I was recently asked by a member of the Northwest Chamber of Commerce to provide some information regarding Private Investi­gators. The first question I was asked was to define what a Private Investigator does for his clients. In short, I answered that a Private Investigator obtains factual. credible information, legally. for a cli­ent in return for compensation. The information that we develop for our clients relates to many issues.

• Finding out who is stealing from the company
• Defending someone charged with a criminal offense
• Determine if a spouse is cheating
• Conduct pre-employment background investigations for po­tential new-hires to ensure hiring someone who is honest and credible
• Surveilling individuals who claim they got hmt on the job and can’t work anymore
•  Conducting background investigations on individuals om clients are considering going into business with

I also pointed out that Private Investigators are licensed in the state where they operate. I suggested that if someone was looking for a Private Investigator to hire, it might be a good idea to ask friends and associates for a referral.

I also advised that searching the web would result in locating a number of companies who boast many services and resources. These websites make it difficult to determine which companies are, in reality, one man shops; which I would recommend stay­ing away from.

I also pointed out that the majority of these websites go into detail about what they can do for a client, but they never appear to docu­ment any case success where they have actually gotten productive results.

My final suggestion was that if anyone was planning to engage an Investigator, and give them money up front, they should visit their office first because that would tell them quite a bit about their credi­bility and potential to do a good job.