Private investigators and police officers differ in several ways.
Police officers can obtain warrants, arrest suspects and enforce laws, whereas private investigators do not have those privileges.
Considered “ordinary citizens,” private investigators are not public employees. Instead, they typically work for investigation service companies, insurance companies, lawyers, or governments.
A private investigator’s typical purpose is to conduct surveillance and interviews, gather information, search records, and collect evidence to be presented in a court. In addition, they often perform background checks on people to confirm identification. They are fact finders, delving into people’s personal, financial and/or legal matters.
You’d call a private investigator, for example, if you suspected your spouse was cheating and you wanted to get pictures showing that to be true. Or, if you owned a business and suspected an employee was stealing money from you, a private investigator could help in that situation.
If private investigators are information finders, police officers are law enforcers. When a person is breaking a law, a police officer has the power to issue them a ticket, chase them with a gun, and/or handcuff ‘em and take them to a holding center/jail.
The main thing private investigators and police officers have in common is that they both need to understand how to collect evidence so that’s it’s admissible and usable in court.
In Pittsburgh, Specialty Private Investigators, Inc. has helped clients obtain the information they need for their various cases. Prepared reports are court-ready and have, in the past, proved vital to client cases involving fraud, child custody, and divorce. Should you need facts gathered by a professional private investigator, call Specialty Private Investigators at 412-650-8550 today.