Have you ever watched the TV show Cheaters?It is a Dallas-based reality show in which jilted lovers hire a private investigator agency to investigate their spouse or so-called soul mate to see whether or not he/she is being unfaithful.
Do private investigators deal just with cheating lovers?What does else a private investigator, or sometimes called a private eye, do? In this article, I will attempt to explain the job and the purpose of a private investigator, or a gumshoe.
The goal of private investigation is to search for the truth.
During this search, a private investigator, or detective, must maintain impartiality.
Often, it is ironic that clients of private investigation firms do not want the truth.
They just want to win.
This winning attitude is similar to the "rub-it-in-your-face" attitude that some of the clients have in the TV show Cheaters.
The job of a private investigator and his agency is to dig up the facts and help their client win.
For the private detective, uncovering the truth is a double-edged sword.
The gumshoe is paid to not only reveal the facts but also revealing those facts can hurt his client's chances of winning especially a lawsuit.
The clients need to know the good news as well as the bad news.
Nothing can be worse for an attorney than to appear in court and be blindsided by some malicious statement or information that he was not aware of and should have.
A lawyer needs to have all the facts beforehand.
For that reason, that is what the private investigator is there to do.
Win or lose, it is the private investigator's job to dig up information and let the case evolve on its own.
Supposed the other side of a lawsuit wins in court.
That does not mean that the PI did not do his job.
Of course not.
It only means that the private investigator performed his job to the highest standards for his profession and to the best of his knowledge.
After all, the PI can not influence the decision of a judge or jury.