GDPR for the private investigator

On the 25th May 2018 the way we go about storing and sharing data got a major upheaval. Since 1998 anyone that stored data had to adhere to the DPA 1998 (Data protection act) when it came to handling anyones details.

A lot has changed in 20 years in the way we and when I say we, I don’t just mean private investigators, I mean any organisation, company, business or entity, store or share data.

Technology has moved on a lot since 1998. In those days we did not have smart phones or tablets and on line and personal databases had moved on drastically and it was realised that the DPA 1998 was a spent force and toothless in many respects.

When GDPR was mentioned it sent shockwaves not only through the private investigation industry but for all businesses as it soon became apparent that there would be far more severe cosequences of any breach of data.

Private investigators obviously handle and store data in their day to day activities. Under GDPR a client passes over the name, address and other relevant details to you of a person they wish you to investigate in an email. From this point on you are in possession of someones data and you have to be accountable as to how you handle the data. Such as how long you store the data and why you have stored the data for so long.

Also if we share the details with anyone then we have to share it securely via encrypted emails, secure file transfer sites, password protected word or pdf document and secure chat apps on phones such as whatsapp.

There is a lot more to it that is far too long for this page, so if you want to read some more look here for some more in depth reading on the topic.

Is GDPR good for the private investigator?

I like everyone else had a few ruffled feathers when I heard about GDPR from a friend who heard from a colleague (Chinese whispers) of the implications of this new legislation. Word got around that it would make it impossible for PI’s to work legally etc. In fact I had not seen such hysteria for some time and it was synonymous with the “We’re all doomed” hoo har of the dreaded millenium bug experienced at the turn of the century.

As the murky waters cleared it became obvious that yes initially it would create extra work such as securing websites and putting up proper privacy and cookie policies etc. The principal of M.R. Investigations attended an ABI GDPR workshop and came away happy that GDPR was really a good thing and it is the way we should have been operating all along.

Pre GDPR we would share information with other investigators that would be assisting on say a surveillance operation via unsecure email, which we did without a thought in the world but what happened if that email was sent inadvertently to the wrong recipient? The answer is simple. The wrong person would be aware of the whole operation including when, where and more importantly whom!

We are only human, mistakes will happen and indeed emails with sensitive information was sent to the wrong person on occasions. I would be a liar if I said I hadn’t been guilty of it too but fortunately I sent it to another PI that I get on very well with so the information went no further.

Post GDPR if I password protect any document and it gets sent to the wrong person it’s no big deal as they wont be able to open it anyway. So straight away you can hopefully see that it is a good thing.

Working with other sectors

As private investigators we are asked to assist employers, HR departments councils and legal clients such as solicitors.

In my experience most of these services have got their houses in order when it comes to adhering to GDPR. Councils in my experience implemented secure email methods long before GDPR came in. HR departments are fully versed in GDPR and have sent me forms to fill in to make sure that we too comply.

However, a lot of solicitor clients in our experience have totally ignored it. I have been blatantly told by more than one solicitor “that it does not apply to us”. One even went so far as to say that “our business is all about peoples data so it does not effect us”! Really?

Credit where it is due Askews Legal in Coventry emailed me asking for a copy of our own GDPR policy, stating that they had been told not to use anyone who is not GDPR compliant. Well done to them.

18 months in

So it’s nearly 18 months down the line, are most people adhering to GDPR or have they chose to ignore it? All I will say is that some people are going to trip up and will feel the wrath of the ICO at some point or other.

Unsecured emails containing personal details are still rife, not only from the one man band type of investigator but some of the bigger firms as well, still regularly send job instructions via unsecure email. Most solicitors still send instructions in the clear in their bubble that they are exempt.

However, a lot of other private investigators I deal with have taken it very seriously and require us to send a certificate showing how the data they have shared was handled and when it was destructed.

To be GDPR Compliant

To be GDPR compliant we had to implement and update the following..

1.Website Privacy Notice

2. Data Protection Policy

3. Data Retention Policy

4. Data Processing Policy

5. Data Sharing Policy

6. Privacy Impact Assessments

7. Destruction of data Certificates (Can be downloaded here)

 

 

For some interesting reading on what the ICO has been doing to punish those that breach GDPR see here.

September 2019

 

 

 

Private Detective Coventry

When looking for the services of a detective agency there are a number of ways you can do this. Years ago you would have looked in a telephone directory such as the Yellow pages. Other agencies looking for a private detective agency in Coventry would search a hardback copy of the Varsity.

The latter being a publication that private detective agencies in the UK would advertise in and all subscribers would be furnished with a free copy of the latest edition of the book.

With the advent of the internet people have moved with the times and away from hard copies and now use their fingertips to search on a web browser such keyphrases such as “private investigator coventry”, “Private investigators in Coventry” or “private detective Coventry” and they will be presented with a list of results.

Yellow pages used to have a slogan saying “let your fingers do the walking”. Unfortunately for them, people did let their fingers do the walking, they walked away and onto a computer keyboard.

With the digital age coming in, hardback publications took a backseat and have virtually become extinct unfortunately and the Yellow pages is now regarded as a spent force.

However, advertising on the internet is very similar to the old paperback methods in a number of ways. Let me explain.

Shop window for private detective Coventry

When people advertised in paperback journals or directories they would strive to get a prominent position or stand out from the crowd. To do this they would pay for a prominent position and a fancy design such as a bold frame and text.

This would make them stand out from other advertisers that only had a few lines in their listing and this would hopefully bring in more calls (emails were not around then) to their business.

Well it is just the same today as it was then except now people are instead of vying for a prominent position in a book, they are now striving to get a prominent listing near the top of a search engine. Not only that they want to have a good looking professional website that stands out from the crowd.

The website is the shop window to the services you offer to the world and can be the difference to someone coming in and making an enquiry or clicking away and moving to another website.

Indeed people can pay for positions on search engines via a pay per click method which charges advertisers each time someone clicks on the listing they have paid for.

So someone looking for the services of an investigation agency would type in say, “private detective Coventry” or “Surveillance in the Coventry area” and a list of results will come up that is relevant to your key search and at the top would be th advertised listings. © August 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

How to choose a Private Investigator?

The most obvious question any prospective client will ask themselves is, how to choose a private investigator. The internet is full of various detective agencies in Coventry advertising their services but you do not know these people and are expected to share some possibly sensitive personal information.

We actually wrote a blog on this back in 2016 but since then, there have been changes to privacy laws in the UK so, we have decided this subject should be revisited.

When M.R.Investigations was first set up back in 1998 private investigators in the UK were not regulated; and could operate with no insurance, investigation experience or qualifications even if they had a criminal record.

A lot of the time certain tasks, especially surveillance operations or when there was a need for local enquiries, the work would be sub-contracted to the cheapest bidder, sometimes with no recommendations as to their capabilities or ethics.

As the internet grew and forums were created, networking improved and agencies were able to get recommendations from other investigators easier and the agency would generally sub-contract work to trusted investigators.

However, what was overlooked quite often when looking how to choose a private investigator is how your data would be handled. This could often lead to data breaches such as emails containing sensitive file attachments being sent to the wrong person or sensitive details being printed off and left where they could be accessed or stolen from a location such as a car.

Enter the Data Protection Act 2018

Commonly known as GDPR. This being a revised act over the data protection act of 1998. Technology had moved on since 20 years ago and the way we all store and share information had moved on and GDPR was brought in to reflect this as DPA 1998 was severely aged.

As already mentioned, in 1998 we did not have to be licensed, we did not have to prove we had no criminal record, investigators did not have to be vetted before being sub-contracted, did not have to furnish insurance details or have any prior experience to operate as a professional investigator.

So what of the above has changed now in 2019? Nothing! Absolutely nothing. Anyone can now go out buy themselves a cheap camera and set up as a private investigator.

So how do you know if the person you are thinking of using is one of these people? How do you check?

Firstly a good sign is to see if they have any affiliations on their website which can be checked. Dont rely on a logo, anyone can put a logo on their website. There are a number of UK associations but at the time of writing the only Association that requires proof of a clear criminal record check, display experience of working as a private investigator and show up to date insurance is the Association of British Investigators.

All members of the ABI also have to be fully compliant with GDPR. This requires investigators to always use secure methods of sharing data from encrypted emails to password encrypted word or PDF documents.

Investigators must now, if they sub-contract work ensure that the people they sub-contract to are also fully GDPR compliant.

In our view being a member of the ABI is as close as it gets to being licensed as the criteria for becoming a member is everything any licensing would bring with it.

M.R.Investigations do not Sub-contract local work as we have a dedicated team based in the area. We will only sub-contract work if enquiries move out of the area to operatives that meet all the above criteria and are competent for the task as our reputation rests on the results.

We will always advise our clients if we need to sub-contract work out to our trusted operatives.

Sometimes we will sub-contract to non ABI members but only after they have furnished us with the correct insurances, display GDPR compliancy, a clean DBS certificate and not to mention will have previously displayed competency.

The principal of M.R.Investigations attended a GDPR workshop held by the ABI.

Employee Surveillance In Coventry

Having been established for a number of years as private investigators and having carried out numerous employee surveillance in Coventry and Warwickshire. We have built up a number of returning clients that turn to us in their hour of need.

We have a number of private clients that stay loyal to us for many years but quite often the clients that usually call on our services over and again are corporate clients such as employers who call upon our services for any number of reasons.

Usually it is an employee who is taking time off sick and is suspected of being a little, shall we say, “Economical with the truth?” employers don’t call on the services of a private detective agency lightly. It will be because they have reason to suspect things are not as what an employee may want them to believe.

A recent case centres around an employee who was not only on long term sick claiming full pay due to workplace injury but was also making a number of claims against his employers that ran into over 100 thousand pounds. Without going into too much detail one thing he was claiming was that due to an injury he had sustained in the workplace, he would never be able to work again.

The employers had received a tip off that all was not as they were being told and that the employee maybe worth looking into. With this information and having used our services to good effect before, a meeting was set up with the HR department of the employers. With the matter discussed it was decided to place the employee under a period of surveillance.

Let The Operation Begin

M.R.Investigations operatives were deployed at the address of the employee in Leamington Spa. On the first day the employee was seen to come out of his home and get into a Vauxhall Astra van and was followed to an industrial estate in Coventry.

He was seen to take out overalls from the rear of the van as well as several electrical tools and enter one of the units. The frontage of the unit was glass, to help with natural sunlight which afforded us a clear view and our Subject was seen to work on several vehicles preparing them for body work repairs.

He was observed within the unit to sand down metal work and spray the previously prepared vehicles and also seen to carry several large items such as space heaters which should have not been possible for a man with his claimed injuries.

This carried on over the course of the week and everything was captured on video and a report was prepared and handed into our client. The employee foolishly decided to brazen it out and decide to take the case to tribunal.

Eventually, he settled on mediation having taken advice from his legal team of the amount of evidence that we had compiled against him. 

Yesterday we had the wonderful news that the employee (or rather former employee) had to accept a mediocre 5 thousand pounds!  

Apart from what our services cost (which was a damn sight less than £100k) we had saved our client 95 thousand pounds.

If you feel you need the services of  private detectives to carry out Employee surveillance in Coventry, Warwickshire or the West Midlands then please do give us a call.

Email from client was signed off “Thank you for all your help, it really helped in what was a complex case”.

 

 

Process Serving & Legal Aid

We have decided that we will be taking on no more legal aid process serves from now on. The low rates and high expectations of the LAA has brought us to this unfortunate situation.

The Legally aided fees are £25.60 per hour and 45p per mile. If we get a service that is a couple of miles up the road from our offices and we serve on the first attempt and we are back at the office in half an hour. We will have earned the grand total of £14.50.

Most legal aid services are of the injunction/non molestation orders where we meet some very unsavoury charachters and can at times be violent or very obstructive.

Some of them will claim they have not been served which will result in a court attendance to give evidence which wastes time and for what compensation we can claim for loss of earnings its not worth the time filling out the forms.