When someone asks what we do, the first response is almost always “That is so cool. I have always wanted to do that.” Next comes a series of questions that range from “Do you run down the street and confront the cheater?” to “Do you chase them in fast cars?” Modern television shows such as Cheaters have given everyone the perception that you run around with a huge camera, lights glaring, and chase your subjects down the street to confront them. In reality, this is not how it works at all. If you do the aforementioned actions, you will get noticed or as we call it “burnt,” and then your case is over.
Private Investigator’s best tool of the trade is the ability to blend in no matter where they are and no matter what the circumstances. If they are in a crowded place or in a small place, the art of blending in while doing surveillance is how they will survive in this industry. Time, patience, and blending in with the crowd are the tools that get the job done. These tools have allowed us to do many things, such as ride on the same elevator with our subject’s paramour and sit at the breakfast table next to the happy couple taking morning after pictures, etc.
As a matter of fact, if you ask 10 different people what a Private Investigator does, you will inevitably get 10 different answers. If you ask us that same question, we could give you different answers depending upon the day. We don’t drive Ferraris (even though there are probably some PI’s that do), we don’t wear camouflage, and we don’t chase people down to confront them. We handle each case differently in order to give our clients the best results. During the course of a case (whether it is a domestic case or a corporate case), we blend in with our surroundings, we do our research – background/asset checks and/or research before we work a case, and we perform surveillance and whatever else that may be necessary to get the job done. It is not glamorous getting stuck in a car for hours, but closing a case is the ultimate reward.
