Types of Private Investigators

Have you wanted to become a private investigator? Are you aware of the various types of private investigator jobs that exist? We are here to help you in your search.

Types of Private Investigators

There are various types of private investigators from which to choose as you are making your career decisions. It’s good to do your research and choose a path that is in line with your interests and aptitude.

The following represent a snapshot of some of the leading disciplines for private investigation you may take:

Accident Investigation and Reconstruction: After a car accident occurs, either independent investigators or police will conduct an investigation and follow up with a reconstruction of the incident.

Arson and Fire Investigation: Among the types of investigation a private detective might undertake is finding the cause of arson-related fires.

Asset Investigator: Asset searches are conducted to discover details about the current and past details of a property.

Background Check Investigator: Background checks usually performed through PI’s for employers as a method of assessing job candidate traits.

Bounty Hunters: Bail enforcement agents come in two general varieties: bounty hunters and private investigators.

Cell Phone Records Investigations: In this day and age, cell phone records can provide a near-complete history of what we’ve done and where we’ve been at any given time.

Civil Investigator: Civil investigators focus on investigations within cases of civil law.

Computer Forensic and Cyber Crime Investigator: High level computer scam investigations.

Corporate Investigator: Corporate investigations involve looking into a business or corporation in order to reveal mis-behaviors, or deliberate harmful actions committed.

Criminal Investigator: Criminal investigators are professionals who are experts at gathering and interpreting clues and evidence.

Domestic Investigator: The primary benefit of Domestic investigation is that you are able to investigate those who are closest to you so that can family, friends, and associates remain safe.

Due Diligence Investigation: A private investigator will use a variety of methods to conduct a due diligence investigation.

Electronic Data Discovery: Electronic data discovery is an increasingly important kind of investigation in the digital age.

Executive Protection: Though not one of the more famous or well-known aspects of private investigations, executive protection is an essential function of the job.

Financial Investigator: Financial Investigators are most commonly used to look into corporate misdeeds to uncover evidence regarding allegations of embezzlement, asset searching, tax evasion, money laundering, or other varieties of financial crime.

Fraud Investigator: Fraud investigators look into cases of insurance and credit card fraud.

General Private Investigator: There are several reasons for why investigative cases can be called “general investigations.”

Identity Theft: Identity theft is one of the biggest problems we face in our increasingly technologized society.

Infidelity Investigator: An infidelity investigation is what is conducted by a professional private investigator who specializes in the area of infidelity and catching cheating spouses.

Insurance Fraud Investigator: An insurance fraud investigator typically investigates cases in which individuals seek compensation for false claims.

Internet Dating Investigation: When someone thinks they are the victim of, or targeted by, an online dating scam, they might hire a private detective to conduct an internet dating investigation.

Judgment Recovery: Private investigators will conduct thorough research into the resources and assets held by the debtor.

Legal Investigator: Legal investigation is considered the proper gathering together of details and facts in a case that will be utilized in the courts.

Missing Persons Investigator: Investigating and hopefully locating a child who has run away from home or a child who has been kidnapped.

Mystery Shoppers: Generally speaking, a mystery shopper will pose as a normal customer, which means they need to be someone with whom the staff is unfamiliar.

Public Records Search: Some people wonder why, if these records are public, they need to secure the services of a licensed private investigator.

People Locate, Fugitive Tracking and Skip Tracing: Usually, a private investigator will be contacted by a client and given information about the person that needs to be located and why.

Surveillance: A surveillance investigator can investigate cases for businesses, especially involving insurance fraud.

Social Media: People hire private investigators for social media investigations because they have the skills, knowledge, resources and tenacity to uncover exactly the information that’s needed.

Trial Preparation: The goal of trial preparation is to create a story, draw lines from points A to B to C, and give the judge and jury a clear picture of what happened, as well as to protect against counterattacks that seek to punch holes in the story.

Bug Detection, Bug Sweep, Technical Counter-Surveillance Measures: Technical counter-surveillance measures, or TCSM, involves using electronic countermeasures to find and remove bugs and other technical surveillance devices.

Workers’ Compensation: A private detective called in to conduct workers’ compensation investigations can fulfill a broad variety of functions and gather a range of facts to explore the situation.

Wrongful Death: Private detectives and wrongful death cases usually connect through someone seeking to establish the events of an accident.

Online Criminal Justice and Private Investigator Programs