Investigations, being an occupation that is service based and typically provides a work product, is a results-driven occupation. The investigators and agencies that understand this aspect of the profession take a great deal of care to ensure a certain level of quality is maintained. Though specific results can’t be met 100% of the time, more often than not high quality tends to translate into the results the client is seeking.
For clients, then, obtaining the results desired for their case(s) largely consists of identifying and using investigators who offer a level of quality in their services that will maximize the potential for the client to achieve the result that is sought. Finding investigators who provide the desired level of quality to meet the client’s objectives is a challenge that is often more difficult than it seems.
As much as we investigators would like to take a certain quality of investigations and find ways to standardize and duplicate it, the reality is that investigations is a craft. Investigations has even been referred to as an art. I often tell aspiring investigators that surveillance is a tall learning curve.
Surveillance takes years to become proficient in and a lifetime to master. Furthermore, surveillance is not exclusive in the learning curve. Every investigation type is a specialty of its own. Even something as seemingly simple as record retrieval is a specialty of its own and one that requires a skilled investigator to maximize the results of the record requests. In social media investigations that translates into a skilled investigator knowing what they are looking at and analyzing the information instead of just gathering the information found. Those are the differences between an investigator and a researcher, or a skilled surveillance investigator and a camcorder operator.
What does this all mean for the client? Finding investigators with a high degree of experience and who specialize in the type of investigation being requested are good starting points. However, quality is an intangible thing and cannot be easily spotted. An indicator to the level of quality an investigations company can offer is in the investigators that make up that company. A company that has a lower turnover of investigators and close working relationship with their investigators will be more likely to be farther along the learning curve required to become proficient at their profession. Companies that have a higher turnover will likely not have investigators who can reach a level of proficiency to adequately accomplish the case objectives.
Ultimately, as the saying goes, with investigations the proof is in the pudding. As intangible as quality is, it is revealed in the services and work product of those companies that value quality and are results driven.
Our investigative agency is continuously evaluating the quality and methodology of our investigations to determine what we can do better to get you as the client the product and results you deserve.