Las Vegas detectives rely on instinct and artistry to put together information, but on time-tested and ultra-modern scientific techniques and legal strictures to gather and present that information to their clients. Whether you’re an individual pursuing a family issue or a corporate client with a fraud or criminal problem, a private eye will have the right tool for the job.

Since the end of 2007, the business community has been struggling through one of the worst economies in a century. Confidence in the corporate world is at an all-time low, and the rate of internal crime has skyrocketed. Corporate fraud is among one of the most common crimes in the country, and the majority of it goes unprosecuted due to lack of evidence.

It may take years before the economy picks up to it’s usual level, but that’s too long for an individual business to wait. The police don’t deal with corporate-level crimes unless there is a very clear path for them to follow — so hire a Las Vegas private investigator to blaze that trail for them.

In family cases, privacy is often the biggest issue. Is it a violation of someone’s privacy to put them under cover surveillance? The truth is, it’s irrelevant. Legally, the answer is no, and ethically, you’d be hard pressed to explain why one person’s privacy is worth the connection and love felt by an entire family.

The rate at which families break apart is increasing every year, even as Americans continue to stress ‘family values’. If you suspect that someone in your family is doing something that violates their implicit social contract with the rest of the family, it’s your obligation to investigate — and hiring a Las Vegas PI is the best way to approach the scenario. By looking at things with unbiased eyes that aren’t caught up in the drama, you can ensure that, whatever the results, the facts themselves will be true.

Private investigators can be found in all fifty States of America, though you would be hard pressed to find any more skilled than the private eyes in Las Vegas. Private detectives are also found nation-wide, but what exactly makes up a ‘private detective’ changes wildly from one state to the next.

In Las Vegas — and the whole of Nevada, actually — a “private investigator” is

any person who for any consideration engages in business or accepts employment to furnish, or agrees to make or makes any investigation for the purpose of obtaining, information with reference to:

1. The identity, habits, conduct, business, occupation, honesty, integrity, credibility, knowledge, trustworthiness, efficiency, loyalty, activity, movement, whereabouts, affiliations, associations, transactions, acts, reputation or character of any person;
2. The location, disposition or recovery of lost or stolen property;
3. The cause or responsibility for fires, libels, losses, accidents or damage or injury to persons or to property;
4. Securing evidence to be used before any court, board, officer or investigating committee; or
5. The prevention, detection and removal of surreptitiously installed devices for eavesdropping or observation.

But with one major exception:

[excluding] a gaming licensee who maintains an employer-employee relationship with:

(a) A natural person to act as a customer or client of the gaming licensee to evaluate the service provided to actual customers or clients of the gaming licensee by its employees;
(b) A natural person to act as a customer or client of the gaming licensee to evaluate:
(1) The operational procedures of the gaming licensee;
(2) The cleanliness of the property of the gaming licensee; or
(3) The quality, availability and prices of the goods and services of the gaming licensee; or
(c) A business entity…to evaluate the operational procedures and methods of prevention and study used by the gaming licensee relating to the problems of gambling and the consumption of alcoholic beverages by minors.

What that means to you, then, is that anyone referring to themselves as a “private investigator” in a legal sense isn’t working for any gambling-related enterprise – but a “private detective” might be. When you’re the client, you can be assured that you’re working with a Las Vegas private investigator, but if you’re being investigated by someone who calls themselves a “private detective”, then it’s likely someone who works for a business with a gaming license.

Let’s look at a hypothetical example. Let’s say your husband calls you every single day at 6 PM to tell you he’s on his way from work — every single day except today. Today, it’s 9PM and you’re dead certain that something horrible has happened. The Las Vegas Police Department is obligated by law to wait for 24 hours to pass — but a PI can take the case immediately, and have a much better chance of picking up on the trail than the police will a day later.

The two most popular reasons to hire a Las Vegas private eye are divorce and child custody cases. If you think your spouse may be cheating on you, you might try to find out on your own, but it’s doubtful that you have the time and expertise to do so. Hire a private investigator, and watch the discreetly-gathered data start to roll in. If they turn out to be on the up-and-up, they’ll never know you hired someone to watch them. If they aren’t being straight with you, you’ve just gathered proof that will do you very well in what will certainly become a court case. The police certainly don’t have the time to investigate every single suspicious spouse’s significant other.

Similarly, the police are duty-bound to assume that someone is adhering to the terms of their court mandate regarding child custody unless presented with positive proof to the contrary. On your own, you may be able to snap a photograph and take it to the police — but the likelihood is that they will find a reason to discard it; in their minds, they’ve got more important things to deal with. With the magic of a private investigator, Las Vegas will open up like a book and reveal the location and activities of the other parent, and you’ll have everything you need to either be satisfied that everything is kosher — or pursue your case in court.

If you’re an individual looking to hire a PI for a personal issue, you can expect privacy, respect, and that the case will take longer than you want it to. It’s a simple fact that most private citizen’s issues require more time than they expect, even when they take this rule into account. Here are some services that Las Vegas PIs frequently offer their clients:

• Finding Missing Persons: The police are legally obligated to wait a certain period of time before they begin investigating a disappearance, and the trail can go cold in hours. A private investigator can and will being tracing their location immediately.
• Divorce: Possibly the most common job that any private investigator does, pursuing adulterers or seeking evidence for alimony adjustments are a PI’s bread and butter.
• Child Support/Custody: If your spouse moves or changes his name, and takes your child with him, the police don’t have the manpower to track him down — but a private investigator will.

If you represent a business that requires a private investigator, you can expect efficiency, quick results, and cost-effectiveness. Because business matters are much less emotional, and much less legally complex, private investigators can often get to the bottom of business issues quite effectively. Some reasons a business might hire a Las Vegas private investgator include:

• Background Checks: While online services can give you a basic idea of someone’s background, if you’re hiring for a very sensitive position, it only makes sense to hire a professional.
• Worker’s Compensation: It’s a sad fact that some workers will feign injury to avoid working and collect a paycheck anyway. A private investigator can tell you whether a worker’s claim is legitimate or not.
• Loss Prevention: Similarly, some workers can’t help but help themselves to your goods. When your security cameras and other employees aren’t helping to find the inventory leak, a PI is your best bet.

Are you skilled in cases like mine?
Degrees and diplomas don’t mean anything in the world of the private detective. When you’re talking about the ‘skill’ of a certain detective, you’re talking about: how many cases like yours has he tackled? How many has he brought to a positive close for his clients? Does he have experience on a police, paramilitary, or government agency’s force?

How are your computer skills?
Technology is becoming an ever-increasing force in all of our lives, and while some old-school detectives try to run things Dick Tracy style — with a note pad and a pen and an old-school camera — that mode of operation isn’t efficient or effective. Modern private detectives not only use computers as tools, but they’re also skilled in retrieving damning information from other’s computers legally and untraceably.

Will you be the only one working on my case?
Some private detective firms will have you interview with a senior member, and then hand your case off to a flatfoot with no real experience. On the other hand, you may actually have that senior member working on your case and assigning others to assist him, which is perfectly legitimate. Be sure you know beforehand which is which.

Do you have any referrals or testimonials?
There’s no better way to identify a crappy or inexperienced detective than to find one who is unable (or unwilling) to give you a list of referrals or show you an unaffiliated source of direct testimonials.

Do you have any complaints filed against you?
This isn’t a game-ender if they do — private detectives deal with a lot of complex and sometimes unsavory situations, and they get accused of a lot of things. What you don’t want is to be told that there are no complaints, and then ask the Better Business Bureau or do some online research and learn that they lied to you. Professionals will always be up front.

Do you require a retainer?
You want the answer to be “yes”. Be wary of agencies that tell you that they can estimate your charges up front and don’t want a retainer. A retainer is necessary in order to engage in some of the more costly and complex elements of an investigation such as travel or long stakeouts.

If you start every interview with each of Las Vegas’ private detectives with these simple questions, you’ll be well on your way to discerning for yourself which one is the best for you.

Definition

A private detective is a person that is licensed to conduct surveillance and research into other people, as well as authorized to look into criminal matters by the courts. Much like some lawyers are trained to deal with civil cases only, and others can do both civil and criminal cases, private detectives are able to work on both as well. Most often, these professionals are hired by individuals seeking divorce, child custody, or an alimony modification; or by lawyers who are seeking information on a criminal case that the police don’t have the manpower or time to obtain on their own.

Why to Hire a Las Vegas private detective

Las Vegas private detectives spend years learning all of the tactics and skills they need to discern patterns, find people, and observe behavior that other people can’t. Furthermore, they know exactly what the legal boundaries are for their investigations, and are very careful not to cross them. They are also experts in the art of staying objective: often, a client may know a significant amount about the situation they need investigated, but they are too emotionally involved to see things like a judge or lawyer will. They need the detective’s objective eyes to be certain they’ve acquired a complete set of evidence to bring to court.

Worth The Price

You can expect to pay a few thousand dollars to hire a good Las Vegas private detective. Out in the more rural areas, such a service may come cheaper, but in the city, you’re dealing with people that are the best at what they do. If you really need to get the truth, there’s no better hire. That said, there are always scammers and frauds, so do your research. If nothing else, ask an attorney for a reference — particularly a family court attorney. It will be worth your time.

“I contacted a PI firm in Las Vegas, but no one from the agency returned my call.”

“I paid the private investigator a retainer and after two weeks they had produced little to no results.”

“The private investigator I spoke to was completely unsympathetic to my situation.”

As unbelievable as they sound, these comments are exactly the type of feedback that we receive on a weekly basis about other firms. Prospective clients who are in need of a private investigation firm and have not been referred by a lawyer, business associate, etc., can expect the process of  hiring a private investigation firm to be an extremely frustrating experience.

We recommend the following steps when hiring a private investigation firm in Las Vegas, Nevada.

1. Ask for a referral from someone who’s had  successful results from a professional investigation company.

2. If you cannot obtain a referral from an attorney or some other reliable source, be sure to review the firm’s website for credible testimonials. If the company’s website does not display such testimonials then ask the firm for for references.

3. Make sure that the PI firm’s license is active and that all of their employees are registered with the State of Nevada Private Investigator’s Licensing Board.  www.nevadapilb.glsuite.us

4. Ask the private investigation firm their specialty. Hiring a private investigator who specializes in the work you need done is important to receiving high quality results.

5. When speaking to a private investigator about your case, do your best to gauge your comfort level with he or her: is the investigator thoughtful; sensitive and open-minded.

6. Communication between the client and investigator is key. Any professional investigation firm should be available to their clients 24 hours a day/7 days a week.

7. Do not hire a private investigation firm simply because they offer the lowest rate. In most cases you get what you pay for. Make sure you ask about additional charges such as mileage, DVD copies, investigative research and administrative fees.

About the Author

De Becker Investigations, Inc. is an exclusive licensed and bonded private investigation firm based in Las Vegas, Nevada specializing in Surveillance and Undercover Investigations.

www.debeckerinvestigations.com

Don’t change your routine. Whoever you’re investigating, whether it’s a spouse, a boss, or someone else, if you do anything different, you risk tipping them off. Act like absolutely nothing has changed.

Don’t tell anyone you’ve hired a PI. The fewer people that know about your investigation, the better. You never know who will tell your target. It’s natural to want to talk, but literally every person you tell risks the integrity of your case.

No matter what the findings, don’t confront anyone without first talking to a lawyer. The best laid cases can fall apart in an instant if you go to your target and tell them what you’ve learned without a lawyer present. Emotions get heated, and one or both of you is likely to ring a bell that can’t be unrung.

Communicate everything you learn with your PI.. You never know which facts are going to be the ones that make a scenario ‘click’. Also, if you learn something about what your target is planning to do or where they’re planning to be, you may be giving your investigator a good chance to do some observation and information gathering.

Be patient and be realistic. Some cases take a long time to come to fruition; don’t expect a miracle. Certain Las Vegas laws make some kinds of cases — for example, termination of alimony cases — take a much longer time then they otherwise might, a well.

Make sure your detective and your lawyer can work together professionally. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes you get a lawyer and a detective that have bad history together, and that can really put the strain on your case. Ask whichever you’ve hired first about the other to make sure you don’t end up on this awkward situation.

Most professional private investigators offer a free initial consultation — take advantage of this to discuss your problem in detail. It could be that the PI will have a shortcut or service he can offer that will make things much simpler for you. Here are a few things to ask Las Vegas private investigators about their fees:

What services are charged as flat fees (versus hourly fees)?
While some PIs charge everything by the hour, others will offer particular services for a flat fee, no matter how long it takes them to accomplish. Generally, those services are basic services offered frequently, such as identifying the owner of a cell phone number or a particular vehicle, or researching someone’s background or criminal record, or even doing a bug sweep of your property.

Of course, if additional assistance is required — especially overseas — the hourly rate can skyrocket. There are places in the world where private investigators charge upward of $300 every hour!

What Services Require Deposits?
There are times when a private investigator in Las Vegas is required to expend a significant amount of money in order to pursue a case. For example, if they have to travel to pursue a lead, or spend long hours on a stakeout (delivery food gets expensive fast), they might ask for a four-digit deposit just to ensure that you won’t skip out on the bill. Of course, the deposit will be returned if the bill is paid in full.