Private investigation practice in the UK.

Private Investigation Practice in the UK.

Private Investigation Practice in the UK

THE RAPID EXPANSION of private investigation in the UK has been driven by many factors, not the least of which has been the huge growth of financial and commercial services.

This is particularly true of the insurance industry. It is understandable that lenders and financial services companies insure against risks: they want to be sure that they will not be the victim of fraud. Clearly, more risks need to be investigated before any services are provided, as more and more people are making fraud their main occupation.

The temptation to deceive, as practice shows, increases after an agreement has been reached and companies have provided some services to clients that were initially genuine. In addition, the need for investigations and confirmations has increased excessively in the field of public services. For example, the housing benefit fund, organizations related to health care and welfare are becoming a target not only for a lone fraudster, but also for organized crime groups that have turned this activity into a regular and highly profitable business.

Many problems are resolved with the participation of legal consultants and attorneys, who sometimes use their own staff, but more often hire an investigator (inquiry officer). Contacting the police at an early stage of the investigation would reveal an unsatisfactory organization of work, which is undesirable, especially if the company is involved in any type of business in which the complete trust of the client is important.

WHERE DO frequent investigators come from? In the UK, licensing and oversight requirements for these professionals are minimal, if they exist at all. Those who run warrant and guarantee operations or handle car recovery for finance companies are licensed, and a nominal fee gives them credibility.

Larger private detective agencies train their staff to a different level, but since there are no regulations that prevent the investigator from crossing the line of law, much less criminal law, when conducting an investigation, the investigator has the freedom to gather whatever information they deem necessary.

Of course, this information may be subject to scrutiny in a court or tribunal, but there comes a time when the rules of evidence must be applied to such information to determine whether it was obtained legally or otherwise.

Many of the reputable private investigation firms train their staff in the necessary skills, interviewing techniques and most importantly, the provisions of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. They are warned of the importance of the latter, as any evidence presented at a formal hearing must be considered for admissibility under the provisions of the Act. Those firms that take the training of their investigators seriously will carry out the investigations they are assigned to at a high level.

SOME ORGANIZATIONS that used to rely on the police to investigate fraud cases are now conducting them in-house. They have begun intensively training competent and professional investigators who are able to successfully investigate the incident and provide the relevant evidence. They have widely used the practice of contracting with other agencies to conduct investigations and surveillance, as they have seen significant financial benefits from engaging professionals.

Such work as credit control is carried out in a similar way, often without information about the subjects, and an increasing number of investigations are being organized to establish creditworthiness, reliability and other specific problems in the credit and financial sphere, including disputes over payments made.

It is believed that investigators can be divided into two groups. The first group includes those who work in official companies and perform their tasks at a high professional level. Representatives of this group have gained experience in their previous places of work or have undergone adequate training in a wide range of issues encountered in this area. Among them are former police officers and employees of customs and excise organizations, many of them are on the staff of private firms, while others act independently, demonstrating high competence.

The second, smaller group is made up of those who take advantage of the extreme lack of licensing and oversight in the field and simply set up detective firms. When hired, their services must be cheaper, they operate with little training and no administrative support or quality control over the execution of orders. When there are no rules to follow, they are more than suitable for the situation.

When it comes to the huge sums of money that can be lost as a result of fraudulent transactions, it seems wrong to economize. The management of detective firms, by actively offering their services, creates an environment in which the majority of society can profit from the activities of these services without paying excessive amounts to cover the costs of fraud.

TODAY NOTHING PROMISES a reduction in the need for information services. The more the number of financial services provided, especially by mail and telephone, increases, the more opportunities arise for criminal activity.

In an area in which the mass of buyers or clients represents a huge potential for enrichment, the process of checking the authenticity and honesty of a loan becomes a routine formality and often loses its effectiveness. This, in turn, creates a need to verify either the facts associated with claims or payments, or the persons involved in the transactions.

There are many professional investigators who are former police or customs officers and who regard some businessmen as amateurs because they may have encountered the worst situations during their careers. Therefore, from their point of view, perhaps quite rightly, many of the transactions examined are closer to amateur business than to crime. Unless there is evidence of criminal intent to commit fraud or other offence, there is little chance of the cases being referred to the police. However, the urgency of the situation often requires that qualified investigators collect credible evidence that will interest the police and enable law enforcement to prosecute the offender.

If we exclude from consideration the police commercial fraud teams, it becomes clear that private investigators with many years of experience in this field are much better prepared to solve complex cases than the police.

It is noted that the police in many cases are involved in private investigations. For example, information about damage or theft of a car or other property often requires the police to establish the merits of the case or any claims. Confirmation of a formally registered incident can only come from a law enforcement agency indicating the cost of the loss.

A SPECIAL GROUP in this area are private firms calling themselves interrogators, which are engaged in commercial espionage using covert surveillance or the installation of listening devices (bugs). They are not, per se, detective firms, no matter how trained their employees may be.

Some of them break every letter of the law in achieving their goals. However, there are also reputable firms offering bug detection and removal services. Distinguishing espionage from counterintelligence can be difficult.

FOR COMPANIES using private interrogators, it is essential to ensure that the latter possess professional skills. Given the specific «background» in which interrogators operate and the critical importance of many of the decisions made as a result of their work, they must be carefully selected and supervised. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that the UK will see any tightening of rules and regulations in the near future, either for private investigators in the broad sense or for protecting the privacy of every member of society.