VITAL
INVESTIGATIONS REQUIRE
INFORMATION ACCESS
The
private sector provides many
invaluable investigative services
to consumers, businesses and law
enforcement agencies. In order to
provide these essential services,
it is vital for private
investigators and security
professionals to maintain their
access to personal and unique
identifying information.
These
essential services include, but
are not limited to:
Preventing
Fraud
Private
investigators help insurance
companies, banks and others
uncover or prevent fraudulent
activities. They perform the
necessary surveillance to
establish the extent of the truth
to any claims or to identify any
fraudulent activities before they
go too far. They are often hired
to investigate life, accident,
malpractice, compensation and
other claims to ensure that they
are not fraudulent.
The
cost Intellectual property theft
may exceed $240 billion annually
$67
billion is lost each year due to
fraudulent claims
Employee
dishonesty and theft costs
American businesses over $50
billion a year
Helping
Identity Theft Victims
Identity
theft is a growing national
concern. The General Accounting
Office has found that insufficient
resources are allocated by
authorities to investigate such
crime and police face
jurisdictional issues. Victims
often turn to private
investigators to help them recover
their credit and good names.
FTC
reports that from 2000-2004 over
27 million Americans were
victims of identify theft
costing close to $48 billion in
2003
Investigating
Casualty Claims
Private
investigators are often hired to
prevent business ruin and job
losses by investigating
embezzlement, robberies,
burglaries, thefts, losses, fires
and other casualty claims. Without
private investigators,
corporations and other injured
parties would be limited to the
resources law enforcement can
expend on the investigation.
3%
of the nation’s annual health
care costs, or $51 billion, is
outright fraud; others have
placed this figure as high as
10% or $170 billion a year
Investigating
Grey Market Activity
Today’s
advanced technology has increased
opportunity in the grey market.
American companies are susceptible
to loss of intellectual capital
through copyright infringement,
patent theft and other diversions.
They require the services of
private investigators to assess
how much money is being lost
through tactics and to help
identify and resolve some of the
main sources of the diversion and
infringement.
Economists
estimate that 25 million Americans
earn a large portion of their
income from underground (grey)
markets.
Investigating
Workplace Allegations
Businesses
must be very sensitive to all
types of claims, including discrimination,
harassment and other allegations.
Businesses often employ private
investigators to determine the
accuracy of such allegations.
Private investigators can expose
dishonesty, waste, carelessness,
inefficiency, willful neglect, and
violation of safety rules,
favoritism, sabotage and all other
irregularities. Resolving
these workplace issues helps
protect consumers, employees and
business owners.
EEOC
received nearly 250,000 charges of
various discrimination cases in
2004 including Age, Race,
Religion, Pregnancy, Sex and
Sexual Harassment resulting in
nearly $500 million in monetary
benefits
Securing
Evidence and Surveillance
In
preparation for filing suit or the
actual trial, attorneys rely on
private investigators to secure
evidence and perform necessary
surveillance. Law enforcement
officials do not have the
necessary resources to perform
elaborate surveillance activities
for every case in which they are
involved. Instead, private
investigators pick up where the
law enforcement officials leave
off to gather information through
physical evidence and
surveillance.
Locating
Witnesses
Frequently,
witnesses to crimes or events
under investigation do not come
forward to authorities. For this
reason, attorneys preparing for
trial or adjudication frequently
turn to private investigators to
find previously unidentified
witnesses or those who have
retreated and decided not to come
forward with testimony.
Investigators often locate
witnesses to assist defendants to
prove their innocence.
Locating
Missing Persons or Heirs
Today,
private investigators are often
hired by private citizens to help
find missing persons. A persistent
problem in the United States is
family members disappearing with
children during custody battles to
other parts of the country. In
these circumstances, access to
records is essential for help
parents find their missing
children.
In
addition, these services are also
requested by will executors
looking for lawful heirs. Current
technology and search methods
allow investigators to resolve
many of these cases, reuniting
families.
In
2003, it was estimated that $41
trillion in wealth will transfer
from one generation to the next
In
2002, an estimated 58,200 children
were abducted by a non-family
perpetrator
Locating
"Deadbeat Parents"
Parents
who chose not to support their own
children, either because they are
not paying alimony and child
support, or they have entirely
abandoned their children—"deadbeat
parents"—often inflict
poverty on their own children.
Critical personal information is
vital to assist in recovery of
delinquent child support payments.
Investigators are frequently able
to make recoveries of more than
$20,000. The private investigators
recover important resources for
the children while reducing the
toll on the public. U.S. Census
data from 2002 show that of the
7.9 million custodial parents
receiving child support, only 44.8
% received full payments.
Locating
Debtors
When
the trail comes to an end, private
investigators are employed to
locate those against whom
judgments have been made. Decisions
of courts become meaningless if
the aggrieved party cannot recover
funds awarded by a judge or jury.
Private investigators are often
the only method for the creditors
to pursue and capture their debts.
Locating
Pension Beneficiaries
By
the time pension distributions are
made to former employees, many of
them have already moved several
times. Employers or private
investigators must then be able to
use Social Security Numbers to
locate pension beneficiaries.
Performing
Due Diligence/Protecting Consumers
and Corporations:
Corporations
hire private investigators to
investigate applicants and
employees considered for
advancement to positions of trust
and responsibility. These services
are also requisitioned for
building partnerships among
corporate entities. Investigators
work with both consumers and
businesses to verify the
backgrounds and licensing status
of doctors, lawyers, and providers
of child and elderly care.
Information obtained by
investigators can be used to
determine if an individual has had
a license suspended or a criminal
prosecution pending in another
jurisdiction. Due diligence must
be performed in order to make
sound investments and decisions.
Conclusion
Without
access to personal information,
many services, including all of
those listed above, would be
drastically restricted. Fewer
families would be reunited, court
judgments would be harder to
enforce, and juries may miss
hearing from important witnesses.
