The Expert Podcast

So how do you become a licensed private investigator. The industry of investigations is highly lucrative There's a lot of need for investigations of certain types of cases But almost every state requires that you have a license to become an investigator. The catch 22 is this most states have a provision that in order to get a license as a private investigator You have to have certain amount of time experience as a private investigator but you can only be an investigator if you're licensed. So how do you go about doing that. Well The most common pathway to becoming investigator Is to be in law enforcement If you're a police officer and you do certain types of investigations You can use that experience to get a license. However not every police officer is eligible If you just write tickets or if you're a patrol officer you may you're exposed may not qualify as an investigator. so how do you go about doing that Well here is a selection from the happens to be from the state of Florida Most states are similar private investigation license requires that you have a license for certain things And it has exemptions. who is exempt from licensing. And as a couple of things active law enforcement they don't have to have a license insurance investigators let's say attorneys you don't have to have a license if you are in a bank But look at number one in-house investigators who are solely readily employed as an investigator in connection with the business of an employer Who does not advertise or provide investigative services for a fee. What that means is if you work within a company and you provide investigations for your employer not for outside use that's not a licensed Required Activity. We'll get back to that in a minute. So That might be a pathway to get a license. Well you might be thinking well my job at my company isn't to being an investigator well There may be a way to use your experience to become an investigator. We'll get back to that. Let's take a look at what is the definition of an investigator. Here's the Florida statutes The Florida statutes say that And investigation Is somebody who performs the following Activities Private investigator means the investigation by a person or persons Obtaining information about crimes or wrongs doing threatened against the United States. identity habits conduct movements whereabouts affiliations associations by person or group. The credibility of witnesses or other persons whereabouts of missing persons Location of loss or stolen property that causes
of fires libel slanders losses accidents damage injuries to real people. The business of securing evidence to be used in court Those are an example of what's defined as being an investigator in Florida and the what you have to have a license for If you do any one of these things for a fee for somebody else you have to have a license. So let's take a look at one other example and we'll get back to how you can get that experience to get your license Here's another example from the state of Texas very similar thing It says that a private investigator means an individual who performs one or more of the services described by section 17 Oh 2 1 0 4 Well let's take a look at that 17 0 2 1 0 4 Investigations company Okay Is a person acts as investigative company for purpose of this chapter If they investigate the crime or wrongdoing identity habits or business. Sound familiar kind of like what Florida said only this is another state's statute. the location disposition or recovery of loss of stolen property Imagine that the cause of responsibility of a fire libel loss accident almost the same wording. engages in the business of secure evidence for a court almost the same thing. So these are the activities that are defined as investigative activities that need a license. So how would you use your current employment to get that activity. It doesn't say that you need to be paid for this activity Just says that you have to have experience doing these things. So let's say you work in a company and your company could use any one of these types of activities to help. it Doesn't have to be fraud Think about it It has to be somebody who Looks at the cause of responsibility for a loss. Okay Or it has to do the identity habits Efficiency or Affiliations Of a person. Okay So let's say if you work in a company as a data processor or a programmer or a sales person. If you could provide a service to your company that may Maybe found out things like losses if there were chargebacks or or fraud on that per on that company's billing. Maybe the sales department could benefit from knowing who their customers are in advance Maybe they would benefit from knowing who their customers currently do business with. If you can provide some of these services even for an hour or two every day And you can ask your employer to get paid for it or you can make it part of your current job or maybe do it as an intern You can build up these hours that are required and every state's a little different on the number of hours so that after a period of time you have the required experience remember As an in-house investigator. Okay Cause you don't need a license to do that and the activity Credits towards the hours or experience you need to have. Okay so you want to check get some good legal advice check with your state what the statutes are but you can probably arrange some type of you know part-time after hours moonlighting type activity that you do or maybe part of your current job does some of these things to build up the hours that you need. now make sure you're documenting it making sure you're maximizing the hours that go towards this. So if already some of the things you're doing fit one of these categories that you're getting credit for it. And most states have a reporting Form that has to be turned in every six months or eight months with the state to show that you're accumulating this activity There's no limit of time Usually how long it takes to accumulate the hours. may take you a year two years five years but if you're going to be working anyways you might as well work towards doing that. It may be that you want to negotiate that as part of a new job offering to say look I'll do this job for this pay but I also want to Be able to log some of these hours to become a licensed investigator If you work for a company that could benefit from some of this and you really have to think about what's going to be in the benefit of your company or your employer or your boss so that you're not just asking them for a favor you're willing to give them something either for free or for a very nominal amount If you can go to your sales department and say look if you know before you call back a prospect what if you could know You know what product they're currently using or who their friends are on Facebook or who they're associated with on LinkedIn that might be valuable Intel That the sales department could use to have a higher probability of sales. That's a way to build up experience for your license. If you have this license it doesn't mean you have to quit your job You can keep your current job and you know maybe do investigations for your employer for other clients until you build up a clientele But having an investigative license is something that is very difficult to obtain because you have to have this experience. for example in Florida it's two years experience right as a full-time job before you can get your license So unless you're in law enforcement or do something in the military that already gives you that experience this is a way you can use that Process. now of course you could go to work for an existing private investigative agency but most agencies don't have the you know you're not going to see a lot of ads for agencies hiring Unskilled inexperienced investigators because they're going to have to spend two years training them and it's not going to make them any money. So you will you're not going to have that many opportunities. Take a look If you want you know look at You know indeed or any of the other employment sites. but this is a way that you can maybe mix it into your current workflow of your current job Find things about your current job that fit those descriptions Find things that may be coworkers or your boss or other departments might need that fit the descriptions of a licensed activity So you can build up that logged hours of time And B able to turn that in to apply for the license. Now that's not the end of it You're going to have to study for an exam and take a test but that'll come later Once you have the hours it doesn't matter if you get a hundred on the exam If you don't have the required experience or hours you're not going to be able to get your license. So this is a pathway to get your investigator license you can check out our website active intel.com There's more information about investigative services. and a lot of the techniques to do some of these types of searches background checks investigations forensics that might help you in your field And of course if you have any questions you can reach us through our website or by phone And we're glad to help but this is a good pathway Where you can look at obtaining an additional professional license Without having to get any kind of degree Without having to you know be an intern and quit your job and work for free somewhere You can mix it into your current employment And build up the qualifications to get a very valuable professional license.