IIWhat an investigator may and may not do

People often picture a private investigator as a kind of private policeman. It is the first idea worth letting go of. An investigator cannot arrest anyone, search a home, demand documents or order a phone company to hand over records. In the eyes of the law we are private persons, with the same rights as everyone else and the same limits.¹

The right to be left alone

Across Europe those limits begin with one sentence. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights gives everyone the right to respect for their private and family life, their home and their correspondence.² That right protects the person we are asked to look into, exactly as it protects our client.

Since 25 May 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation has added a second layer in the European Union.³ Collecting, keeping and passing on information about a person is the processing of personal data, and it needs a lawful reason, a clear purpose and care in how the information is kept.⁴ A serious agency can tell you on what basis it will work on your case.

What is allowed

Within these rules there is a great deal an investigator can do. We can observe what anyone could see in a public place. We can talk to people who agree to talk to us. We can search public registers of companies, property, court decisions and insolvencies. We can study what people publish about themselves. And we bring experience: knowing where to look, how to read a document, and when a small detail does not fit.

What is never allowed

We do not listen to phone calls, open letters or read anyone’s messages. We do not break into email or social media accounts, hide cameras or microphones in a private home, or fix a tracker to a car that does not belong to the client. We do not pretend to be police officers or officials. In most countries each of these is a crime, and an agency that offers them puts its own client at risk.

A report is only as strong as the way each fact in it was found.

Why this matters to you

The reason is not only principle. Evidence obtained unlawfully can be rejected by a court, and the client who ordered it can face claims of their own. A report is useful only if every fact in it can be traced back to how it was found: who saw what, when and where, and how it was recorded. Lawyers call the record of how a piece of evidence was handled the chain of custody.⁵ It is patient, unglamorous work, and it is what turns a suspicion into proof.