| If you ever get to meet a real live private | | | | investigators immediately after they have |
| detective, you might be disappointed. Most of us | | | | graduated from college, either with a degree in |
| paint a mental picture of Humphrey Bogart | | | | criminal justice or forensic science. |
| reincarnated, tough and mean, five o'clock shadow | | | | The large insurance companies are a very major |
| and belted, white raincoat. However the reality is | | | | target for fraud, and for this reason they are |
| usually very far away from that. | | | | always on the look out for young, talented an |
| Private detectives today if you told them that | | | | private investigators. The private investigator will |
| they were going for a stake out would think that | | | | be sent to the claimant's home neighborhood to |
| were being invited for a barbecue. They would | | | | quietly and unobtrusively observe the claimant's |
| put on a Hawaiian shirt instead of a white raincoat. | | | | movements, They will sniff around for details, try |
| The majority of private detectives of today | | | | and engage the neighbors in conversation What a |
| spend their time in a computer laboratory and not | | | | private investigator will try to unearth is if the |
| pounding the pavements. Not that a lot of private | | | | injury claim was genuine, and as soon as the |
| detectives began their careers as investigators as | | | | insurance company's back is turned, the claimant |
| detectives in the police force. Statistics show that | | | | doesn't throw down their crutches and start |
| that number is dwindling and that more and more | | | | dancing. |
| young people are choosing to become private | | | | Divorces are another area where lawyers and |
| detectives as a profession and actually study at | | | | attorneys will use the services of a private |
| college. Lawyers and accountants who see a | | | | investigator. The private investigator can be used |
| limited future in these professions are bringing | | | | to investigate and prove cases of infidelity in |
| their knowledge to the profession whilst they are | | | | marriage, as well as civil claims of damage and |
| still relatively young. | | | | injury. |
| The question is why would anyone want to | | | | As the internet age gathers momentum, more |
| become a private detective? | | | | and more private investigators are gravitating |
| The fact is that the profession does offer a | | | | towards this field, and acquiring the necessary |
| certain level of excitement, lack of monotony and | | | | skills to handle many of the new generation of |
| freedom from the confines of a normal job or | | | | crime being generated by it. Computer fraud is |
| profession. | | | | becoming increasingly widespread. The rewards |
| Anyone in the profession will tell you that to | | | | for cyber net criminals who find a gap can be in |
| become a private investigator requires a blend of | | | | the system can be huge. For this reason, more |
| cunning, curiosity and investigative creativity. The | | | | and more web criminals are attacking the public |
| reason that many retired police detectives | | | | online. Private investigators that are capable of |
| become private detectives when they can happily | | | | putting a stop to this fraud and bringing the |
| afford to retire, is that the miss the "buzz." They | | | | perpetrators to justice stand to earn massive |
| need the attraction of probing into some situation, | | | | rewards. |
| be it in real life or on a computer screen. | | | | All in all employment prospects for private |
| Retired detectives are becoming the minority in | | | | detectives looks to be strong at least for the |
| the profession of private detectives. Although | | | | foreseeable future. |
| they bring with them years of experience, many | | | | Computer wise and up to date with all the current |
| of them have been left behind as a result of the | | | | methods of electronic surveillance, and as the |
| computer age in which we live. | | | | wave of computer crime on the Internet |
| Instead a marked increase is being shown in the | | | | continues and spreads, the new generation of |
| last few years in those who become private | | | | private investigators will be there to combat it. |