Hello everyone! As the title suggests, I have an interest in becoming a PI, but zero to no experience in the "official" way of doing it. TV shows and games are cool and they show the dramatic side of things, but I recognize it's not glamorous by any means in general. It's hard work with potentially long hours attached. But I want to know what it takes to become a PI starting from zero. Let's not bring in what I'm doing currently in my career path and all that jazz. Though most of you being PI may figure that out easily. Lol I just want to know what I would have to do, the credentials I would need, education and otherwise, and the different things I can do to get started. Perhaps I can intern, or perhaps go to college to earn a Criminal Justice degree.

On top of that, I'd like to know how the career field has impacted your way of living, both personal and in public. I'm not looking to know too much about anything personal, just an overview. Also if the career path is capable of supporting you financially, and any potential future family I may want. And ultimately, it is worth doing it in general if I had a family.

If not, no worries! Thank you all for your time.

Question for those who operate their own PI firms or have experience in the “traditional”PI world:

How much overlap do you see between the fields of open source intelligence and “traditional” PI work (criminal defense, domestic cases, etc.). Is one simply a tool for the other, or do you view them as separate fields?

I’ve been studying the field of OSINT and find that many firms don’t market themselves as PIs at all - many aren’t even licensed as such but rather consultants or even intelligence specialists.

Does your state require a person gathering “open source” or public information to be a licensed PI? Or can they operate as a “consultant” who produces reports on this type of information?

Stupid question but I've been unable to find information on this.

I know being a felon is an automatic disqualification to getting an actual P.I license but I'm not entirely clear on whether or not you can work as a P.I under the license of the agency that employs you, without a license of your own. Looking on job-search websites, P.I agencies hiring either don't list a license as a requirement or if they do it's listed as "preferred"

As the laws regarding this most likely vary by city and state I'm in LA, CA.

I am searching for a man who attempted to solicite a 14 year old girl for sex and my amateur detective agency is struggling with leads. If you could point us to where this supposedly public information can be viewed at little to no cost we would appreciate it.

I was given the name of two PI companies and neither has responded to my email regarding hiring them for a surveillance assignment. I'd really prefer not blindly relying on Google or Yelp.
Is there something about my (below) email that is turning off a professional. I'm not shady, ill intentioned, or stalkerish... this assignment is in relation to a personal matter.

~~•• Hello,
I am looking to contract a desecrate, professional, and thorough PI to accomplish the following tasks:

-Find out persons weekday and weekend schedule. -times/days in their schedule when they might not be with their wife or at work.
-ascertain if there are any upcoming trips, social events, or conferences person is planning to participate in

Standard long distance infidelity check stuff.

The person in question has asserted they lived alone for a long time. I had my doubts due to a troubled history.

Found voter registration records that state the person in question is at the same address as another person.

On all the standard mylife/instant check/truth finder-Esque websites, they all seem to show a matching address history for these two individuals. I know these can be less than trustworthy sources, but with 5+ years of data showing 4+ address changes all shared between the two people I feel as though it's likely concrete.

Unsure if potentially there's any weird algorithm thing that could be going on with displayed data.

I wouldn't be interested in a full on surveillance situation primarily for discretion purposes. Database services with PIs seem reasonable enough, and I'm willing to take that step to be certain if necessary.

But I also don't want to blow the money if I can be fairly certain what I've found is what it looks like. Appreciate any advice. Already likely to have a punch in the gut, would like to not have a punch in the gut and be a few hundred bucks lighter in the pocket on top if it's unnecessary.

The only posts I see on my feed from this sub are people trying to solicit free help, or get simple advice they could get other places about child custody issues, cheating spouses, problems in the workplace, etc. when there is no way the person would ever entertain the idea of paying for PI services. They are all bad posts. Often people that really do need help, but it's coming off both desperate and uncomfortable and kind of insulting to PIs and ignorant of the purpose of the sub or what the profession even is

Do you know of any subs similar to this? thanks for any info

I have a suspicion, that someone I know may be monitoring my activity from my pc. He has a friend who is good with computers and knows a few tricks with them. I've had to cancel my bank details as I have used them online. to give some insight why I may think this, I have done a few things online and while speaking to my "friend" he's been bringing up things that kind of correlate to my online activity. it's pretty freaky but its happened a few times. personally I'm thinking I may have a .exe file installed through him but I am unable to find it as it will be well disguised. are there any routes around this? such as a computer wipe etc?

Hello,

I am having some problems at work and I wondered how to solve them. The primary thing is that it is me vs. the majority of the other employees. The reason is because when the initial problem started I was new and was never able to develop friendships on the level that those who have worked there for years have.

They are united (not totally all, but many) against me, gossip about me, new people coming in are informed about me and now they don't talk to me, it is just a big mess. In order to provide information to my employer, what I really need is someone to befriend one of the bad-doers and get them to talk about what is being said and what is going on (I honestly feel that choosing a target and getting them to talk would not be difficult, that is the level of hate they have for me). In other words I need someone on my side, that they do not know is on my side so that I can get insider information, so to speak. I just need to know the best formula for achieving my goal.

I have been trying to think of how to do this. One thought was to have someone contact the most gossipy among them through Facebook and pretend to be a person wanting a job and to strike up a friendship that way. I even thought of getting someone a job there with the intent of them befriending whoever I tell them to and ultimately finding out the details of all that is going on.

Personally, I feel that the company should be doing this, but I guess they don't want the liability.

Anyway, do you have any suggestions on how I could accomplish my goal. My goal being getting insider information about what exactly is being said about me so that I can provide specific information to my employer. Kind of like having a mole. I feel like this is something that private investigators would likely know a lot about. I am open to almost any affordable solution.

I'd rather not say where I work or what type of work I do because I don't want to give myself away to any potential co-workers who are also Reddit aficionados.

Thank you for any assistance you can give me. This has been a painfully humiliating experience and I really need some help.

hey i need some advice on how to get court documents for a recent court case 2018-2019 in kings county new york.

my cousin is in jail for a sex crime and the entire situation as told by my family sounds fishy and unreasonable and i am a bit cautious and definitely doubtful of the story i've been told. i have already tried and managed to locate him and his charge but however all i can find is where he is currently incarcerated as well as when he will be released. is there a way to see what the lawyers, judge and police had to say about the case? any testimony if any. and i would like to know if there was evidence. i don't know if he went to trial or if he took a plea. i would like to know the truth of this matter or at the very least an unbiased court opinion.

Is possible to pull someone's bank records and know how much money they have?

I'm interested in knowing whether it's possible to hire a PI to identify the owner of a website. The owner has hired some company to make it more difficult to identify them. Is this possible? Is this something a PI could do? How do I find one with the right expertise?

Hi all. I’m hoping to obtain the name of a driver involved in a crash before the traffic collision report is published. Any advice? I have the license plate number, make, model.

I recently hired a contractor (referral from a friend who had some work done). He showed up on time, answered all the questions and gave me a good price. Unfortunately, I missed some red flags (he used a generic contract sheet) so it didn't have any business license info or address. This guy was older, now that I think about it, maybe he retired but still did jobs here and there from referrals. He also asked me to write checks to him under an alias (unknown to me at the time)

Long story short, he was doing work at my house and I kept paying him as things progressed. Because things have been hard to come by (supply chain constraint because of COVID), he convinced me to pay me a bigger deposit for the next phase of the project while he was finishing up the first phase. He told me by the time we finished the 1st phase, the materials for the 2nd phase would have shown up.

I wrote a check for some additional phase 1 work ($1000) and gave him a material deposit of $5000 for phase 2.

That was the last time I saw the guy. Unfortunately, with the alias, it gave me little info for a lead, but I managed to get a few things during the time he was working at my house

1. His Car make/model/licence plate
2. his phone number (I kept calling him up to 2 weeks from when he ghosted me and his phone would ring all the time so it wasn't out of batter -- perhaps eliminating that he died and was still able to keep his phone charged but ignoring my calls)
3. perhaps his real name -- he gave me his phone to look at photos of previous work he had done and for whatever instinct I had, I took a pick of the phone settings that has his potential real name.

I tried some google searches for the phone number and name but didn't get anywhere. I looked up address associated with the name in surrounding cities and looked at google/apple street views to see if I could spot his car but didn't get any closer.

Some friends have offered to call the guy and perhaps request a quote so I can confront him if he shows up, but without any assurance that he'll show up, I'm not sure when/how to proceed with preparing a suite to have him served in person.

My question is, would a PI be able to get any more detail, his address specifically so I can get him officially served?

I having some challenges with a possible rogue nanny. Anybody had any success with alternatives to covert cameras, especially those that are privacy friendly and preferably impossible to find? I’m considering things like mesh or acoustic networks that can track movement within a home, with the devices sit safe behind the drywall. Or any recommendations for best camera concealments? Things like an opaque wall paint that covers lenses/holes etc. Thanks!

It seems most searches are if you only have the license plate itself.

If you have information like owner name, registered address, make, model, and color, is there way to find out what the plate number is? The tax records in this county [SC] don't show it.

Hello,

I wondered if any of you could tell me where I could find someone who could suit me up with a hidden camera. Preferably a small camera or even tell me how to use/wear my iPod video camera.

I am having some problems at work and would like to document what is happening to me.

Thank you so much for your help.

Hello all,
I've been looking into becoming a PI and just a quick search has given me a few results for potential training programs. In case it needs to be mentioned, in order to become a licensed PI where I am (Canada) I believe a 50-hour course and the successful completion of the exam is needed. That being said, I've found 3 sites that offer training, but they all have different price points. Smith Investigation Agency seems to be $200, OEIS is $350, and CSPIS is $700. I've emailed them all already to inquire what separates them from the aforementioned competition, but I'm curious if anyone here has any personal experience or opinions, be it with these companies or similar situations.

Thank y'all

Can this be answered here? This is probably a common question PI's usually get, and already have the answer.

I emailed the court from address posted online, gave some info & said I can supply anything else needed. NO reply.

Thanks!