You may be faced with a situation and find yourself asking – is it worth hiring a private Detective? We often find that our clients, whether that be private or commercial, are apprehensive when they first speak to one of our Private Detectives. The cause of that apprehension is often because the world of private investigation and Private Detectives has a particular reputation, mainly due to TV shows and films which have built a truly unrealistic and sometimes negative image of the industry.
Together with some bad press over the years, souring non affiliate investigators.
The question to ask yourself when weighing up whether to hire a private detective is whether the information you need to get to the bottom of a situation is something that a private detective can legally and ethically do within UK Law.
To help you answer this question we have set out just a few of the methods and tactics which are legal to carry out within the UK and what these services can you help you determine across a number of different scenarios.
Surveillance
Surveillance is one of the oldest and most trusted methods of private investigation. Although the development of technology offers many ways to monitor and assess a situation, the most impartial, unbiased way to do this is with a team of experienced and highly trained private detectives who will monitor and report back on a particular subject and the situation.
Surveillance can help get to the truth of a situation in many different scenarios including a partner being unfaithful, employee absenteeism, investigating the truth of an insurance claim or even patent and copyright infringement.
For a full explanation of how surveillance can help and whether it is worth hiring a private investigator to conduct this type of service, visit our dedicated surveillance team page.
Vehicle Tracking
There are many different types of vehicle tracking services which can be adopted depending on the circumstance. In essence though vehicle tracking can be used in a wide range of situations.
Vehicle tracking can help get to the truth of a situation such as employee theft in terms of tracking objects or goods to understand breaches of supply chain, or even understanding where your partner may be at a particular moment, however it’s important to understand only in certain scenarios can vehicle tracking be used in personal, non-commercial situations.
For a full explanation of how vehicle tracking can help and whether it is worth hiring a private investigator to conduct this type of service visit our dedicated vehicle tracking service page.
Searching for a missing person or locating long lost relatives of birth parents
Using private investigators to trace a missing person or in fact a long lost relative can be an incredibly effective use of an agency such as Insight Investigations. These cases are often highly sensitive and unfortunately not a priority for many police forces. Therefore, hiring your own investigation team can often lead to extremely positive results, as hiring a dedicated team of experts to make it their sole purpose to find the person in question means that the right minds are using the right resources to provide you with the truth to your situation.
For a full explanation of how tracing services can help and whether it is worth hiring a private investigator to conduct this type of service visit our dedicated tracing missing persons service page.
Assisting in identify theft
Being the victim of identity theft can be an incredibly traumatic and an emotional turn of events. Once again this is an area of law enforcement where there isn’t a huge amount of support for victims of this type of crime. However, what hangs in the balance for those who have their identity stolen is huge – it can stop them from obtaining a mortgage, put them into bad credit making things like car finance or even obtaining a mobile phone contract near impossible. Finding a way to track down the person behind stealing your identity and blackening your credit is something that our dedicated identity theft team can assist with. This information can then be handed over to the authorities so they can pursue it further.
For a full explanation of how private investigations can help in situations of identity theft and whether it is worth hiring a private detective to conduct this type of service visit our dedicated identify theft services page.
What is unequivocally NOT legal and should never be used as methods of investigation
Now that we understand a bit more about the services available and in what situations these tactics would be employed, it’s equally as important to know what services are highly illegal and should be avoided at all costs from both a legal and ethical point of view.
Services such as phone tapping, setting up listening devices in a home or vehicle not owned by yourself are highly illegal. One of the most asked for services in our matrimonial department is the use of technology which can be downloaded onto a partner’s phone and used to intercept messages and calls – often to prove infidelity.
This sort of software is highly illegal, to both sell to a customer and to use as a consumer and should always be avoided, unless you are the owner.
Should you want to speak with one of our specialist team about whether hiring a private Detective is right for you – you can call us on the below number or via our contact form 24 hours a day, seven days a week for a completely free and confidential consultation.
24/7 Help & Advice