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.