Much of the private investigator’s work is about shades of grey, rather than black and white certainties – but one thing’s for sure, it’s recession-proof, a PI and trainer tells Mark Rowe.
On the training side, Bluemoon Investigations Group among its courses offers a four-day residential in Peterborough. It’s for rookies, wannabees, to see whether PI work is for them. Attenders may include people already in security, or police officers to learn about civil investigations. Those already in security – store detectives, say – may go on the course to add another string to their bow; or to advance their career. They may stay working full-time in security, but work part-time, as a sub-agent. <br><br>Bluemoon MD is Peterborough-based Keith Walker, 30 years in the business; a member of the Association of British Investigators (ABI) and UK-PIN (Private Investigators Network, www.ukpin.com). If anything, he suggests, investigators do better in a recession. "Clients will pursue something when it’s tight, that they wouldn’t normally do when things are buoyant. So although there’s a change in the client mix [in a recession], there’s not a change in the volume." Typically, people are chasing assets; but domestic work, too, increases, he says. His websites such as www.anteksecurity.com offer much background on becoming a PI: for example, a free to download 15-pager on what Keith terms ‘the second oldest profession’. As he agrees, many investigations may bring up not something black and white but a shade of grey. He told Professional Security: "On the domestic front, a lot of people would come to us with a suspicion; I have to say, 40 per cent of the time that suspicion is founded; 60 per cent of the time, it’s not. Something else may be happening." He gave a recent example. A woman instructed the agency, insistent that her husband was ‘playing away’. "We put the guy under surveillance, followed him for days; he was having a relationship, but with a man. Now that hit the client like a ton of bricks. He was having an affair, but not with another woman, as she thought." Does that make it worse, or better, for the wife? That is not for the investigator to say. The PI merely reports to the client the facts and what the client does with those facts is the client’s affair. <br><br>To return to the residential course: it covers what Keith Walker terms ‘the day work’, the bread and butter work that will (literally) walk through your door, more often than forensic science stuff. Also offered is three months of email support after the course, for instance if rookies want to know what to charge a client; or where to turn for some specialism. Keith Walker points out that his firm – which he describes as ‘a traditional agency’ – does wide and diverse work. Typically a PI does surveillance, whether on domestic partners or petty thefts at a workplace; or process serving. Most PIs, 90 to 95 per cent, Keith adds, are one-man bands, or PIs working for one type of client, lawyers or insurance companies. Bluemoon does other courses, such as a one-day taster for those wanting to see if PI work is for them. <br><br>As someone so long in the business, he is able to say with authority that while a) the client, as the one who is paying, is always right, b) there are two sides to every story, and the client may well only give one side. So the PI has to learn quickly to ‘read’ people; and to bear in mind that people may speak with forked tongues. But Keith says that’s true of security people generally: "Good security people know in a crowded place who the trouble-makers are, before they have even done anything. They can sense something." When interviewing, a witness may turn into a suspect; or a suspect may prove to be an innocent by-stander. "You can’t have any pre-conceptions in this business. You become very cynical over the years, I am afraid. But remember we deal a lot under civil law. Civil law doesn’t need the same amount of proof as criminal law does." Investigation of fraud – of petty or major theft from a business – is different to prevention. Bluemoon may get called in, to install some specialist, covert camera; or to give a slant on how the site security manager can approach a problem. <br><br>About Bluemoon: Among its arms are the Bluemoon School of Investigations (www.schoolofinvestigation.co.uk). Also offered are franchises – visit www.bluemoonagencies.com. <br><br>Earnings<br><br>While Keith Walker did not go into specifics, potential earnings can be high compared with the routine of a profit protection person; separately, Professional Security has heard of an ex-Army person who originated from the rough end of a town, able to command four-figure fees for going into a warehouse, say, posing as (and dressed as) a pest controller, and finding out who and where the internal thieves are. This investigator privately queries if such a high fee is justified; plainly it is worth it for the client, if a larger loss is detected and prevented. <br><br>From Keith Walker’s free to view advice ‘I want to be a private investigator’<br><br>How much should I charge clients?<br><br>You must first find out what the average is for the area where you are. If you call other PIs in your area you will get an idea of what the average charges are. If you are a new sole operator do not try to compete with “seasoned professionals ”, you will lose. It may be that you have to charge lower fees to begin with and it would be a good idea to inform all other PIs in your area that you would be willing to work as part of their enquiry for part of the fee. It maybe that you do not get welcoming responses from other PIs in your area, after all you are potential competition. Do not be disheartened – they have obviously forgotten what it was like when they first started.
