Watch a film noir featuring a private investigator, and he's likely to be hired to solve a murder or something really heavy. No one wants to involve the police, because they all have something to hide. But that's Hollywood. Real life private investigators stay busy trying to uncover secrets like fraud, infidelity, and hidden assets. Learn a little bit about what private investigators really do.
1. THEY WORK UNDERCOVER.
Slipping into a new job for investigative purposes isn’t limited to law enforcement. Jordan Smith, founder and chief investigator at Hyperion Investigative Consulting in Broomfield, Colorado, says his firm frequently pursues cases relating to corporate or business fraud by getting one of their PIs hired at the company to see what’s going on. “If you’re a company with a retail location that’s missing deposits, we can go in and see what’s happening for ourselves,” he says. “Right now, we have someone at a hospital to see who might be stealing prescription drugs. Sometimes we can send a certified fraud examiner to work as an accountant.” The best part? “We can get paid the employee rate as well as for the investigative work we do.”
3. THEY PEE IN BOTTLES.
A key element of surveillance work—typically done to observe behavior like infidelity, or unwarranted physical exertion in the case of worker's compensation—is remaining undetected. That means not getting out of a parked car constantly, and handling personal business during a typical 12-hour spy shift any way you can. When it comes to bathroom behavior, Smith says, “You need to go before you get there. But we’ll bring a pee bottle.”
For number twos? “We just hold it. I’ve never not held it.”
There are ten more secrets of private investigators to be uncovered at mental_floss.