Private Investigator

Private Investigators carry out private investigations for clients, including individuals, organisations and legal firms. They’ll take detailed briefs from clients summarising what requires investigation, then gather evidence and observations with discretion and attention to detail.

What is a Private Investigator?

As a private investigator (PI), or enquiry agent, you’ll utilise analytical, observation and reasoning skills to conduct investigations. These can be of an individual or group, and are on behalf of a client. This may be to obtain information, such as fraud involvement, confirm a suspected crime, prove infidelity or even spot a legal infringement.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities in your role will vary depending on the type of personal investigation you’re conducting. Differences include whether you work independently or as part of a larger agency. There are some common duties you can expect, though:

• Liaise with clients to gather a full picture of what the investigation is for, why it is needed and what the client hopes to gain from hiring you.
• Having an awareness of the type of individuals or companies who are likely to be involved in hiring a private investigator.
• Undertaking careful, discrete observation of individuals or organisations from a variety of locations, such as a vehicle, public place or nearby building.
• Capturing photography and video evidence of suspects ensuring these are kept securely.
• Creating detailed case files including relevant evidence you’ve gathered, videos and or photography for clients.
• Keeping up to date with relevant legal policies and requirements for your profession.
• Working independently on individual cases and investigations.
• Collaborating with a wider team of investigators for larger or more high profile cases.
• Feeding information and intelligence back to clients.
• Adjusting your investigations as new evidence points to new individuals, companies and locations.

Salary

A private investigator salary will vary depending on whether you’re self employed, or working for private investigator companies.

Many private investigators are self employed, so it’s hard to get a full picture of an annual salary. The overall earnings depend on the usual private investigator costs for your area, and the type of investigation you’re conducting. The average rate is around £18 per hourk^[1], though you could earn higher than this with the right clients. If you’re working on high profile cases and in larger cities, expect to earn higher rates.

An employed private detective salary is likely to earn around £28,000k^[2]. This could be considerably higher for investigators working on high profile cases. Equally, with experience, a PI could take on management responsibilities, leading to higher salaries.

Qualifications

You do not need to have a degree to apply for a private investigator job. However, when applying for competitive positions, this could help you stand out from the crowd, along with having a detective background. Some relevant degrees include:

• Criminology degrees
• Psychology degrees
• Sociology degrees

In order to apply for a degree, you’ll usually need a 2-3 A Levels, and 4-5 GCSEs including English and Maths at grades 9-4 (A*-C). To apply for most entry level positions in private investigation, you’ll be expected to have GCSEs.

Alternatively, you could study an online private investigator course. Online private investigation courses vary in length and requirements, and there isn’t a standardised course you must take to qualify. Examples include a Level 3 qualification in Professional Investigation (from the Associaiton of British Investigators), which is a beginner’s level course, and the Level 4 Cover Surveillance Operations course, from the Institute of Professional Investigators.

Training and development

Much of what you’ll know as a private investigator, you’ll learn on the job. It’s worth asking to shadow a senior investigator, though you’ll need to show that you’re able to maintain discretion while doing so.

There are several organisations that connect private investigators and lead training sessions. These include The Institute of Professional Investigators and the Association of British Investigators. Both run workshops, webinars, and further training to help you develop your skills in the profession. You may find that your employer is willing to pay for your further training, if you’re part of a larger agency.

Skills

In your role as a private investigator, your main skills focus around discretion and observation. These include:

• Excellent attention to detail, noticing everything from small gestures to what someone is reading to help build a picture of a crime or suspicion for your client.
• Discretion - you’ll need to know how to hide in plain sight, observing suspects without them noticing you’re there.
• An analytical mind - you’ll need to see multiple clues and piece them together to form a case.
• Excellent listening skills - you’ll need to take small pieces of information gathered by your client and use this to help build a case.
• Good grasp of written and verbal English - you’ll need to file detailed reports and give feedback to your client based on your observations.
• A calm demeanour - you may observe sensitive scenes and scenarios, so it’s important that you’re not easily flustered.
• Ability to take on constructive criticism - your clients may disagree with your approach or methods, and you’ll need to take this on and adapt if it’s necessary for your work.
• Awareness of safety precautions - you may be observing volatile situations and individuals, so you’ll need to be able to assess the safety of each case.
• Awareness of the laws and ethics surrounding the profession, so that you conduct your work professionally and appropriately.

Work Experience

If you decide to begin your career in private investigation with study, try to gain work experience through educational connections. Ask your course tutors, university careers service and course colleagues to see if they know of any PI related companies that would allow you to shadow them.

Private investigation cases usually involve highly sensitive information. As a result, gathering direct work experience of PI work can prove a challenge if you don’t already have connections built up within the industry. It’s worth reaching out to local firms to see if they do offer shadowing, though.

If you struggle to find direct work experience in private investigations, you could also reach out to the local police force and see if they offer voluntary work, or shadowing opportunities. You could ask to learn about police detectives, whose skill sets often crossover with private investigators.

Career Prospects

The world of private investigation is fast growing. You could begin your work as part of a wider agency and use this time to train yourself up in the field. With time, you could oversee large cases and junior investigators. You could even specialise in particular areas of investigation, such as being a corporate investigator or commercial investigator.

With some experience and training under your belt, you could choose to work independently. You’ll manage your own client records and need to build a good reputation to keep up sustainable work, but with the right clients, this could be much more lucrative. You could even go global, becoming an international private investigator.

You might find that your private investigation work leads to an interest in more formal investigative procedures with the police force. Police detective roles could be right for you, and you work your way through the ranks.