Detect means to discover or determine, and this is the essential aspect of a detective’s job. The detective is a person who evaluates persons, places, or things, in order to make determinations. Information may be used to find someone or something, reveal details about a person’s character, solve a mystery or solve a crime. Detective is a title in many law enforcement agencies for those investigators in the upper echelons. In most cases though, people are referring to private investigators when they use the term.

A private investigator is not a police officer, though many of them are retired police officers. Most must be licensed to work within their state, and like police officers, many are allowed to carry a weapon with appropriate permits. The detective of this sort may work in a variety of ways. Either private individuals or businesses hire most, and they’re not always on the job to discover crime. However, if a private investigator can prove a crime has occurred, he usually hands information to a police department so arrests can be made.

Sometimes the detective does specifically investigate details of a crime, usually after a case has gone “cold” or when there is not enough evidence for law enforcement to continue investigations. A family of a missing person or a deceased person might engage the services of a private investigator to continue making inquiries. These inquiries might pose possible solutions to a crime or provide enough evidence to reopen a case.

In other instances, a private investigator might be hired to investigate the behavior of someone. A spouse who believes his/her wife or husband is not being honest about assets might hire a detective to see if the person is hiding assets to evade spousal or child support. Detectives may also gather information about marital infidelity, which would make a divorce easier to obtain.

Detectives may be engaged to find missing people or to hunt down things that are missing. Adoptees or parents who gave up children for adoption might ask a private investigator to find their birth parents or children. People who’ve had precious heirlooms stolen might want them recovered and hire a detective to try to find them. Parents or family of runaway kids might ask a private investigator to help them find their children.

Occasionally a private investigator specializes in certain operations for a corporation. If a large retail company suspects employee theft, it could have an on-staff detective who discovers any instances of theft to guide the company to appropriate action. Some detectives may specialize in gathering information for defense lawyers about witnesses, to find damaging information that will help discredit these people.

Private investigators need several skills. They need confidence and ability to talk with people and make people want to talk to them. They also may require keen powers of observation, the ability to think outside the box, and training in how to be safe on the job. Detectives who aren’t doing their jobs in the open may need to know how to operate camera equipment, various sound equipment, and should be able to perform their work without being noticed, especially by anyone they are secretly attempting to investigate.