Guidelines for Hiring a Private Investigator

Bob Cowan - Owner of Cowan Investigations, a New Jersey Private Investigator

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Hiring a private investigator can be an intimidating and time-consuming experience. Many people will never have a need to hire a private investigator, and if they do, probably only one time. Many others will have a need to hire a PI, but will avoid the task because they are unsure of the process. Then there are Others in need of a private investigator who make the effort, some of those efforts will be successful in making their choices, while others are left empty and feeling ripped off.

I am the owner of Cowan Investigations, a New Jersey Private Investigator Firm. I am a thirty-five-year veteran law enforcement officer and the former Chief of Police in Jersey City, New Jersey. After my retirement from law enforcement, I began Cowan Investigations in the Spring of 2016. I have been successfully running the full service New Jersey Based Cowan Investigations Private Investigator firm since it’s inception.

In this article, I will take the mystery out of how you should proceed in hiring a private investigator without getting screwed. When hiring a private investigator, a consumer must look for Honesty, Integrity, Trust, Competence and Experience. The aforementioned are qualities a consumer should be seeking in a private investigator. With that said, this is not an article exclusive to hiring a New Jersey Private Investigator, this is an article applying to hiring a private detective anywhere in America. You ask, why do I say that? It is simple, Honesty, Integrity, Competence, Trust and Experience are qualities that have the same definition all across our country.

Guideline #1: At All Costs, Avoid National Private Detective Firms

Recently multiple large Companies purporting to be State Licensed Private Investigator firms have been overtaking the top pages of internet search engines. These companies have large advertising budgets using what is known as “Black Hat SEO”, simply another word for spamming. When you read into the sales pitch of these national companies it reveals that the advertiser will “CONNECT YOU” with a local private detective.

Advertising activity as described above knocks better qualified local PI Firms all across America off the top pages of internet search engines. It is possible you might not even see your local private detective firms unless you bypass page one of the internet search results. If a consumer hires from one of these National PI Advertisers here is what that customer can expect:

  • The Advertiser is from Florida, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, or some other faraway land from your locality. Often the firm is not licensed in the State they are proposing to do business in, this puts you and your investigation at risk. More importantly, the national advertising agency has no clue about local politics, customs, laws, rules, and regulations
  • The Advertiser will connect the consumer with a “local private investigator”. Up to sixty percent of the fees you pay to the advertiser will be kept by that advertiser for “managing the case”, while the rest (40 percent of what you pay) will go to the low qualified private investigator who lands the consumer’s case.
  • The local private investigator who will be subcontracted to your investigation will most likely be substandard, poorly equipped, lazy with no drive to succeed, and in most instances will be lacking experience. Package all of this together and you can understand why the subcontracted PI is willing to work for forty cents on the dollar.

Do yourself a favor, avoid hiring a subcontracted private detective, just as you would like to avoid an overturned truck on a highway. I have attached several links below to previous articles I have written regarding the importance of hiring local private investigators.

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Computer Forensics Investigator South Toms River

Hire a Local Private Investigator

Part 1

Bob Cowan explains the dangers and risks involved when hiring a National Private Investigator firm to manage your investigation for you.

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Full-Service Private Investigation Company in Nutley, NJ

Hire a Local Private Investigator

Part 2

Bob Cowan explains why doing research into private investigators is important, and how to differentiate a national firm from a local firm.

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Eavesdropping Detection Silver Ridge Park

Why You Should Hire A Local Private Investigator

Knowledge, Trust, and Experience

Bob Cowan outlines the benefits you gain from working with a professional private investigations firm local to your area.

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Guideline #2: Conduct an Interview with Prospective Private Investigator

There are several variations of the “How to Select a private investigator”, articles which appear on internet search results. Many of these “How To” articles are real light on “advice”, as their blog article tries to extract your contact information for profit.

It is critically important that when a consumer decides they have a need a PI, that the consumer speaks to the investigator. The prospective consumer should ask any questions as they have, nothing should be off limits, there should be no such thing as a stupid question. I recommend preparing a list of topics you want to discuss with the private detective before you call the PI. During your interview with the investigator take notes and use those notes for any follow-up interview. With that in mind, be aware of the following

  • One of the biggest complaints I often receive from potential clients is that private detective firms do not answer their phone and/or do not return calls on messages left. A private detective firm should answer their phones, at the very minimum phones should be answered on weekdays during business hours for all new incoming work. I understand if a PI Firm does not answer the phone at times during business hours, but this should be the exception, not the rule. However, there is absolutely no excuse for a private detective firm to not return messages left.Do not get me wrong, while it is okay if a private detective firm limits their receiving of incoming calls for “potential clients” to business hours on weekdays, that should not be the rule for all calls. A professional private detective firm will receive calls from clients at all times, 7-days a week, 24 -hours a day, within reason if the calls are emergent. If a client abuses that privilege, it will be up to the private detective firm to put reasonable restrictions and parameters on the client’s future calls. Any professional PI Firm must understand that often they deal with highly emotional people, the investigators should “gentle prompting” while setting any parameters that must be set.
  • It is not necessary for a top-of-the-line private detective firm to have a physical office in a commercial space. With the COVID restrictions over the past several years most PI cases are arranged over the phone. However, it is absolutely necessary that the private detective does have at the very least a home office to invite you to if you would like to meet in person. Some of the larger companies (as mentioned in Guideline #1) like to overrate the importance of having a physical office. Keep in mind, the cost of the commercial office space that these companies boast of being paid by the consumer through higher hourly rates and other hidden costs.In my thirty-five years in the police department, I was in the streets investigating crimes, at meetings with business leaders, meeting informants in the field, supervising my police units on their calls, and countless other duties outside of the police station. During the majority of my service in the police department, my office was in my police car while many of my colleagues were surfing the internet in their “offices”. Simply stated, there is a whole range of other attributes to look at in hiring a PI than whether or not the investigator rents an office in a commercial building.

Guideline #3: A Private Investigator Should Have a Professional Website

A majority of business that comes into most private investigator firms will arrive through that PI Firms Internet Presence. So, it would stand to reason that a professional private investigator firm would have a professionally put together website. A large majority of private detective websites are superficially thrown together for about three hundred bucks or so. These websites are thrown together with very little thought or effort to the presentation they are actually making. Low-level “bottom feeder” (as they are known in the industry) websites are quickly thrown together in hopes the private investigator’s phone will ring once or twice a month.

  • I guarantee that the effort a private investigator firm puts into the creation, maintenance, and updating of their information as well as the presence of an active blog page will have a direct correlation to the professionalism of the private detective’s report preparation. Stated another way, a crappy effortless website will result in a crappy effort investigation and report.
  • Review a private investigator’s website for helpful relevant information on the subject matter you are looking to have investigated. Go beyond the website service pages and go into the blog posts contained on the website, any good private investigator will have multiple blog posts on various subjects regarding their specialties. If you go to a website without extensive blog posts, more than likely you stumbled upon a lazy private detective, skip to the next PI’s Website.
  • Be careful of the numerous websites that are loaded with stock photos of private investigators’, such as the photographs of a magnifying glass or a man with a Sherlock Holmes hat. A professional private detective firm will prominently display photographs and resumes of its investigators. The bio’s and resumes of their investigators should include specialties their detectives possess.

    Beware of those private detective firms that do not showcase the talent of their staff.

Guideline #4: Check a Private Investigator’s Reviews and References

The best way to check on the Honesty, Integrity, Competence, and Experience of a private investigator is to look backward. Stated another way, check the private detective’s past accomplishments, the investigator’s past achievements will be the best predictor of future successes.

  • First and foremost, review the private investigator’s professional resume and bio to determine what that investigator had done prior to their work as a private detective.
  • When interviewing the private investigator ask him or her for personal references regarding past successes. For instance, if you are seeking to hire a PI for a child custody case, ask the investigator to put you in touch with a former client he had handled a custody case for.
  • Check a private investigator’s Google Reviews, Yelp Reviews as well as any reviews left on other platforms such as Facebook.

    Be careful not to take these reviews at face value as many reviews can be bogus. Case in point, I have a local competitor in New Jersey who has a writing style that is immediately identifiable. The reviews left on behalf of that private detective either have multiple exclamation points (!!!) in the review itself, or in the owner’s reply to the review. All in all, it is best that you review it all and decide from there. Be sure to consider the professional resume, past accomplishments, references provided, and the written reviews you can find and make your decision taking all of those factors into account.

Guideline #5: Do Not Choose a Private Investigator on Price Alone

While there are multiple factors that go into making a decision on what local private investigator to retain for your investigation, pricing is among one of them. Pricing alone should not be your deciding factor, the cost of hiring a PI varies widely around America depending on your area and type of investigation. The local private detectives with better resumes with verifiable successful case results and positive references will charge higher rates. Keep in mind, it is better to spend more money on a competent investigator who gets you positive results than paying half that price to a private detective who will fail to gather the evidence required for success.

Essentially there are two reasons across America why certain local private detective firms CAN command higher pricing levels than others. Make sure the private detective you get is the one described below under subheading #1

  • The investigator possessed the qualities of Honesty, Integrity, Competence, and Experience while being able to instill trust into the client. The instilling of trust into the client is normally the result of:
    • The investigator is being contacted because the PI is a bonified local private detective, not a national advertiser seeking to hustle work by pretending they are local PI’s while subcontracting your investigation to an underqualified private detective.
    • The consumer conducted a solid interview with the local private investigator by following the steps described in Guideline #2. If a consumer wants to meet with the private investigator, the investigator is ready to provide a place to meet in private
    • The private detective has a professional website that instills trust in the consumer. The website is full of helpful information, is not tacky, and displays photographs and full biography’s and resumes of the agency personnel
    • The website contains accurate positive reviews which do not contain boilerplate language and are identifiable as being written by actual consumers of the PI Service
    • The private investigator can provide references of persons that are willing to be contacted and have a conversation with the consumer about the experience they had with the private detective firm
  • The second reason some local private investigators command high prices is a pretty simple concept. Many consumers retain a PI in a haphazard way. You would be surprised at the number of consumers that call our office and tell the most personal and intimate details of their lives to our intake investigator.

    When trying to find out if a consumer has reviewed our website, we often find the potential client had only hit a “call” button on a paid ad we had displayed. Many local PI Companies will have such slick and good advertising that they will get so many calls that they do not have to be good; they just have to answer the phone. They get so many calls that if twenty people decline their service, no worries the next person will accept their prices.

    Do not be one of the consumers described in number 2!!! Take your time and do your homework in hiring a private investigator.

Guideline #5: Do Not Choose a Private Investigator on Price Alone

While there are multiple factors that go into making a decision on what local private investigator to retain for your investigation, pricing is among one of them. Pricing alone should not be your deciding factor, the cost of hiring a PI varies widely around America depending on your area and type of investigation. The local private detectives with better resumes with verifiable successful case results and positive references will charge higher rates. Keep in mind, it is better to spend more money on a competent investigator who gets you positive results than paying half that price to a private detective who will fail to gather the evidence required for success.

Essentially there are two reasons across America why certain local private detective firms CAN command higher pricing levels than others. Make sure the private detective you get is the one described below under subheading #1

  • The investigator possessed the qualities of Honesty, Integrity, Competence, and Experience while being able to instill trust into the client. The instilling of trust into the client is normally the result of:
    • The investigator is being contacted because the PI is a bonified local private detective, not a national advertiser seeking to hustle work by pretending they are local PI’s while subcontracting your investigation to an underqualified private detective.
    • The consumer conducted a solid interview with the local private investigator by following the steps described in Guideline #2. If a consumer wants to meet with the private investigator, the investigator is ready to provide a place to meet in private
    • The private detective has a professional website that instills trust in the consumer. The website is full of helpful information, is not tacky, and displays photographs and full biography’s and resumes of the agency personnel
    • The website contains accurate positive reviews which do not contain boilerplate language and are identifiable as being written by actual consumers of the PI Service
    • The private investigator can provide references of persons that are willing to be contacted and have a conversation with the consumer about the experience they had with the private detective firm
  • The second reason some local private investigators command high prices is a pretty simple concept. Many consumers retain a PI in a haphazard way. You would be surprised at the number of consumers that call our office and tell the most personal and intimate details of their lives to our intake investigator.

    When trying to find out if a consumer has reviewed our website, we often find the potential client had only hit a “call” button on a paid ad we had displayed. Many local PI Companies will have such slick and good advertising that they will get so many calls that they do not have to be good; they just have to answer the phone. They get so many calls that if twenty people decline their service, no worries the next person will accept their prices.

    Do not be one of the consumers described in number 2!!! Take your time and do your homework in hiring a private investigator.

Guideline #6: Choose a Properly Equipped Private Investigator

Lastly, but certainly not because of a lack of importance, choose a private investigator firm that is properly equipped. The only way to find out about the equipment a private detective firm deploys into the field is for the consumer to inquire during their interview with the investigator (reference guideline # 2)

  • A private investigator firm should be capable of placing numerous types of vehicles into the field, vehicles that can fit into any environment. A PI Firm should have dedicated surveillance vehicles in which the investigator can be concealed within the vehicle, thereby presenting the illusion of an unoccupied parked vehicle. The private detective should be able to deploy undercover construction vehicles into the field with investigators disguised as construction workers, in other words, hiding in plain sight.
  • A private investigator should have top-notch camera equipment with maximum zoom stabilization platforms, these cameras should be capable of night vision imagery.

If the private investigator avoids or simply declines to talk about the quality and extent of his equipment go elsewhere

This has been a long article, if you have made it through it this far, you are now armed with some solid information in order to make a sound decision in retaining a private investigator you can trust. The investment you make in time by researching will be well worth it if you are successful in your investigation.

The author Bob Cowan is the former Chief of Police in Jersey City, which is the second-largest municipality in New Jersey. Mr. Cowan is a thirty-five-year veteran law enforcement officer serving his entire career in the Jersey City Police Department. After his retirement, in 2016, Mr. Cowan founded Cowan Investigations a full-service New Jersey Private Investigation Firm

Bob Cowan Bio – Cowan Investigations

For a nominal fee, Mr. Cowan uses expertise as he consults with and assists clients across America as they seek to retain trustworthy and competent private investigators. The key to a successful investigation is for the consumer to retain the right private investigator. If you need assistance contact, Mr. Cowan, at

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Cowan Investigations, LLC. Is licensed, bonded and fully insured to operate in the State of New Jersey.

Cowan Investigations, LLC. New Jersey State Agency License # 9364

Cowan Investigations, LLC. Is able to provide Asset Search and Background Check services in the state of Pennsylvania.

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