36 experienced private investigators share their concerns about the current state of the private investigation industry and where it is going. Click through to find out more about how legislation, industry competition, licensing and regulation differences, government control, databases, DIY websites, unlicensed activity, subcontractors, and a lack of focus on continued education and professionalism is having a negative effect on the profession.

1. private investigators
share their concerns about the
profession
36

2. What concerns
do you have
about the
private
investigation
profession?

3. I’m concerned
about . . .

4. -Robert Taylor, Taylor Support Services
“. . . legislation restricting
information release to investigators.”
1.

5. -Edgar F. Linton, Jr., Private Investigator
“ . . . enforcement of license
requirements.”
2.

6. -Kevin Burgdorf, KB & Associates LLC
“. . .too many contract persons just
starting up a business without
license.”
3.

7. -Jim Silvania, Silvania Investigative Services
“. . .unlicensed and/or non-
professional investigators.”
4.

8. - Tom Herder, Private Investigator
“. . . loss of online records.”
5.

9. - Peter Duffey, Double Helix Services, Inc.
“. . . lack of consistency and an
apparent lack of discipline. ”
6.

10. -Tim Braatz, Atlas Investigations
“. . . PIs not wanting to attend
Seminars to get their Continuing
Education. They just do it online and
skip everything else.”
7.

11. - Tom Dolan, Lakeside Investigations, Inc.
“. . . ethics.”
8.

12. -Stephen Bojekian, Analytical Consulting Associates, LLC
“. . . inexperienced people not willing
to ask questions, over-confidence in
database information, more
concerned with the invoice than the
investigation. And most of all
government and the courts not giving
us the access we need.”
9.

13. -Royce King, S.E. Oklahoma Investigative Services, LLC
“. . . licensing and consistency among
the states relative to rules and
regulations.”
10.

14. -Jayne Walker, Walker Confidential
“. . . the fact that the standardization
and skill level differentials are quite
apparent, even in California, where
the same baseline standards apply.”
11.

15. - Bennett PI
“. . . government control.”
12.

16. -Tony Stefano, ALIASS
“. . . the fact that anyone can apply to
become a PI.”
13.

17. -Scott Herring, S.W. Herring International
“. . . the competition against each
other is lowering the average
investigation rate and people fighting
for work and lowering the hourly rate
to get it.”
14.

18. -Fernando Fernandez, Covert Intelligence, LLC
“. . . the fact that many other PIs
cross border states to conduct
investigations without being licensed
in the state that are investigating.”
15.

19. -RK Agency Investigations
“. . . the criminals and unethical
investigators working illegally,
undercutting prices, and giving
industry a bad name.”
16.

20. -Sonja Dee Raffeet, Research World Unlimited
“. . . the lack of prosecutions for non
licensed people working as private
investigators.”
17.

21. -Peter Duffey, Double Helix Services, Inc.
“. . . the lack of standardized
regulations.”
18.

22. -Brian Poirier, Aenigma Group
“. . . the flood of low rate investigators
coming in from retired law
enforcement.”
19.

23. -FR Investigations
“. . . regulation re: licenses and
reciprocal for all states.”
20.

24. - Ann, Private Investigator
“. . . the fact that this is a dying
industry. The public has access to so
much information that our business
has been cut in half by do-it-yourself
investigation websites.”
21.

25. -Steven Harris, ALIASS
“. . . the laws limiting access of
licensed/registered investigators to
needed and vital information.”
22.

26. -Howard Kravitz, Howard Kravitz & Associates
“. . . there are too many licensed
private investigators that should not
be licensed.”
23.

27. -T. Michael Walker, Walker Confidential LLC
“. . . acute lack of minimum
standards of qualifications.”
24

28. -Ellen Gold, Paula Drake Investigations
“. . . too many newly retired cops
undercutting prices.”
25.

29. -Delbert S. Buttman, Wizard Investigations
“I have a concern that there will be
over regulation resulting in loss of
business.”
26.

30. -Michael A. Stewart, AxiomTrace, LLC
“Myself, my agency, a previous agency that I
owned for 24 years and my colleagues spend a
great amount of time making efforts to promote
the professionalism that this industry offers if
the client base is educated on what they should
expect for their investment. I am greatly
concerned by any agency or investigator that
conducts themselves and their business in a
way that may set back our industry. Sam Spade
is dead and should stay that way.”
27.

31. -Jennifer Maghinay, Maghinay Investigations, LLC
“We are seeing an increase in
fraudulent and unlicensed people.”
28.

32. -Shawn Kane, Kane Consulting Inc.
“My biggest concern is that each day we as an
industry have to continue to fight to maintain
our access to certain databases and
information. There is not a week that goes by
where I do not hear a story about some new
legislation that has been introduced which can
eliminate or hinder our access to certain
database information. This is a national
concern. ”
29.

33. -Robert Orozco, Advanced Professional Investigations
“I am concerned that there are not
very many agencies hiring
employees. There is a shift to using
mostly subcontractors, which makes
it difficult for investigators entering
the profession.”
30.

34. -Larry A. Peters, Larry A. Peters, Inc.
“This industry has been good to me for the past 50 years. I
was Army trained and entered civilian life as an
investigator and have never stopped loving the work. I
have had a gun pulled on me three times, but the gun
never went off and I walked away. I am the only Private
Investigator in the history of the United States to have a
case over turned by the United States Supreme Court,
based on exculpatory evidence found after the conviction
in handwriting comparison. There is a lack of training just
about every where I go. In Virginia, they really try to teach
techniques, but if you don't have the experience you can't
show students how it is to be done.”
31.

35. -Joseph Kimangu Ngunjiri, Private Eye Investigations
Kenya (Ltd)
“The business is being taken over by
people who do not care about their
integrity and can do anything to
succeed in their goals.”
32.

36. -William Ratcliff, Cape Fear Investigative Services, Inc.
“PI's all over the country need to be
held to a higher standard as to weed
out those with no integrity.”
33.

37. -Bob Grandaw, BBG Investigations
“We have less and less control on
things. There does need to be stricter
licensing and regulation BUT bring it
to the committees and investigators
to get their feedback.”
34.

38. - Robinson Investigations LLC
“All states should require a license.”
35.

39. -Brian Fox, Fox Lair Investigative Services
“I wish there was more
standardization between states, and
recognition of each state's licensing.”
36.

40. What concerns
you about
the private
investigation
industry?
tweet your concerns
to @pinow #piconcerns