Let me tell you about the TV show Cheaters. It is a reality show based in Dallas in which jilted lovers hire a private investigation agency to investigate whether their partner or so-called soul mate is being unfaithful. However, do PIs deal just with unfaithful lovers? What else does a PI or private investigator, do? In this article, I will attempt to explain the job and the purpose of someone who was at one time called a gumshoe.
The aim of their work is to discover the truth. A private detective can only do his job properly by remaining impartial. Frequently, it is ironic that clients of private detectives do not want the truth, they just want to win. This is akin to the competitive attitude that some of the clients have in the reality show Cheaters. The job of a PI and his agency is to expose the facts and help their client come through.
For the PI, exposing the truth is a double-edged sword. He or she is paid to not only reveal the facts but also revealing those facts can damage their client’s chances of winning, especially a lawsuit. Both the good and the bad news need to be stated to the clients. There is nothing worse for an attorney than to turn up at court and be confronted with some spiteful statement or fact that he should have been aware of. The private investigator has been hired because a lawyer requires all the facts beforehand. Whatever the outcome, it is the private investigator’s job to discover the facts and let the case develop on its own.
Say the opposite side of a lawsuit wins in court, that does not suggest that the private detective did not do his best. It simply means they performed their task to the greatest standards for their profession and to the keenest of their knowledge. In is not as if the decision of a judge or jury could be swayed by the private eye is it?