Private Investigators: How the Role Has Changed

Private Investigators: How the Role Has Changed

In 2008, a number of changes were made to the B.C. Security Services Act in order to accommodate the demand for seasonal security workers and to allow Private Investigators to work for multiple firms. Over the past 20 or more years, the investigation and security services field has seen considerable improvement because of an increase in business, a significant expansion in activity and the kinds of requests for services. A number of jobs that used to be exclusive to public police forces are now being performed by private firms. Over the past 3 decades, the number of private security agencies has increased; there are now more private security guards than there are police officers in Canada. In B.C. there are over 200 PI firms, more than 500 licensed PI's and another 500+ PI's under supervision.

The line between public policing and private security is becoming more unclear. Growth of private security services has expanded in part from the gap between public expectations and what the police are able to deliver. Police officers have additional pressures to provide more services today for things such as drug education programs and working in schools with kids that they are forced to downsize some of their other services. This offers private investigators more opportunities to assist in some areas that were not previously available to the private sector. Private investigator firms are beginning to expand their services to more complex pursuits such as intelligence gathering, counter terrorism, corporate security, covert operations, forensic accounting and computer forensics. This has expanded the industry and the private investigator has developed into more of a respectable and professional job in the public's eye. Private Investigators have become much more than just cheating spouse chasers.

The price of technology has dropped considerably, increasing the market for certain security products. Things such as home alarm systems have become more affordable to the general public and therefore marketable. This has in turn allowed the private security industry to be able to broaden their capacity.

In the past couple of years, information has become one of the most sought after services. Private Investigators are administrators of information and have very thorough procedures for obtaining it. With privacy laws becoming more severe, PI's must make sure that all evidence is acquired and preserved carefully and does not violate provincial and federal privacy laws.

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