talk about calculating your

hourly cost when you’re going to be doing the work yourself.

Even though this seems like it should be more simple than

working with employees, it’s easy to make serious mistakes.

Most new private investigators set their hourly rate by saying

something like, “Wow! Earning $40 per hour would be great.

That’s more than I made as a deputy or a Widget salesman.

I’ll charge $40 per hour.” Depending on their skill at marketing,

they might end up with only an average of one 10-hour case

per week for their first three months in business. Even if they

get paid promptly by all the clients—which isn’t guaranteed—

have they earned $40 per hour? The answer is both yes and

no. They’ve earned $40 per hour for the hours they were able

to bill to a client, but compared to their previous job where

they were paid by the month, they didn’t earn $40 per hour.

There are usually 40 working hours in a week, and an aver-

age of 173 paid hours in a month when one is paid by the

month. The new investigators in the example were only able

to work 10 “paid” hours per week because that’s all they were

hired to do. Looking at those first three months, our new

investigators only earned a gross income of $5,200.

10 hours a week � 13 weeks (3 months) = 130 hours

130 hours � $40 per hour = $5,200

Their actual hourly earnings were only $10.02.

3 months � 173 hours per month = 519 paid hours

(in a full-time job)

$5,200 (amount paid) � 519 paid hours = $10.02 per hour

If earning $10.02 per hour for their first three months in

business doesn’t sound too bad, look out. The $10.02 is an

hourly gross income, and remember, these investigators are

in business. They have business expenses—including taxes.

If their overhead costs of being in business were $10 per hour,

their true hourly earnings were only two cents per hour.


FIGURE 4—How to Calculate Your Cost of Doing Business and Required Hourly Rate

How To Calculate an Hourly Billing Rate

1. Determine the number of hours per month you want to work.

2. Determine the amount per hour you want to be paid personally for your time (your take-home pay).

3. Determine your fixed business costs.

4. Determine your variable business costs.

5. Estimate the percentage of working time you’ll be able to bill a client for.

6. Do the math.

7. Determine the amount you must bill and collect per hour to break even.

8. Add the amount desired for profit.


Take a look at the hourly fee calculation in Figure 4.

Numbers 5 and 8, “percentage of time billable” and “amount

desired for profit,” may seem like guesses, but planning for

effectiveness and profit don’t have to be the result of pure

guesswork. No one is 100 percent productive all the time, so

it’s unreasonable to expect to be able to bill someone else for

every hour you spend in the office. After all, sometimes you’re

doing work that relates to your business, but not a particular

client’s case.

An acceptable average of billable hours worked per day for

a professional is 75 percent. This means experienced profes-

sional private investigators who spend an eight-hour day

working can usually bill six hours. Some days they work ten

or twelve hours and bill eight or ten, so the days they only

bill four hours are acceptable, on the average. As a beginner,

you shouldn’t expect to be able to bill over 50 percent of the

hours you work. You’ll be spending a higher ratio of your time

marketing, setting up new procedures, and experimenting

with how to get things done. If you charge clients for too

much nonproductive time, you could drive them away.

Take a look at the following example, based on Figure 4.

1. Desired working hours per month

(8 hrs/day, 6 days/week) 208

2. Desired take-home pay per hour worked $20

3. Fixed business costs, monthly:

Rent, lease payments, phone line,

car payment, etc. $1,400

4. Variable expenses: All direct

expenses will be billed to client;

there are no employees. Variable

expenses are limited to postage,

secretarial costs, and misc. items $200

5. Percentage of working time: A beginner

can hope to bill one hour for every

two hours worked 50%


6. Billable hours (half of Item 1) 104

Fixed costs ��billable hours

$1,400 ��104 = $13.46

Desired monthly income

$20/hour � 208 hours (from Item 1) = $4,160

$4,160 � 104 billable hours = $40/hour

7. Amount you must collect per hour

to break even $53.46

8. Profit ?????

Even though the amount of profit a business earns is defined

as the amount of money left after all expenses are paid, it’s

best to at least have a goal when you start for the percentage

of your income that will be profit. You’ll notice there’s no

profit built into the sample hourly billing rate calculation, so

in order to assure the survival of your business, you would

need to charge more than $53.46 per hour. If you hire an

employee and pay $15 per billable hour, you wouldn’t have

to add only the $15 per hour to your billable rate, but you

would also have additional overhead costs related to the

employee, for accounting and taxes. This could amount to

another $10 per billable hour, and would bring your break

even billing rate up to $78.46 ($53.46 + $15 + $10).

You might ask: “If I’m earning $20 per hour for every hour

I work, why would I need the business to earn a profit?” Not

only is a business owner entitled to earn a profit for the risks

incurred in owning a business, a profit is necessary to keep

the business going. Nothing was added into the calculation

for advertising, marketing, health insurance, vacation pay,

sick pay, collection expenses, or bad debts, because different

people handle these items differently based on their account-

ing methods. What would happen if a client didn’t pay a

$2,000 bill? If there’s no profit to build a reserve, these items

could sink the ship in a hurry. As a new private investigator,

earning $20 per hour for all your working hours might not be

realistic. In that case, you could decide you’ll work for $10

per hour. If you leave your billing rate at $53.46 and you’re

able to bill for 50 percent of the hours you work, your business

would show a profit of $10 per hour. There are also tax reasons

why you might pay yourself less per hour, and put more

income into profits—business profits are taxed differently

than wage income.

12


As you can see, there are a lot of factors to consider when

thinking about what to charge your clients. Coming up with

numbers based on estimates might seem to be a waste of

time, but it’s not. It’s critical for business owners to know if

the money in the bank is their personal money, or money for

the business. If you think it’s yours but it’s not, and spend it

on a vacation or clothing, the business could be destroyed.

There would be nothing left to pay fixed costs when a client

fails to pay a bill or when the rent goes up on your office

space.

EmployeesIf you plan on having employees, even if only a part-time

secretary, a whole additional set of issues must be dealt with.

One of the most common reasons for business failure is

poor record keeping and failing to pay withholding taxes on

employees. You need to think ahead of time about where you

would look for employees and how much you would pay

them. Would you expect them to already know the business,

or would you expect to train them?

Record KeepingRecord keeping is one of the most vulnerable areas of new

businesses. If you do anything for money in our society,

you’re expected to keep enough records for the government to

be able to determine how much you owe in taxes (Figure 5).

This part of the business can’t be ignored for very long. Some

part-time private investigators try to avoid taxes by getting

paid in cash and keeping no records. Those who do this

aren’t really in business, and have no hope of ever developing

their businesses to a worthwhile size. If you’re not skilled at

accounting or bookkeeping, you should talk to someone with

those skills about keeping your records, before launching

your new business.

If you have a computer, it’s possible to do your own account-

ing with one of the small-business software packages that

have been developed in recent years. Examples include

QuickBooks, Peachtree, Big E-Z, Simply Accounting, and

CheckMark.

Marketing

Marketing will be dealt with more fully in another unit. It’s

important to know, however, that next to improper record

keeping, poor marketing is the next most common reason for

business failure. You’ll need to decide before ever opening

your doors where you expect your clients to come from, and

how you’ll let them know you’re in business. It won’t just

happen. They won’t come looking for you.

Exit Strategy

If your business does well and you enjoy starting and devel-

oping it so much that you want to start and develop another

business after a few years, what will you do with your suc-

cessful private investigation agency? Also, what will you do if

you find, after a few months or a year or two, you can’t make

a living doing private investigation or don’t like it?


FIGURE 5—It’s important to keepaccurate records for your business.


An exit strategy is the owners’ idea of how they will get out

of the business they’re trying to get into. A bunch of people

mortgage their houses and run up the balance of their credit

cards to get a business going. Their exit strategy might be to

“go public” and effectively sell the business to the public

through an initial public offering of stock. Another exit

strategy might be to sell the business to someone else or

to give it to the grandkids.

A profitable private investigation agency built around your

skills and contacts might not have any value to anyone else.

It would be a shame to either be shackled to something you

no longer like or have to walk away from several years of

effort with nothing, in order to do something else. You need to

consider this question before making long-term commitments

to equipment leasing companies or office space. Considering

your possible exit strategies before starting a new business

will help you make good decisions in other areas.

Before moving on to learn about beginning a new case, take a

moment to complete Self-Check 1.


Self-Check 1

At the end of each section of Investigation Business Basics, you’ll be asked to pause andcheck your understanding of what you have just read by completing a “Self-Check” exercise.Answering these questions will help you review what you’ve studied so far. Please completeSelf-Check 1 now.

1. What business activity is crucial to the success of a new business?

__________________________________________________________________________

2. How are chronological items arranged?

__________________________________________________________________________

3. How do some investigators try to get the name of their business at the top of the YellowPages listing?

__________________________________________________________________________

Questions 4–7: Indicate whether each of the following statements is True or False.

______ 4. Hours worked and billable hours aren’t always the same.

______ 5. Overhead means costs that are too high.

______ 6. A business plan doesn’t have to be written out.

______ 7. It’s always best to start a business close to where you grew up.

Check your answers with those on page 75.


RECEIVING NEW CASES

Certain basic activities must occur in all investigative work,

such as

• Opening the file

• Getting details from the client

• Organizing the work

• Doing the work

• Documenting and reporting results

If a private investigator specializes in one type of case (such as

pre-employment investigations) or gets all assignments from

one client or one type of client, the structure and procedures

of every case will be very similar. Only the facts, identifiers,

and people contacted will vary.

Most private investigators don’t specialize in only one type of

work. For them, every investigation is different and requires

different steps in addition to the basics. To introduce you to

the basics, let’s look at the steps of an investigation from the

first contact with the client. Because an investigator doesn’t

always know where each step is going to lead, it’s important

to constantly take notes. Note taking begins with the first

contact with a potential client.

Qualifying the Client

Before you know if you’ll have a new case, both the client

and the possible case must be qualified. The word “qualify”

is used here in the same way it’s used in the sales industry.

A professional salesperson qualifies prospects before trying to

sell them anything. It would be a waste of time to try to sell

something to someone who lacks money or the authority to

buy. For the same reason, a professional investigator quali-

fies potential clients before spending much time talking about

their problems. Before getting too excited about a new case,

you must determine if the potential client is willing to pay

your fees, if what they want is legal or illegal, and if their

expectations are reasonable or unreasonable.

In addition to qualifying the client, the case must also be

examined. You must be sure you don’t agree to do something

that will help a client hurt someone or do something illegal.

Qualifying is also important when working an investigation.

Every new source or potential witness must first be qualified,

or evaluated, as a first step. This will be discussed more later

in this program.

We don’t know when the phone rings or a stranger walks

through the door if this is going to be a good client or a sales-

man. As in all business, the first step is to find out, with the

universal question, “How may I help you?” If, in response to

this question, the person tries to sell you office supplies or

asks directions to another business, you don’t need to start

taking notes. If, on the other hand, the prospect starts telling

you about a problem or asking you about your services, start

writing. All notes taken in the course of an investigation

become part of the case file for that investigation, even the

notes of your initial conversation with the client.

Taking NotesDon’t write notes for multiple files or activities on the same

piece of paper. Paper is cheap compared to the cost of losing

a crucial name or phone num-

ber because it was on a sheet

of paper with something from

another case. Don’t worry

about filling up every page you

write on. Use a new, clean

sheet of notepaper every time

the case you’re working on

changes (Figure 6).


FIGURE 6—Always start new case noteson a fresh sheet of paper.


At the top of every page of notes, write the date and the exact

time. You never know if the time could be important in the

future, such as for determining how long you spent on an

activity or exactly when you spoke with someone. Write the

reference, case name, and whom you’re speaking with. Some

people don’t introduce themselves. Good note-taking habits

will lead you to identifying them early in the conversation. It’s

up to you to take gentle control of the conversation early to

be sure you get what you need. If the prospect just starts

talking about the problem, interrupt at the first opportunity

and get his or her name. This not only allows you to properly

head your note page, it subtly gives you some control in the

conversation. Not to mention, you wouldn’t want to realize

after your new clients have left that you don’t know their

names!

Everyone has their own note-taking style. Notes are informal

and meant primarily to help you keep track of important

information. Most of the time, we don’t know if what we hear

is important until later, so we can’t take the time to formally

record everything. As long as you can read and understand

your own notes, their neatness isn’t crucial. If someone is

talking fast, you might only have time to write one-word

reminders of things you want to go back to for more detail.

The important thing is: always take notes until you’ve deter-

mined there’s no longer any possibility that what’s being

talked about could have future value. For example, after

discussing the facts of the case, the client may turn to

chitchat. Obviously, the weather or baseball scores aren’t

important to jot down. Or, after listening to the prospect for a

few minutes, you might determine that the person has no

money and is just looking for a sympathetic ear. In this case,

your last note for the session might be, “No money to pay for

investigation.”

Even when the prospect seems to lack the funds necessary to

pursue a case when you first meet, it’s always possible he or

she could borrow money from a relative and call you back the

next day. For this reason, you don’t want to throw your initial

notes away. If you don’t expect anything to come from a

conversation, put the notes you took into a chronological note

file. A chronological note file is a file where you put notes that

aren’t connected to any open case, with the newest always


going in the front of the file. If a person calls back a day or

week later, you can pull the notes from the first conversation

and not have to cover all the same questions again. Every 90

days or so, when the file gets too thick, the old notes at the

back of the folder can be discarded.

Opening the File

Once a new client and case are identified, an assignment

sheet, or intake form, must be filled out. The assignment

sheet should contain the following:

• Client

➣➣ Name

➣➣ Address

➣➣ Phone number

➣➣ DOB

➣➣ Occupation

➣➣ Date of initial contact

• Type of investigation

• Subject or target information (This would include the

same name/address information as for the client, with

the addition of a physical description.)

• Timing and budget of the case

• Investigator assigned to the case (if applicable)

• Date assigned

• First report due

• Completion deadline

• Budget agreement

• Description of assignment and notes

If you took notes while qualifying the prospect, you have

enough to fill out part of the assignment sheet without asking

the same questions over again. Just as having good note-

taking habits will help you maintain control of conversations

20


when needed, using an assignment sheet for every assignment

will help you get all the information needed to do the job. If

possible, it’s a good idea to have your assignment sheet auto-

mated in a template on your personal computer. This isn’t

critical, but having your record keeping automated as much

as possible is clearly worthwhile.

Even if the assignment sheet is automated in your computer,

you still need printed assignment sheets to write on when

taking assignments. Only when conditions are ideal, with

you sitting at the computer talking to the client, can the

information be entered directly into the computer. There will

be many non-ideal situations where a computer won’t be

available and you have to take assignment information (for

example, while in a car or public place). The information

from the handwritten form will be transferred into the record

keeping system in your computer later.

As recently as the late 1990s, a private investigator could

operate effectively without a personal computer. To do so

now, however, would put a new private investigator at a

severe disadvantage. It’s not recommended to try to start

your own business without your own computer.

The assignment sheet is used to document information you

receive from an initial client contact. It’s also the first item to

go into the case file. Fill it out as completely as possible to

save your client time and money. If you do it thoroughly at

the beginning, you won’t later have to ask your client ques-

tions he or she has already answered. Most importantly, you

won’t spend time learning what the client already knows.

Clients don’t like paying for time spent digging up information

they told you when they gave you the case.

Figure 7 shows an example of a case assignment sheet. You

might want to use this form when you first start out, and

modify it later to meet your specific needs. When starting

your investigation, write on the case assignment sheet all the

necessary information as you receive it. Have a supply of

blank forms available for easy access when a potential client

contacts you.


NEW GUY INVESTIGATIONS317 Main Street, Anytown, OR 89963

(516) 555-9999

File Number _____________

CLIENT

Last Name ________________________________ First Name ___________________________

Age ______ DOB _________________

Address _______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Phone Numbers: Home __________________ Business __________________ Cellular/Pager _________________

SSN ____________________

Occupation ___________________________ Employer _____________________________

E-Mail Address________________________

Employer’s Address __________________________________ City ____________________ State ______ ZIP_________

Date of First Contact ______________________________ Time ______________

CASE DETAILS

Type of Investigation ________________________________________

Subject / Target Information

Last Name______________________________________ First Name ________________________

Age _______ DOB ____________

Height ________ Weight _________ Race ___________

Distinguishing Marks ________________________________

Address ________________________________________ City _______________________ State ______ ZIP_________


SSN _________________________

Employer _______________________________________ Occupation ______________________


Other Subject Information______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

TIMING AND BUDGET

Date Received from Client ____________________

Assigned To _________________________ Date Assigned ____________________

First Report Due _________________

Completion Deadline _______________________ Budget Agreement _________________________

Description of Assignment and Notes___________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

FIGURE 7—Assignment Sheet


Once you’re established in business, you’ll probably have reg-

ular repeat clients. Filling in an assignment sheet for these

clients will entail only asking for the variable information—

the information that changes with each assignment. A regular

client’s identifying information usually stays the same. The

subject’s identifying information and any specific instructions

change with every new case. Only the client’s name would

need to be entered in the client’s information section for repeat

clients. It’s a good idea, especially if you haven’t worked with

a client for a while, to ask if any contact information (i.e.,

address and phone number) has changed since your last

contact.

Even though the file number is the first item at the top of the

form, you won’t fill this in until you log the file in and assign

it a number. If you’ve taken good notes in the early part of

your conversation, you’ll already know many of the items

needed, like the client’s name, phone number, date of first

contact, and a general idea of the client’s request.

The last name is listed first for clarity and for easy retrieval

when you search for filed forms. You have the option of filing

the assignment sheets by case file number or alphabetically

by last name. Keeping your case files in a computer database

will allow you to cross-reference your files by last name, file

number, and any other way you desire.

In your initial contact, try to get as much information from

the client as you can. The source of helpful information most

often overlooked by investigators is the client. Clients often

don’t realize what information is helpful to the investigator,

and frequently don’t convey it unless asked. In sensitive

cases involving spouses or family, you may have to ask your

questions carefully to avoid offending the client.

For individual clients (as opposed to business clients), you

can request to see their driver’s license. It will provide you

with much of the information you’ll need, like name, address,

description, date of birth, and driver’s license number. These

items are known as identifiers. We’ll discuss identifiers more

in future units. If the license has a picture, photocopy the

license and keep the copy in your case folder. Your client’s

Social Security number is an important identifier. If it’s dif-

ferent from the driver’s license number, try to get both for

your file.

A few years ago, getting so much information from the client

wasn’t necessary, but with new legal developments, a private

investigator has to be very cautious. A client who isn’t willing

to share personal information with an investigator might not

be a good client. Some people try to hire investigators to

locate someone they’re possibly going to stalk, harass, or harm.

The best thing a private investigator can say in this situation

is, “Sorry, I can’t help you.” Not only would it be wrong to

take the job, it could lead to lawsuits. The only way to even

have a chance at determining in time if a client is honest is

to ask enough questions. The most important question you

can ask, when a client wants to track someone down, is

whether they’ll respect the person’s wishes if he or she doesn’t

want to have any contact. A bona fide client will agree to con-

sider your job done if you track down the subject, find that

the subject doesn’t want to hear from the person, and take

no further action.

Another important consideration regarding your clients’

information is security. The identification information you’re

collecting from them (particularly Social Security numbers) is

very sensitive. It’s the same information an identity thief would

use to steal their identities. Some clients may be reluctant for

this reason to give you so much information.

In this case, you must reassure them that

the information will be kept safe. You should

have a metal file cabinet, which should be

kept locked when you’re not present (Figure 8).

Naturally, the key should be kept safe as

well—leaving it in the unlocked drawer of

your desk is the same as not locking the

cabinet to begin with. Only people who need

to have access to confidential information

should have access to your files. Your com-

puter should have a password to keep the

electronic files safe from unauthorized

access.


FIGURE 8—Keep client files in a lockedmetal cabinet.


Knowing your clients’ occupations will sometimes help you

understand them better. Having the name of their employers

might help you get in touch with them in the event you dis-

cover important information they need to have as soon as

possible. All of this information will also be helpful in the

event a client ends up owing you money and isn’t prompt

with payment.

While you’re completing the assignment sheet, the information

won’t always come to you in the exact order it appears on

the form. For example, while initially qualifying the client to

determine if there’s a potential case and the client is able to

pay, you might learn the client’s deadlines and information

about the subject. You should use the form religiously, filling

it in item by item. Soon, you’ll know it so well you’ll know

where any given piece of information goes even if you haven’t

asked the question yet.

Double-Checking Important InformationIf you took good notes during the qualifying part of your

conversations, you wouldn’t need to ask the client for that

information a second time. Instead, ask them to verify it for

you after you’ve filled in the sheet. This gives you a way of

double-checking your spelling and accuracy and lets the

client know you’re being sure you have accurate information.

In the case of a one-time client, the date of first contact in

the client area and the initial contact date of the case will be

the same. For repeat clients, the date of first contact and

other constant data would be left blank in the client area of

your printed form and, when entered into a computer, the

computer could be set up to automatically fill them in from

previous records. After getting all of the client information,

complete the case details portion next.

Case DetailsTo fill in the “Type of Investigation” field, you’ll refer to your

own list of types of cases you handle. Here’s a sample of case

types and the codes you might use in your database.

• AST—Asset search

• BKG—Background investigation


• BOD—Bodyguard and/or executive protection

• BOU—Bounty hunter/bond recovery

• COI—Competitor intelligence

• COL—Collection

• CRM—Criminal defense

• CUS—Child custody

• DOM—Domestic

• ELD—Elder abuse

• GEN—General investigation

• HAR—Harassment/discrimination

• IMM—Immigration

• INP—Intellectual property

• INS—Insurance defense

• PIN—Personal injury

• PRB—Probate/heirs

• PRD—Products liability

• PRE—Pre-employment

• PRS—Process service

• REC—Recovery/repossession

• RRR—Records retrieval

• SAD—Sexual abuse defense

• SEC—Security

• SKT—Skip tracing and locating

• SUR—Surveillance

• TRP—Trial preparation

• UND—Undercover

• WTS—Wrongful termination

26


The reason for assigning a code to every new case is to give

yourself the ability to use statistics in managing your business.

After you’ve been in business for a while, you’ll want to know

what kind of cases are the most profitable and where certain

types of cases come from. By assigning a code to every case

type, you’ll be able to organize and calculate averages by type

of case. Without codes, sorting and determining good statistics

isn’t possible. You might need to add additional codes to the

sample list above. Of course, you can also devise your own

codes to suit your own purposes.

The subject information part of the assignment sheet is very

important for all investigations. Getting an accurate descrip-

tion of a subject can save you valuable time, which saves the

client money. It’s worth re-emphasizing here that the client

usually knows more than they tell you without urging. If they

know the subject or have seen him or her, whatever charac-

teristics they noticed about the subject were usually noticed

without thinking. If you ask the client for the color of the

subject’s hair, you might be told “brown” and nothing else.

If you ask the client to describe the subject’s hair, you might

find out it’s brown, shoulder length, and balding on top. You

learned about the importance of open-ended questions in an

earlier unit. Taking cases from a client is an important time

to use this skill.

Enter the subject’s last and first name, age, and date of

birth. If the client doesn’t know the exact age, ask for a best

guess. If the subject is known by any other name, include

that information in the “other subject information” field. The

subject could have a street name or a family nickname that

will help you locate him or her. Enter the full address; if he

or she lives in an apartment, be sure to indicate that on the

assignment sheet. Remember, this sheet acts as one of your

investigative tools, so you want it to be as accurate as possible.

A phone number, even an old inactive one, might also help

locate the subject in the event you don’t have an address.

There are printed and electronic phone directories available

with reverse directory listings, providing addresses when all

you have is a phone number. Many databases also provide

phone numbers when all you have is an address. We’ll dis-

cuss databases further in another unit. Ask if your client can

provide you with the subject’s business phone number, and

you’ll have one less item to research.

“Other subject information” is where you would write any-

thing else the client can tell you that might be helpful, such

as where the subject used to live or any hobbies or special

skills. You can see the possibilities are only limited by your

ability to ask good questions of the client.

Timing and Budget

The next field on the assignment sheet is for the date you

open the case. You might need the date for billing purposes.

It may also serve as a reference for court testimony.

Ask your client when he or she would like you to complete

the assignment. The reporting date and completion date are

very important. You should take the necessary steps to

ensure that you complete the investigation and submit your

final report no later than the date agreed. Some clients may

want progress updates every few days, while others may not.

Commercial clients, like insurance claims people or attorneys,

might have clear dates by which an investigation must be

concluded, because of court deadlines or other factors.


Online People Finders

Many searchable online phone/address listings have sprouted up inrecent years, including AnyWho, Switchboard.com, US Search.com,WhitePages.com, WhoWhere.com, and more. These are searchable byname, phone number, and address. Some offer public records and othersearches for a fee. Google is another useful search engine for findinginformation on people, businesses, and just about anything else.

A useful exercise is to look up yourself and your friends and family, toget a feel for how these search engines work. Sites to try include

• http://www.whowhere.lycos.com

• http://www.anywho.com

• http://www.whitepages.com

• http://www.switchboard.com

• http://www.ussearch.com

• http://www.google.com


Insurance claims people have diary dates they must comply

with, so their job performance is affected if they don’t have

your report when they’re supposed to. For litigation, the

court allows certain things to take place only within certain

time periods. If an attorney wants the results of your investi-

gation to decide how to proceed with a lawsuit, the time limit

might be imposed by a statute of limitations. Different juris-

dictions allow a certain amount of time in which to file suit

for different things. To file suit on a contract dispute in a

particular state, a person might have seven years. To file suit

in the same state for injuries sustained in an accident (a tort

claim), he or she might have only two years from the date of

the accident. The law setting these cutoff dates is known as

the statute of limitations.

You need to know the statutes of limitations for the jurisdiction

in which you expect to work. When the time to file a suit runs

out, the statute is said to expire. Statutes of limitations can

be suspended for a time (tolled). For example, if the defendant

flees the jurisdiction before criminal charges can be filed, the

statute of limitations will be tolled until the person can be

caught.

When taking an assignment from most private clients, there

won’t be a clear date by which the investigation must be

completed. Still, you need to determine their expectations.

Trying to locate someone might take a day or a year. Finding

out where someone usually goes after work might take two

days or two weeks. In cases where there’s no obvious dead-

line, it’s important to establish a reporting date with clients, so

they know what to expect and you have a way of scheduling

your time effectively. You might know right away that you can’t

complete the assignment by a specific date. It’s important to

let the client know immediately. Your client needs to have the

option of changing the due date or hiring someone else.

Note: Not meeting a completion date can give your business

a poor reputation and consequently destroy your business. A

key to success in investigation or any other business is your

reputation. You must take steps to protect it. If you do, your

good business practices will reward you with greater success.

Description of Assignment and Notes

In the final section on your case assignment sheet, write

a description of the assignment in your own words as you

understand it. Be sure the client agrees with what you

write. This section will provide you with the details of your

assignment. It will also be the gauge that determines if you

successfully completed your assignment.

Some private investigators send their clients a copy of the

case assignment sheet, including a full description of the

assignment. This is one method of ensuring that you’re pro-

viding the services that your client expects. You can take it

one step further and request your client to sign and return

the assignment sheet as confirmation of the case. To avoid

delay, use a fax, so you can get started on the case right

away. When clients are sitting in the room with you while you

fill out the assignment sheet, have them review and initial

the sheet before leaving. This provides documentation in case

of a disagreement over fees or work done.

You should be very specific when completing this section,

listing all the information your client expects you to provide.

Doing so will help you prepare an itemized invoice when

billing your client. When you’ve completed the case assign-

ment sheet and you’ve sent a copy to your client, place one

copy in the case file folder. The case file folder will also

contain all field notes, exhibits, evidence, and any other

information appropriate to the assignment.

Budget Agreement

The last item on our sample assignment sheet, but one of the

most crucial, is the budget agreement. It’s good to get an idea

of what the client’s budgetary expectations for the case are. If

possible, however, you want to avoid locking yourself into a

fixed-dollar budget amount. If there’s no upper limit on how

much you can spend, the budget agreement would be the

hourly rate you told the client you would charge. One effective

system is to agree with the client on a budget threshold, rather

than a budget. With this system, you agree not to spend more

than a specific amount in time and expense on the case



without reviewing it with the client and getting authorization

for additional expenditure. This gives the client peace of mind

and still leaves the door open for the budget to grow larger if

the information can’t be obtained easily.

Having some kind of budget agreement with the client before

you start on the case is crucial to avoid billing disputes after

the work is done. It’s disappointing, and damaging to your

business, to spend thousands of dollars of time and expenses

working on a case, only to have the client say he was only

prepared to spend $300 and refuse to pay any more.

Before learning about the business of private investigation,

take a moment to complete Self-Check 2.


Self-Check 2

1. True or False? It’s not necessary to agree with the client on a budget for the investigation before beginning work.

2. Availability of private investigator work should be a factor to consider when selecting a_______ for your business.

3. True or False? It’s not important for the business to make a profit, so long as you’re getting paid for your time.

4. When is it necessary to consider the bookkeeping aspects of your business?

a. Before starting outb. Before the first tax bill comesc. When it’s time to pay taxesd. It’s not an important part of business.



THE BUSINESS OF PRIVATEINVESTIGATION

File Tracking

Number Your Files

An important part of most businesses is inventory control.

Your inventory will be your open files. You can’t afford to

lose track of any of them. You’ll need to use some type of file

log to keep track of all open and closed files. You should also

number your files with a unique identification number to

keep track of them. The ways to number your files is only

limited by your imagination and equipment. However, espe-

cially if file numbering will be done by hand, you should keep

it simple. If you make your numbering system too complicated,

you’ll regret it. Although it doesn’t seem like a big thing,

establishing a good numbering system at the beginning of

your business is important. Whatever system you use, it will

need to remain constant for a long time.

One popular numbering and filing method is to begin the file

number with the year you open the case, such as 03 for the

year 2003. Then use the first letter of your client’s last name

following the year. For example, suppose your client’s name

is John Adams and he’s your first new case of the year. You

would assign the case number 03A0001 (03 for the year,

A for Adams, and 0001 for the first case). Then suppose

Robert Dunbar becomes your next client. His case file number

would be 03D0002. A few months and many cases later, you

acquire a new client, Mary Zimmerman. You look at your

assignment log for the last assigned number, and find it’s

108. You therefore assign her case the file number 03Z0109.

You should use a case file number to reference related pieces

of evidence. Suppose you take pictures for a case. You can

label the roll of film with the case file number as a reference.

You’ll know which case you took the photographs for and

where to file the photos after they return from the lab.

Without a file number, you would have no way of knowing

The number 0001 is

used instead of the

number 1 to keep the

length of the file num-

bers constant for the

first 9999 files you open

what case the photographs belong to. Using the case file

number works especially well if you’re working on several

cases for the same client.

There are many methods used to assign case file numbers to

new cases. Another method uses numbers starting with 0001

and continuing to 9999, providing you with 9999 case file

numbers all the same length. Use the system that works

best for you.

File Log

An important part of file tracking is your file log. If you’re

computerized, the computer program can be set up to auto-

matically number each case with the next number in order.

For a beginning business without fancy software programs,

the easiest way to track files is to dedicate a small notebook

to act as your master file log. See the boxed item for an

example of what the first page of your new business’s master

file log would look like after the first nine assignments.


Sample File Log

Date Client Contact Subject Type Date File Opened Closed Number

09/11/03 Dewey Truman, Esq. Doug Dewey John Doe SKT 11/16/03 03D0001

09/12/03 Clarence Cirk Clarence Cirk Arlene Cirk SUR 12/06/03 03C0002

10/11/03 Ann Yost, Attorney Ann Yost MVA PHO 03Y0003

11/04/03 Acme Insurance Joe Claims John Doe INS 12/11/03 03A0004

11/04/03 New State Sarah Going Mary Doe INS 03N0005Insurance Department

11/09/03 Suzie Cert Suzie Cert Michael Cert DOM 03C0006

11/14/03 Joe’s Shoes Joe Toe Shopping SHS 11/21/03 03J0007

11/14/03 Sam Dot Sam Dot Sharon Dot DOM 03D0008

11/19/03 AAA Detectives Morris Eye Polk County RRR 11/20/03 03A0009


Supplies and Equipment

Once you have a grasp of your assignment, you’ll need to

determine the supplies and equipment necessary to complete

the job. Of course, it would be inefficient to have to start from

scratch for every case. As a professional private investigator,

you’ll have certain basic tools and supply items ready at all

times. A professional investigator develops the habit of never

going out without paper and pen or pencil. Daily planner

notebooks are used by many private investigators. Besides

your basic writing material, you’ll eventually form the habit of

always having a small recorder and a camera and film with

you. A cellular phone and a reliable means of transportation

are also necessary for anyone in the investigation business.

Even though the basic necessities mentioned here will

become a part of your everyday existence, their condition and

readiness must be checked before beginning work on every

new case. You wouldn’t want to be in a position to take a

crucial photograph and run out of film.

In your early days as an investigator, you should regularly

use checklists. Make a list for each new case or activity.

As you gain experience, some of the items will become auto-

matic, and the checklists you need to work with will get

shorter. An equipment and supplies list for a locate and

interview case might be as follows:

• Tape recorder

• Recording tapes

• Notebook or pad

• Pens and a pencil

• Cellular phone

• Reliable vehicle (The case could require travel beyond

public transportation.)

• 35mm or digital camera with film or memory cards

An investigator needs to carry a small tape recorder for note

taking, even when statements are going to be written out.

You probably wouldn’t need a camera on an interviewing

A basic vehicle is prefer-

able for investigation

work—a flashy car that

attracts attention isn’t

the best choice.

An interview is an

exchange of information

between two or more

individuals.

assignment, although a photo of the person interviewed might

be helpful to augment the statement secured. The cellular

phone will become another part of your everyday life (Figure 9).

Pay phones used to be readily available almost everywhere,

but with the proliferation of cellular phones and calling cards,

pay phones are becoming harder to find when you need one.

Beyond the basics necessary for almost any work you do,

what other specific items of equipment or supplies might this

case require? For surveillance in the woods, you might need

camouflage clothing and heavy boots. For a trip to the library

where you expect to make copies, you might need a pocket

full of loose change or a library copy card. The key is plan-

ning and thinking ahead. Right when you set the file up is

the time to determine what special items you might need to

work the case. You don’t want to have to stop in the middle

of your investigation to go get a needed item.


FIGURE 9—Cellular phonesare necessary equipment for a private investigator.


Case Notes

The purpose of an investigation is to gather facts. The purpose

of an investigation report is to communicate those facts to

others. The most obvious requirement in preparation for

writing a good report is conducting a thorough and proper

investigation and taking complete, accurate notes of all the

facts and details obtained during the investigation. The fol-

lowing discussion of taking notes is for the new investigator

assigned to a preliminary investigation (an initial investigation

to determine basic facts about an incident).

As your work on an investigation proceeds, your case notes

will reflect such things as

• Names, addresses, directions, and times

• Exact identification and descriptions of each item of

evidence you observe or obtain

• Notations of the marking and disposition of potential

evidence, including photographs, videotapes, and cas-

sette tape recordings, and any sketches you may have

made

• All facts, with details, you obtain

• All statements, with details, made by witnesses or other

persons who provide information about the subject of

your investigation

• Complete identifying information on each person who

makes statements or gives information

• Details of the follow-up on each lead and of the search

for leads

• Details of the exact route taken by a subject under

surveillance

The facts and details recorded in your case notes are what

you draw the content of your final report from. Using words

and partial sentences is sufficient in your case notes,

because you simply need to record the findings for informa-

tion and reference. However, you must make certain the

information you record in your notes is complete and clear

enough to enable you to use it for reference when writing

your final report. For example, your notes might look like

the following:

Subject: Martin Harris, W/M, age 36, 278

Smallburg Ave.

01/08/03, 6:45 p.m. Set up Surv at subject’s work,

CyberFuture

7:30 P.M. Subject walked to east parking lot

1999 Buick, Gray KS Lic. ABC1345

N. on Marktree Rd. 5 mi

East on Rte. 347 6 miles

Tall Oak Garden Apartments, apt. 12-c

W/F, 25–30, kissed and entered apartment

In the final report you would write this same information in

complete sentences in the following, more formal format.

The subject, Martin Harris, a white male, age 36, residing

at 278 Smallburg Ave., Anytown, exited his place of

employment, Cybertronics, 147 Marktree Road, on

Monday, 01/08/03, at approximately 7:30 P.M. eastern

standard time. He entered a 1999 gray Buick, Kansas

license plate ABC-1345, and drove north on Marktree

Road five miles, turned right onto Route 347 and drove

another six miles to the Tall Oak Garden Apartments.

The subject entered the north parking lot entrance and

parked in front of apartment 12-c. He walked up to the

front door of apartment 12-c and knocked on the door.

A white female approximately 25 to 30 years old opened

the door. They exchanged words and then embraced

each other and kissed each other on the lips. Mr. Harris

then entered apartment 12-c.

You need to record enough details to be able to recall all the

information you obtain during an investigation. Record, in

detail, all descriptions, remarks, statements, interviews,

observations, actions taken, and any results obtained

through that action. Some investigators keep field notes

in a notebook that contains notes on all the things they did

between the time the first entry was made on the first page



until the last page of the book is filled up. Other investigators

devote a specific notebook to each case. Still others write field

notes on sheets of paper that are detached and kept in each

case file. Whichever system you use, you should begin every

page with the date and time and your name or initials.

The actual story in the following boxed item, written by a

successful private investigator, demonstrates the importance

of good records.

The case in “Keeping a Diary” brings up another point—that

investigators have to be somewhat thick-skinned. Usually, if

you make your client happy, you make someone on the other

side unhappy. Some individuals, or their lawyers, aren’t above

accusing investigators of all sorts of illegal, immoral, and

unethical actions to justify the fact that they lost their case.

The type of investigations you specialize in will influence your

choice of note taking and preservation. During each investi-

gation, you must record all the facts and details you’ll need

to write a complete, accurate report. Document all details that

are relevant to the case. From the beginning of the investiga-

tion (the completion of the case assignment sheet), you should

keep in mind the type of case you’re investigating so that

you’ll be certain to record all facts relevant to the particular

case. For example, the particulars you need to obtain and

record for a missing person case and those that you need for

a workers’ compensation case are different. The type of case

you’re investigating affects the details you record, the type

of evidence you collect, and the statements of persons you

interview.

Keeping a Diary

I started keeping a diary after I investigated a case of potentialinsurance fraud. I was later named in a lawsuit, and the plaintiffclaimed that I had approached him and his wife in a bar andhumiliated them in front of his business clients by claiming I wasgoing to prove he had committed insurance fraud. When I foundout the date of this supposed occurrence, I had to go back andtry to remember where I had been on that date. Luckily, the datethey claimed was the same as my 30th wedding anniversary, so I knew where I had been. When the plaintiff’s lawyer realized hewas being duped, the case against me was dropped.

Good notes contain the complete, accurate details that you’ll

need to write your report. Most investigators don’t recall from

memory all the details obtained during an investigation. While

conducting an investigation, a professional concentrates on

obtaining and documenting all relevant information rather

than on trying to memorize details. Therefore, taking written

notes is a practical way to record relevant facts and to retain

them for further use.

Another reason to take accurate notes is because you might

have to testify as a witness in court. Precise notes are needed

to provide sound testimony. If you’re called to testify, the

attorneys from either side might request to review your notes.

If you have accurate, complete, and objective notes, the

attorneys have less reason to question the validity of your

testimony than if you attempt to testify from memory.

The primary purpose of field notes is to record crucial infor-

mation at the moment you receive it. A proper form and a

systematic way of taking notes will help you achieve accurate

notes. If you choose to use the “separate notebook for each

case” system, make sure you have a new notebook for each

new case to organize your facts. Identify the case notebook by

writing your name and the case number on the front of the

notebook, and write your name or initials on each page. If

you remove pages from a notebook for any reason, you’ll be

able to identify the notes as the ones you wrote because of

your name or initials. A ballpoint pen is best for making

notes, because a pencil could smear or fade and felt-tip

pens and markers tend to smear and run in wet weather.

While your memory is fresh, you should make certain all

notes are legible enough for you to read, and that you spell

names, addresses, and places correctly. If your writing is

illegible or marginal, you’ll have to develop a system to com-

pensate. For example, some investigators who don’t write

neatly or clearly either dictate into a recorder or use their

field notes as reminder prompts and enter more thorough

notes into a laptop computer at the end of the day, while

their memory is still fresh. You’re likely to misspell names,

addresses, and places on your final report if you misspell

them in your notes, so you must slow down and be certain

crucial items like numbers and the spelling of names are



clear and accurate when you write them. If there’s any doubt

about spelling of names or places, look up the correct

spelling when you recopy your notes.

Use only standard abbreviations that most people readily

understand; for example, W/M for white male, Feb. for

February, and St. for street. Abbreviations other than stan-

dard ones can result in confusion or misinterpretation. You

should print persons’ names in capital letters so that they’ll

stand out in the notes; for example, subject HARRIS.

The Basic Questions

To develop the ability to ask the right questions and end up

with an accurate, complete, concise, and clear report, you

can keep and regularly review an interview question check-

list. Figure 10 shows one such checklist. The checklist details

the important questions—Who? What? When? Where? How?

and Why?—in relation to many kinds of investigations. These

are the basic six questions that must be answered in every

investigation to produce a meaningful result.

Sample Checklist

WHO?

1. In relation to persons connected with the incident:

• Who was involved?

• Who is the subject?

• Who is the victim (of a crime or a tort)?

• Who else might have been involved in any way?

• Who are the witnesses?

• Who made statements or gave information that might be relevant?

• Who turned over evidence to the police or others?

(Continued)

FIGURE 10—A checklist such as the one shown here, if reviewed over and over,will help you develop the ability to automatically think of the right questions duringan interview. If reviewed when setting up a new case, it will help you rememberand make note of information you need to seek during the investigation.


2. In relation to police officers or insurance adjusters participating in the investigation:

• Who responded to the call?

• Who conducted the investigation?

• Who was first at the scene?

• Who conducted the search?

• Who obtained evidence?

• Who marked, preserved, and took custody of evidence?

• Who interviewed each witness?

• Who notified another officer, adjuster, expert, or agency?

• Who dusted for fingerprints (or performed any other technical job)?

• Who identified and who located the subject?

• Who was unable to identify or locate the subject?

WHAT?

1. In relation to the incident:

• What information was reported?

• What offense was observed?

• What damage was done?

• What injuries were received?

• What was the condition of the injured people?

• What statements were made by the people involved?

• What statements were made by the witnesses?

2. In relation to the evidence:

• What evidence was obtained?

• What evidence couldn’t be obtained?

3. In relation to police or insurance company action:

• What police or other official action was taken?

• What officers or adjusters were notified?

• What agencies were notified?

• What further action is indicated?

FIGURE 10—Continued


WHEN? (hour, day, month, year)


• When were the people involved observed at the scene?

• When did the people involved leave the scene?

• When did the witnesses observe the scene?

• When did the witnesses arrive?

• When did the witnesses leave?


• When did the officer or adjuster arrive at the scene?

• When did the officer or adjuster contact the peopleinvolved?

• When did the officer or adjuster take the witnesses’ statements?

• When did the officer or adjuster check out other possiblesources of information?

• When did the officer or adjuster obtain each item of evidence?

• When did the officer or adjuster notify another officer,agency, or insurance company?

• When did assisting officers or experts from other agenciesarrive at the scene?

• When did the officer or adjuster receive a report fromassisting officers or experts (such as a report from a technician in the crime laboratory, or a fire cause and origin expert)?

• When was the claim approved or denied?

• When was the incident determined to be a crime?

• When was the perpetrator identified?

• When was a warrant for arrest obtained?

• When was the perpetrator arrested?

• When did the officer inform the perpetrator of his or her rights?

• When was the perpetrator charged?



WHERE? (exact location, address)


• Where did the incident take place?

• Where was the incident/accident reported?


• Where were the people involved?

• Where was the victim (in crime/tort case)?

• Where does the victim reside?

• Where were the witnesses?

• Where do the witnesses reside?

• Where did the witness or victim go (or where was he orshe removed to)?

• Where did the people involved obtain tools or other items?

• Where were the tools and other items discovered?

• Where was the subject of a search last seen?

• Where is the subject at present?

• Where does the subject reside?

3. In relation to police or insurance adjuster action:

• Where was the evidence obtained?

• Where was the evidence marked?

• Where was the evidence stored?

• Where did the officer or adjuster interview the peopleinvolved?

• Where did the officer or adjuster interview the witnesses?

• Where did the witnesses make their statements?

HOW?


• How did the incident/accident occur?

• How were tools and other items used?

• How was the incident/accident discovered?

• How was the incident/accident reported?




• How did the people involved get to the scene of the incident/accident?

• How did the witnesses get to the scene of theincident/accident?

• How did the injured people get to the hospital?

• How did the people involved obtain the tools or otheritems used?

• How did the people involved use the tools or other items?

• How did the witnesses happen to be on the scene?


• How did the officer or adjuster identify the peopleinvolved?

• How did the officer or adjuster locate witnesses?

• How did the officer or adjuster obtain evidence?

WHY?


• Why did the incident occur?

• Why was the incident reported to the police or insurancecompany?

• Why was there a lapse of time between the occurrence ofthe incident and the reporting of it (if there was one)?

• Why was there a lapse of time between the reporting ofthe incident and the arrival of the police officers, insur-ance adjuster, or emergency personnel (if there was one)?

2. In relation to others involved:

• Why was a witness at the scene?

• Why was a witness eager, willing, or hesitant to give information?

• Why was the item or person involved moved from thescene?


For example, to answer the question “Who?” in relation to

the subject you’re investigating, you record all identifying

information such as your subject’s name, sex, race, age,

date of birth, occupation, address, telephone number (both

home and business), and any other particular identifying

information. You should record the same information on any

witnesses you interview or anyone else who makes a state-

ment regarding the investigation.

When you investigate an incident that’s the subject of a

police investigation, such as a motor vehicle accident or a

fire suspected of resulting from arson, you would record the

information necessary to answer the question “Who?” in

relation to the police officers and fire officials who participated

in the official investigation. For example, Who responded to

the call? Who conducted the investigation? Who preserved

the scene? Who retrieved the evidence? Who marked the

evidence? Who transported the evidence? Who took custody

of the evidence?

In a similar manner, you must record all facts and details

necessary to answer the other five basic questions as follows.

What? in relation to all details of what happened: What inci-

dent was reported? What incident occurred? What action was

taken? What statements were made by the client, by the

witness, by the subject? What agencies were notified? What

further action is indicated?

When? in relation to the date and time that each action or

event occurred: When was the incident discovered? When was

the act committed? When did the police arrive? When were

the witnesses and the victim contacted? When were they

interviewed? When was a subject or potential witness last

seen? When was an arrest made? When was the claim

denied?

Where? in relation to the exact location of each action and

event and in the investigation: Where was the subject and

where does he or she live? Where did the meeting take place?

Where was the information found? Where were the witnesses

interviewed? Where was the evidence recovered, marked, and

stored? Where does the subject work? Where can the subject

be found?



How? in relation to the manner in which all actions and

events occurred: How was the incident committed? How was

the incident discovered? How was it reported? How did the

client or witness get to the location? How did the people

involved get the weapons or tools? How did they use them?

How did the witnesses happen to be on the scene?

Why? in relation to the reason for all actions and events that

occurred: Why did the incident occur? Why was the incident

reported? Why did a time lapse occur? Why were particular

tools or other items used? Why was the particular means of

entry used? Why was someone injured? Why was a person

cooperative or uncooperative? Why was the victim moved from

the scene?

The “why” of most civil investigations is generally at the core

of the investigation, so it’s unreasonable to expect a “correct”

answer to the question “Why did it happen?” from any one

individual. Different people will have different opinions about

the “why” issues. This is one place you’re interested in getting

the opinions of witnesses (as opposed to simply facts that they

know). Even though opinions aren’t admissible as evidence,

when you ask witnesses for their opinions about why some-

thing happened, it’s a form of open-ended question. In

explaining the reasons for their opinions, they might disclose

things they saw, heard, or know about that they hadn’t

previously thought to mention.

The checklist in Figure 10 isn’t intended to be a step-by-step

approach to an investigation. It’s not an exhaustive list of

potential questions, nor is it expected that anyone would

actually use this checklist to conduct an interview. It’s

intended to be a guide to help you record all essential

information discovered during your investigation. You won’t

use every question in every investigation. Obviously, some

questions won’t apply to the investigation you’re conducting.

Also, you’ll need to probe deeper in some situations than

covered in the list of questions.

When formulating your approach to an interview with the

help of the list, simply omit the questions that seem to be

outside the scope of your investigation and use the others

conversationally. By referring to the checklist regularly while

you’re gaining experience, you can ensure that you won’t


forget to obtain essential information. Also, by using the

checklist, you’ll form the habit of keeping in mind the types

of questions to ask throughout the investigation. Inexperienced

investigators can use the checklist as a reference until they’ve

developed their own comprehensive series of questions they

feel confident with. Experienced investigators can use the

checklist as a reminder just to double-check themselves on

cases outside their normal scope of experience. After a while,

you’ll be able to mentally review the checklist and formulate

questions relevant to your case.

Evidence Handling

One of the basics of a private investigation business is the

handling of evidence and potential evidence. At a minimum,

your business must have a system in place for handling

evidence and a designated place to keep items of evidence.

This isn’t the kind of thing you can leave to be done in a

haphazard manner.

You might take photographs or videos during a surveillance

operation or use audiocassette tapes to record conversations

with witnesses or subjects (Figure 11). You might collect

pieces of broken china from a home that was robbed or

debris from the scene of an accident. Photographs, videos,

cassette tapes, and physical items are considered evidence;

you should properly mark them in a record of day-to-day

activities, or log. Maintaining a log will help you manage your

investigation and subsequently your business. Then you

would secure the evidence in a safe place until you need it in

court or as a reference for your investigation. Negatives of

photographs, for example, should be kept in acid-free paper

sleeves and be stored in a cool, dry place. Leaving them in

direct sunlight or an area where moisture could get to them

could destroy them. A piece of evidence from a burned building

could be thrown out as junk unless it’s properly marked and

stored in a secure place.

During an investigation, you can acquire evidence in different

ways. First, you could recover evidence, for example, at an

accident scene. Second, you might create evidence by record-

ing videos and audiotapes or by taking photographs. Third,

others might find evidence and turn it over to you.

48


However you recover evidence, you should mark it and log it

in an evidence logbook called an evidence recovery log.

Marking evidence is necessary for identification at a later

date. You must maintain a chain of evidence, a documented

path of the evidence from time of discovery to time of release,

to protect the integrity of the evidence (especially if it’s to be

used in a court case).

You can mark evidence in several ways. It’s preferable to mark

identifying information right on the evidence if the evidence is

large enough to accommodate the information and marking it

won’t destroy it in any way. If not, write the information on a

tag or label and affix it to the evidence. As an alternative, you

can also put pieces of evidence in bags and seal them, mark-

ing the outside of the bag with the identification information.

It’s important to seal the bag so nothing can be lost or added

to the evidence without your knowledge. You should include

the following identifying information on the evidence.

• Case number

• Assigned item number

• Description

• Area of recovery

• Method of recovery

FIGURE 11—Whenever youtake photos or collect any kind of evidence, you’ll need to store the evidence properly.


• Date and time the evidence was recovered

• Who recovered the evidence

• Initials of the investigator taking custody of the evidence

Figure 12 shows an example of a standard evidence recovery

log. The information entered on the log is the same as the

information recorded on the evidence itself, so you can easily

locate evidence stored in an evidence locker or safe. The

items of evidence listed in Figure 12 are typical items recov-

ered by a private investigator. Each item listing contains all

the information about each piece of evidence.

Item 1 is a piece of lens from a car turn signal, recovered at

the scene of a hit-and-run accident at the intersection of

Route 112 and Peconic Ave. Investigator RJ Rivera found the

lens on 2/2/03 at 12:00 P.M. The fragment is too small to

mark the information on it, so you would probably place it in

an evidence bag and write the information on the bag. Item 2

is a beer bottle recovered from the defendant’s car at the

accident scene. This evidence might be helpful in establishing

fault in the accident and recovering damages for the client/

plaintiff. This piece of evidence would probably be labeled

with a tag. Item 3 is a tape of a witness statement that the

defendant swerved into the oncoming lane, causing the acci-

dent. Whatever the evidence, you mark it and then log it to

maintain the chain of evidence and its integrity. Each case

should have its own evidence log.

50

Evidence Recovery Log

CASE NUMBER _______

Item Description Area of Method of Recovered Date TimeNumber Recovery Recovery By

1. Broken red Rt. 112/ found on RJ Rivera 2/2/03 12:00 P.M.plastic lens Peconic

2. Beer bottle Rt. 112/ found in RJ Rivera 2/2/03 3:00 P.M.Peconic defendant’s car

3. Tape of statement n/a witness RJ Rivera 2/25/03 9:00 A.M.by witness Jones interview

FIGURE 12—Evidence Recovery Log

An evidence tag can be

any type of label or

sticker.


When taking photographs, you should use a photograph

log, which is designed to record all the photographs taken

during an investigation. It’s also useful to use a cover sheet

(Figure 13). The cover sheet heading should include the

usual company information. After you fill in all the informa-

tion on the cover sheet, take a picture of it. You should use

the first picture of each new roll of film to photograph the

cover sheet. This way, you’ll have the photographer’s name,

the date and location, the type of incident, and the case

number on the roll of film, so there can’t be any confusion

about what case the photos relate to. Even if you’re using a

digital camera, having a picture of the cover sheet is a good

idea to avoid mistakes.

Figure 14 shows an example of a photograph log. The most

important elements to document are the photograph number

and a description of the subject of the photograph. As you

complete the photo log, be as descriptive as possible. It’s not

uncommon to get your photos developed and not be sure

what your target was. For example, you might get a great

shot of a tree and then neglect to document the significance

of the tree. If the tree is the scene of an accident, take a

wide-angle shot establishing the scene, as well as close-ups

of impact marks or damage that is significant to your case.

RJH INVESTIGATIONS317 Main Street,

Anytown, NY 11763 (516) 555-9800

* * * * *PHOTOS TAKEN* * * * * By ________________________________________________________________________

Case # ________________________________________________________________________

Date ________________________________________________________________________

Location ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

FIGURE 13—Photograph Log Cover Sheet

The Case File

The case file for a case is what you carry with you as you

work on the case. Items in the case file should include

1. A copy of the assignment sheet. Another copy of the

assignment sheet should be kept separately and shouldn’t

be taken out of the office. It’s your backup if your working

file, the one you carry in the field with you, gets lost or

stolen.

2. A time and expense form

3. All case notes

4. Copies of items received from the client such as releases,

photos, etc.

Every investigator tends to develop his or her own way of

organizing things. A convenient way to organize the case file

is to staple the assignment sheet inside the front cover and

the time and expense sheet inside the back cover. However,

if you’re working for someone else, it’s very important that

you follow instructions when you do things like organizing

your files. Even if you think another way might be better, the

management of the company has a reason for wanting things

done the same way by all employees.


Photograph Log

Case number: _____________________________________________________________________

Type of film: ____________________________________________________________________

Photo # Description Date Time

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

FIGURE 14—Photograph Log


Witness Interviews

Unlike police investigations where officers are generally mov-

ing quickly in emergency situations, private investigators can

frequently plan contacts ahead of time. Insurance companies

and attorneys preparing a case for possible litigation some-

times prefer signed or recorded statements from the involved

people or witnesses rather than the investigator’s report on

what was said.

Until you have extensive experience with either a particular

kind of investigation or a particular client, you’ll have to go

straight to the client to make some of your strategy decisions.

If the client wants a signed or recorded statement from some-

one, it should be your goal to provide exactly what’s requested.

If they want you to spend less time and only give them your

report of what was said, you should know that ahead of time

and comply. If they want still photos or video, you need to

know before you go out to do the work so you’re sure to take

the right equipment. After you have experience, you’ll make

more of those decisions on the fly, but in the early days,

always ask ahead of time.

Whether you plan on recording a statement or writing it out,

you’ll still need to take notes whenever possible. A recorded

statement should never be taken without a pre-statement

interview. During the pre-statement interview, you’ll take notes

to help you remember what to ask while you’re recording

the statement. The actual procedures for recording and hand-

writing statements will be covered in a later unit of this

program.

Taking Notes during an Interview

It will be necessary for you to take notes on information

you receive during many interviews with witnesses, records

custodians, and your clients (Figure 15). Have you ever been

interviewed by a recruiter or a personnel director when looking

for employment? If you have, you know the feeling you got

when the interviewer started asking a lot of questions, one

after the other. You might have become uneasy or tense,

which made it more difficult to talk to the interviewer.

An interview is a

conversation conducted

with the purpose of

getting information

from the interviewee.

A statement is informa-

tion from such a

conversation preserved

in some permanent

form, such as written

or recorded.

You’ll want to develop the skill of reading people well enough

to sense how fast you can proceed in an interview without

making them uneasy.

During an interview, you should do a lot of listening and

volunteer noncritical information from time to time. At a

comfortable point early in the interview, prepare to take notes

on the interview. Before you start taking notes, however,

casually mention to the person that you would like to take

notes so that you get the facts correct. For example, you

could say something like this, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to

write notes so I can be sure to be accurate.” The words, “if

you don’t mind,” are polite and courteous; they show your

concern. The words, “so I can be sure to be accurate” indicate

you’re concerned with accurately reporting what he or she

tells you. Being polite and concerned should help to put the

person at ease and make your job of writing notes of the wit-

ness’s comments a little easier.

Depending on the situation, the right time to start taking

notes might be when you first begin talking or after a few

minutes of warm-up small talk. When you ask a question,

you should let the person answer it in his or her own words.

Let the person tell you the whole story before you ask addi-

tional questions—don’t interrupt. Once the person you’re

interviewing completes the description of what happened,

then you ask additional, more specific questions.


FIGURE 15—Always takenotes during interviews.


When you start taking notes of an interview, even if you plan

on securing a statement later, remember to write the following

at the top of a new note page.

• The investigation case number

• The time and date, e.g., Wednesday, January 31, 2003,

7:40 P.M.

• The location of the interview

• The name of the person you’re interviewing

If your goal is to obtain a recorded or handwritten statement,

describe what you would like to do right away to determine if

the witness is going to agree or object. If the witness objects

to giving a statement, you can back off and continue to take

notes while talking.

Let’s suppose you’re interviewing a witness. The following

procedure applies to the way you conduct an interview and

take notes. (More detailed mechanics of beginning a statement

or starting a recording will be dealt with in a later unit.) You

begin your formal interview with factual information on the

witness. Concentrate on getting the witness’s name, address,

date of birth, age, occupation, employer, and both home and

business phone numbers. Such information provides a

means of contacting the witness at a later date.

Following the factual information, you continue with questions

that will enable you to review the witness’s story and ques-

tions that will encourage the witness to supply additional

information and to clarify any contradictions, discrepancies,

or omissions. Make accurate notes of what the witness says,

recording all the key statements in the exact words the witness

uses. You should seek all the answers to the questions Who?

What? When? Where? How? and Why?

During the interview, ask one question at a time, and write

your notes before moving on. Ask general questions and

allow the witness to elaborate in his or her own way. Make

notes of the witness’s responses as factual, hearsay, or as

conclusions drawn by the witness. If you don’t make the dis-

tinctions during the interview and all you have is your notes

of the conversation to go on, it will be difficult to distinguish

fact from opinion later for the final report. If the witness

changes a statement you already recorded in your notes, it’s

best not to erase your notes. They should show the discrep-

ancy and its clarification. For example, after you’ve written

that the witness heard a crash at approximately 9:30 P.M.,

the witness later states that it must have been closer to

9:15 because she remembered she sets her bedroom clock

15 minutes fast. You can make corrections in one of the

following two ways:

Option 1: Add a note saying something like this: “The witness

clarified that she sets her clock 15 minutes fast so she won’t

be late for work. She indicates that because of this considera-

tion, the time of the crash was closer to 9:15 P.M.” This

method leaves the original statement intact.

Option 2: Draw a single line through the original statement,

leaving it readable, and write in the change that you made.

You should initial the change to show that you made the

change. You want the record of the interview to be accurate,

so you must record all the information the witness gives,

including discrepancies and their clarifications.

When you close the interview or finalize the statement, the

witness should be satisfied the information you recorded is

accurate. Express your appreciation for the witness’s cooper-

ation and advise him or her that you might need to contact

him or her again later.

Before you go on to learn about accounts receivable manage-

ment, take time to complete Self-Check 3.



Self-Check 3

1. What six basic questions will help you document your case information?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

2. Suppose you acquire a new client, Samuel Jones, on April 15, 2003. Your last assignedcase number was 03Z0109. According to the popular filing system described in the previous section, what would be Mr. Jones’ case number?

__________________________________________________________________________

Questions 3–6: Indicate whether each of the following statements is True or False.

______ 3. To ensure that your notes are as complete as possible, you should write in complete sentences and paragraphs as opposed to words and phrases.

______ 4. Starting a new notebook for each new case is one system that makes the task offinding relevant notes for a case easier and provides a more efficient filing systemfor the case notes.

______ 5. As a new private investigator, you should take any case that comes along to getyour business up and running.

______ 6. If you need to rewrite something in your notes during an interview, you should initial the change.


ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE MANAGEMENT (COLLECTIONS)

Accounts Receivable

Accounts receivable is the money your business is owed.

Although it’s tempting, it’s never a good idea to treat

accounts receivable as money in the bank, because it’s

not—there’s always a chance the client won’t pay the bill.

The routine problem of getting clients to pay their bills is

never dealt with by fiction writers, on TV or in the movies

(Figure 16). The ideal way to operate a private detective busi-

ness would be to require all clients to pay for services in

advance, but the ideal is something most of us never get to

achieve. If a private investigator were fortunate enough to have

wealthy individuals in unending supply, requiring payment

in advance might work. Most private investigators, however,

aren’t able to count on very many wealthy clients. When you

go into the private investigation business, especially if you

don’t have a clear specialty, you must expect to have many

kinds of clients. The usual mix of clients for an average

private investigator might be as follows:

• Private individuals

• Small businesses

• Corporate clients

• Attorney clients

• Insurance adjusters and claims examiners

• Other private investigators

Some of the types of clients on this list are notorious for

being slow paying, but a small private investigation agency

usually wouldn’t be able to get away with requiring payment

in advance. Even though most corporate and business

clients—especially from the insurance industry—can be

counted on to pay eventually, it’s not uncommon to have to

wait 60 days or more for payment.



Collections

Using the receivables outstanding constant (ROC) will help

keep your business healthy and reduce your stress. Even if

you go to work for someone else, you can make yourself a

more valuable employee by taking an interest in and follow-

ing up on the accounts receivables for the cases you work.

1. Keep a clear accounts receivable record. Copies of all

unpaid invoices kept chronologically in a “collections” file

is a simple and effective system. You can keep a record

of calls made and promises received right on the invoice

copy.

2. Schedule a date and time on a weekly basis to review

accounts receivable

3. At the scheduled time, total all unpaid receivables to get

a receivables outstanding total. For example:

As of May 1, you have three jobs that were completed,

but remain unpaid 30 days after billing, and two jobs

that were completed and remain unpaid, but aren’t yet

overdue.

FIGURE 16—Getting the client to payyou for your services is as importantas the investigation itself.


Dr. Julian Bashir owes $900; billing date April 20.

Cho Mei-yun, Esq. owes $850; billing date April 12.

George Jones, Esq. owes $600; billing date March 30.

Celia Rodriquez owes $300; billing date March 15.

American Insurance Co. of Nevada owes $1,500;

billing date Feb. 15.

Add these receivables to get the receivables outstanding total:

$600 + 300 + 1,500 + 850 + 900 = $4,150

4. Calculate the average gross amount billed monthly for the

past three months. For example:

From Feb. 1–May 1 you had 10 jobs completed,

totaling $9,000. Calculate the average amount

billed monthly by dividing the total by the number

of months (3):

$9,000 � 3 = $3,000 average billed per month

5. Divide your total receivables by your average monthly

billing amount to get your receivables outstanding

constant (ROC):

$4,150 � $3,000 = 1.38

6. Place a telephone call (see below) to every client who was

invoiced over 30 days ago. In our example, you’d call

George Jones, Celia Rodriguez, and American Insurance

Co. of Nevada. You’d have called American Insurance Co.

of Nevada already in April; this would be your second call.

7. If the receivables outstanding constant increases more

than a fraction of a point (a typical acceptable ROC

number might be 1.5), shorten the number of days in

step six to less than 30 days.

After the first call at 30 days, the timing and frequency of

future calls depends on the results of the previous call. If no

one ever returned your calls or messages from the attempt at

30 days, you would try again a week later. If they promised

payment within two weeks, you would wait until the first

calling day after the two weeks passed to call again.

Regularly calculating the receivables outstanding constant is

an easy way to monitor the health of your accounts receivable.

It gives you a single, easy-to-compare number representing

the number of months of your earnings still unpaid by clients.

60


For example: If you bill an average of $10,000 a month and

your receivables outstanding total is $15,000, your receiv-

ables outstanding constant ratio is 1.5. This means it takes

you an average of 11/2 months, or 45 days, to get paid by a

client. If your accounts receivable management procedures

are good or you have many cash in advance customers, your

receivables outstanding constant might be much better, like

1.1 or even less than 1.

Every business is unique. You’ll have to determine what ROC

is acceptable for your particular business. The important

thing is to have something that will work as an early warning

system. If you don’t realize your accounts receivable are getting

out of hand until many bills are over 90 days past due and

you’re already unable to pay your own bills, it’s much more

difficult to find a solution. Clients who are having cash flow

problems will pay creditors who follow up at 30 days before

they pay those who don’t.

The ability to make effective accounts receivable phone calls

is as important to your business success as being able to do

good investigative interviews. The call isn’t for the purpose of

dunning or harassing the client. It should be thought of as a

public relations call. It’s for the purpose of determining if

there’s some problem you can help solve.

For example: Most corporations, law firms, and insurance

company offices have checks issued by someone other than

the person who hired you, usually in a different department.

When the person who hired you gets your report and bill,

they’re supposed to approve the bill and forward it on to the

accounts payable department. However, it’s not unusual for

it to get filed erroneously in the investigation folder and sit

there while you aren’t getting paid. If you call and find out it

hasn’t even been submitted for payment yet, you’ll at least

get the error corrected, and the payment process begun. If

you wait until the bill is 60 days overdue before calling,

there’s a greater chance the file will have already been closed

and put away in storage. With personnel turnover high in

many offices, the person who hired you might not even be

employed there any more. In cases like this, you end up

spending as much of your valuable time getting paid as you

did doing the work. This is not only a good reason to make

your accounts receivable calls sooner instead of later, it’s

another good example of why you must have a fee structure

that provides more than just breakeven revenue. You don’t

want your business going bankrupt while you wait for pay-

ments to come in.

Before moving on to the next section, take a moment to

complete Self-Check 4.


Self-Check 4

1. True or False? Once a client has been billed it’s as good as “money in the bank.”

2. How often should a business owner review the accounts receivable?

__________________________________________________________________________

3. What is it about the receivables outstanding constant that an agency owner shouldwatch for?

__________________________________________________________________________

4. True or False? Corporate clients usually pay their bills quickly.



ESTABLISHING RESOURCES

In the investigation business, your end product is the result

of your investigative work. The raw material your product is

made of is information obtained from the sources you select

as an investigator. Just as a manufacturer can’t wait until

their product is on the production line to figure out where the

necessary raw material will come from, a private investigator

must have some resources lined up before starting to work

on cases. Developing and becoming familiar with a basic set

of resources for use when working cases is part of establish-

ing your business. A well-organized business with everything

in place for accessing at least the most common information

resources will result in investigations getting better results,

more efficiently, for clients. Deciding exactly which resources

to use for each case is part of the investigation process, but

establishing some to start with is a business basic.

Free Resources

Libraries and Public Records

The public library and public records are the most obvious

free resources every private investigator needs to be familiar

with (Figure 17). Anyone can walk into a public library and

look at the books and ask questions of the librarians. Anyone

can also walk into a courthouse and look at books and

records and ask questions of the clerks.

Even though, technically, everyone is supposed to have

access to public records, they’re not always as easy to get to

as books in the library typically are. Most public records are

kept in inaccessible places, and only indexes are available to

the public. When a member of the public wants to see the

actual record, a clerk retrieves it and makes it available, sub-

ject to certain conditions, such as that it can’t be removed

from the room. If a member of the public wants a copy of a

record, there’s usually a charge. As a business, you won’t

need to do anything special to have access to free resources

like libraries and public records, other than possibly register

in some way to expedite access.

Freedom of Information Act

Some free information is only available if requested in a

certain way, using approved forms or an approved format.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) created procedures

whereby any member of the public may obtain the records

of agencies of the federal government. Some information is

exempted from disclosure, however, including

• National security

• Internal agency rules

• Information exempted by other statutes (for example,

citizens’ tax returns)

• Business information (for example, trade secrets)

• Internal government memos

• Private matters (for example, medical records of

government employees)


FIGURE 17—Public libraries areimportant sources of information.


• Law enforcement investigations, where disclosure would

interfere with an ongoing investigation or someone’s right

to a fair trial

• Regulation of financial institutions

• Location and geological information on oil wells

These exemptions aren’t mandatory—that is, the agency can

decide to disclose the information anyway. If the agency

refuses, it must give a reason.

Each state has its own public access laws that should be

consulted for access to state and local records. A good source

of these state laws is The Reporters’ Committee for Freedom

of the Press, Tapping Officials’ Secrets, at

http://www.rcfp.org/tapping/index.cgi

(Or go to http://www.rcfp.org and click on the Tapping

Officials’ Secrets link.) The information is organized by

state, or you can do a search.

Information from federal records available as a result of FOIA

is only available if requested in writing with certain information

included in the request (Figure 18). A lot of information on

FOIA resources is available on the Internet. One good source

of advice on how to obtain FOIA information is the ACLU’s

Web site: http://archive.aclu.org/library/foia.html.

Having the correct procedures and forms available in an

investigative office is a basic part of being in business.


[Date]

[Return Address]

ATTN: Rita Morgan, Freedom of Information OfficerUSDA Forest ServiceStop 11431400 Independence Avenue, SWWashington, DC 20250-1143

Dear Mrs. Morgan:

Under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552, I am requesting access to copiesof the following documents:

[Identify the records as clearly and specifically as possible, including the time period applicableto the records you seek. For example:

Logging permits issued to the Beaver Logging Co. of Maine, during the years 1999–2000.]

In order to help determine my status to assess fees, you should know that I am affiliatedwith a private corporation and am seeking information for use in the company’s business. Iagree to pay fees for this request up to a maximum of $ _______. If you estimate that thefees will exceed this limit, please inform me first. [If there are any fees charged for searchingor copying the records, please let me know before you fill my request.]

[You need to specify if you’re a commercial requester, are representing an educational institution or noncommercial scientific institution, or are a member of the news media or a public interest group. As a private investigator, you’re requesting the information for commercial purposes.]

If you deny any part of this request, please cite each specific reason that you think justifiesyour refusal to release the information. Please notify me of appeal procedures availableunder the law.

If you have any questions processing this request, you may contact me at the following telephone number [212-123-4567].

Sincerely,

[your signature]

FIGURE 18—A Freedom of Information Act letter must include certain items and be sent to a specific address.


Other Private Investigators

Other professional private investigators are a free resource

but, like other resources, this one requires some advance

preparation. Even though some investigators will give helpful

hints to other investigators just for the asking, you need to

verify the accuracy of what they give away. A much better

way to get help from other private investigators is to get

acquainted with them as friends and learn who you respect

and trust in the industry. This is done by going to investigative

association meetings and doing a lot of respectful listening.

Building alliances within the investigation industry not only

can provide a good source of free investigative help, it can

result in a good source of business. Assignments from other

private investigators amounts to 20 percent of the business

handled by many established investigators.

In-House ResourcesDirectories and Internet access are resources a business

might provide to its employees. Even if you’re self-employed,

your business will need to have certain resources in place for

your use when working cases. The list of possible in-house

resources is almost unlimited, but a few are worth mentioning.

One successful investigator, who established an agency in a

town where he had never lived, started out by asking every-

one he came in contact with if they happened to have any old

telephone directories they were no longer using. Many people

were glad to give the old directories away and free up shelf

space. He acquired directories by the dozen, and eventually

had an entire large bookshelf filled with directories dating

back 50 years. This shelf full of directories gave him and

his employees a way of determining who the neighbors were

for any old address.

Printed reverse directories are published by different compa-

nies for different parts of the country. Even though many of

these directories are available online and on CD, many people

still feel it’s worthwhile having the ones they use most fre-

quently on the bookshelf. Two companies that publish

reverse directories are R. H. Donnelly and R. L. Polk. Reverse

directories will be covered more later in the program.

Subscription Resources

Fee-based information services (a.k.a. subscription services,

information brokers, or gateways) provide a one-stop shop

service for huge amounts of information. These services sell

information from many sources, some of which they must

buy, some they collect themselves, and some they merely

repackage from public record sources. They each charge for

their services in some way. Some services charge a monthly

access fee, while others charge by the search or by the item of

information retrieved. With public records information, they’re

charging for making the information accessible on their site.

It’s probably available somewhere else for free, but if an

investigator can pay $2 or even $10 to get it in one minute

instead of spending two hours to get it free, it’s worth it.

Most active private investigation agencies subscribe to at

least one fee-based subscription information service, such

as Merlin (http://www.merlindata.com) or ChoicePoint

(https://www.choicepointonline.com/default.asp). In the

late 1990s and early 2000s, an extraordinary consolidation

and reshuffling of information brokers took place. Names

and contact details changed daily, and are still changing, as

companies merged or went out of business. The information

brokerage business also continually changes as new laws are

passed. For this reason, anyone who uses information brokers

on a regular basis needs to know how to effectively select and

use whatever service is best for their type of work. A company

named BRB Publications provides online lists of many infor-

mation resources at http://www.brbpub.com and

http://www.publicrecordsources.com. They also publish

several books with the same type of information, such as

Public Records Online and Find it Online.

It’s a mistake to sign up for several fee-based information

services at the same time. First, the use of some fee-based

subscription services can get expensive very fast, especially if

employees have access to them. Second, each service has its

own idiosyncrasies and characteristics that must be learned

in order to use it effectively. If you join several at the same

time, it decreases the chance that you’ll be able to use them



effectively. And you’ll probably be paying for services that are

duplicated. As a part of establishing your business, you’ll

need to research which services are the best for your needs

and establish appropriate controls for their use.

Before moving on to the examination, take a few moments to

review and complete Self-Check 5. Then check your answers

with those provided at the end of this study unit. If you’ve

missed any answers, or you feel unsure of the material,

review the relevant pages in this study unit. When you’re sure

that you completely understand the information presented,

complete your examination. Remember also to complete the

Practical Exercises.


Self-Check 5

1. Name a reason for joining only one fee-based information service at a time.

__________________________________________________________________________

2. Who is allowed to use public libraries?

__________________________________________________________________________

Questions 3–6: indicate whether each of the following statements is True or False.

______ 3. Other private investigators can be a good source of jobs.

______ 4. Anyone is allowed to go directly to any file in the public record.

______ 5. Only nonpublic records are sold by fee-based subscription services.

______ 6. It’s sometimes best to have a printed directory in the office even if it’s available online.



PRACTICAL EXERCISESAt the end of most of your Private Investigator study units,

you’ll work through some practical exercises, which will give

you experience performing some of the duties of a private

investigator. The exercises are for your enrichment—don’t

submit your results to the school for grading.

Exercise 1Gain experience filling out an assignment sheet.

Objectives:

1. To gain practice and experience filling out an

assignment sheet

2. To gain practice and experience asking questions

of a client

A blank assignment sheet is provided in Figure 19.

Completing an Assignment Sheet

You’ll need to get help from a friend, relative, or acquaintance

to be your “client” for this exercise. Assure them they won’t

have to pay you for your services, because you’re just practic-

ing. [Tip: The best way to get cooperation when asking someone

for something is to anticipate whatever objection they might

have and deal with the objection before asking for their

cooperation.]

Ask your client to select a help wanted ad from the classified

section of a local newspaper. They should select any ad they

are or might be curious about in some way. Since they aren’t

going to have to pay anything, you don’t need to do much

qualifying of this client, and you can go straight to filling out

the assignment sheet. Your assignment as an investigator

is going to be to get information about the position they’re

curious about. Fill out the assignment sheet in Figure 19

with all the information for this assignment, starting with

the information about your client.

Once you’ve filled out everything you can on the assignment

sheet, assign the file a case number using any numbering

system you want. That’s all for this exercise. Keep the

assignment sheet.


NEW GUY INVESTIGATIONS317 Main Street, Anytown, OR 89963

(516) 555-9999

File Number _____________

CLIENT

Last Name ________________________________ First Name ___________________________

Age ______ DOB _________________

Address _______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________


SSN ____________________

Occupation ___________________________ Employer _____________________________

E-Mail Address________________________


Date of First Contact ______________________________ Time ______________

CASE DETAILS

Type of Investigation ________________________________________

Subject / Target Information

Last Name______________________________________ First Name ________________________

Age _______ DOB ____________

Height ________ Weight _________ Race ___________

Distinguishing Marks ________________________________

Address ________________________________________ City _______________________ State ______ ZIP_________

Phone Numbers: Home __________________ Business __________________ Cellular/Pager ___________________

SSN _________________________

Employer _______________________________________ Occupation ______________________

Employer’s Address __________________________________ City ____________________ State ______ ZIP________

Other Subject Information_____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

TIMING AND BUDGET

Date Received from Client ____________________

Assigned To _________________________ Date Assigned ____________________

First Report Due _________________

Completion Deadline _______________________ Budget Agreement _________________________

Description of Assignment and Notes___________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

FIGURE 19—Assignment Sheet


Exercise 2

Objectives:

1. To gain practice and experience making investigative

phone calls

2. To gain practice and experience interviewing by phone

3. To gain practice and experience writing notes

4. To gain practice and experience reporting verbally

Using the assignment sheet prepared for Exercise 1, attempt

to learn the Who? What? Where? Why? When? and How? of

the position or job opportunity your client is curious about.

Make phone calls as needed, up to five, and attempt to get

the information desired. Keep notes on your calls.

Hint: The easiest way to conduct this investigation is to

become the person who is curious about the position, and

call or write someone in the company who might know any

of the answers you seek, or the person who is listed in the

ad. Telling them you’re curious about the opening is a form

of pretext, but it should also be the truth. Being curious is

part of being a private investigator.

Make a verbal report to your “client” using your notes on

what you learned.

NOTES


75

Self-Check 1

1. Record keeping or accounting

2. In order of time

3. By beginning the name with “A,” “AA,” or “AAA”

4. True

5. False

6. True

7. False

Self-Check 2

1. False

2. location

3. False

4. a

Self-Check 3

1. Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?

2. 03J0110

3. False

4. True

5. False

6. True

Self-Check 4

1. False

2. Weekly

3. A substantial increase above the usual

4. False

An

sw

er

sA

ns

we

rs

Self-Check Answers76

Self-Check 5

1. To learn to use it effectively and not buy duplicate

services

2. Any member of the public

3. True

4. False

5. False

6. True

77

1. When you first have contact with a client, you need to

A. evaluate whether the client is able to pay for your services.B. explain your philosophy of investigation.C. get all the details of the case.D. start assessing charges for your time.

2. Which of the following represents safe storage for photographicnegatives?

A. An open tray on top of a file cabinetB. A paper sleeve or envelope in a dark, dry containerC. A lighted area with plenty of humidityD. A plastic box near a source of heat


When you feel confident that you have mastered the material in this study unit, complete the following examination. Then submitonly your answers to the school for grading, using one of theexamination answer options described in your “Test Materials”envelope. Send your answers for this examination as soon as youcomplete it. Do not wait until another examination is ready.

Questions 1–20: Select the one best answer to each question.

EXAMINATION NUMBER:

05803000Whichever method you use in submitting your exam

answers to the school, you must use the number above.

For the quickest test results, go to http://www.takeexamsonline.com

Ex

am

ina

tion

Ex

am

ina

tion

Examination78

3. Which of the following would be a good name for a new investigation agency?

A. Green Beret Limited C. AAA Countywide Inc.B. Integrity Co. D. Accurate Investigation Services

4. Which of the following is considered part of your startup expenses?

A. Copying costs for your first case, a deed searchB. Monthly phone billsC. Office furniture and suppliesD. Accounts receivable

5. Which of the following is an example of the correct way to take case notes?

A. Smith to Atlantic Ave, Bklyn, Tues.B. Smith to 1307 Atlantic Ave, Bklyn, Tues. 10A.M.C. Subject Smith took taxi (Emerald car service, lic. ACD-1342) to 1307 Atlantic Ave,

Bklyn, Tues., 5/13/2003, 10 A.M.—rang doorbell third floor, enteredD. The subject, Marilyn Smith, took a green taxi belonging to Emerald car service, livery

license ACD-1342, to a three-story building at 1307 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY, onTues., 5/13/2003, at 10A.M. Then she rang the doorbell of the third floor apartment. Theoccupant of the apartment buzzed the door, and she went in.

6. Acme Investigation Agency has one employee in addition to the business owner. EmployeeA worked 25 billable hours last week, and was paid a fixed salary of $450. Acme’s over-head costs (rent, insurance, etc.) are $636 per week. Using this information, what wouldyou calculate the hourly rate charged to Acme’s clients should be?

A. $14.50 C. $32.50B. $18 D. $43.44

7. An item of data unique to an individual is called a(n)

A. identifier. C. public record.B. variable. D. quality.

8. A chronological note file is a file where you keep

A. notes unconnected to any open case, in order of name.B. notes unconnected to any open case, in order of date.C. your case notes, in order of client name.D. your case notes, in order of date.

9. Which of the following statements is false about assignment sheets?

A. They’re for internal bookkeeping only; they’re not an important part of the case file.B. They’re used to document information you receive from an initial client contact.C. They’re used to organization client information in the case file.D. Although they can be automated in a computer, you still need printed copies.

Examination 79

10. Which of the following statements is true?

A. Private investigation is an easy way to earn a lot of money.B. A license isn’t required in half the states in the United States.C. Investigators should always know what’s going to be important later when taking notes.D. All pages of notes should have the date and time at the top of the page.

11. As an investigator, you’ll have to manage your inventory, just like the owner of your localgrocery store. What is an investigator’s inventory?

A. Ideas C. ClientsB. Files D. Bank records

12. One of the sources most often overlooked in investigations is

A. police reports. C. the client.B. news stories. D. former spouses of the subject.

13. Why would you assign a code to every case type you handle?

A. Because clients want to have the codes when they’re billedB. So you can analyze your cases statistically to manage your businessC. For purposes of collecting sales tax and paying income taxesD. So you can use your spreadsheet program to track your files

14. Which of the following statements about the Freedom of Information Act is true?

A. The Act allows citizens to browse the records of the federal government.B. The Act allows citizens access to all federal, state, and local records.C. The Act allows citizens to request information held by agencies of the federal

government.D. Government agencies may refuse to honor a FOIA request without giving a reason.

15. In your private investigator business, the supplies and equipment you need to do your job

A. will be different for every case.B. will be the same for every case.C. should be ready before you start working on each new case.D. can be purchased as you need them during your investigation.

16. How should you go about deciding what to charge your clients?

A. Charge 10 percent more than you earned in your last job.B. Pick a number that sounds good.C. Figure out your costs and add an amount for profit.D. Figure out what you want to earn as a salary, and charge that much.

Examination80

17. Which of the following statements about interviewing a witness is true?

A. You should ask detailed questions that direct the witness to answer a certain way.B. You should let the witness answer the question fully before asking any follow-up

questions.C. You shouldn’t allow witnesses to make any corrections to answers they’ve already

given.D. It’s not necessary to take notes, as you can always contact the witness later if you

forget something.

18. If a corporate client has neglected to pay your bill after 30 days, what should you do?

A. Wait another 30 days before calling, since many companies pay their bills slowly.B. Refer the account to your lawyer or a collections bureau for delinquency.C. Call the client and inquire whether they’ve begun processing the bill yet.D. Call the client and threaten to take them to court if they don’t pay.

19. The statute of limitations sets the amount

A. of time within which one may file a lawsuit.B. of time that a private investigator can spend investigating a case.C. that a private investigator may charge for services.D. that a plaintiff can be awarded in damages.

20. When taking photographs for a case, it’s important to make a note in your photo log of

A. the time of day when you took the photo.B. what kind of film you’re using.C. what focal length and camera settings you used for each shot.D. the significance of the subject of each photo.

Investigation Business Basics

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