The first thing to come in our minds on hearing the word DETECTIVES is, What is a Detective? We try to explain this term, which looks simple but has various meanings attached to it.

Detective: Different Areas Of Work

• They conduct interviews, examine records and keep an eye on the activities of the suspect, and participate in raids on criminal locations and their arrests.

• They generally specialize in one type of field, for example, homicide, fraud, intellectual theft etc.. They are assigned cases on a rotational basis and work on them till the case is dropped or a verdict is announced.

• The connect clues to unravel facts about legal, financial or personal matters.

• They can either be attaches with a police agency or they may work alone for some detective agency.

• Those working alone or for some private agency are called as Private Investigators or PI’s (hence the name private eyes).

• Detectives are also called as agents or special agents and perform investigative duties like gathering facts and collecting evidence.

There are various fields in which one can become a detective. One can specialize in these fields and then can work as a detective in these specific fields. One can specialize in a field and become one of the following.

Areas To Specialize in as a Detective

Computer Forensic Investigators:

• They specialize in recovering data from the computers, analysing them and presenting them as evidence in the court.

• Their work consists of detection of network intrusions, deciphering data from encrypted data and files and recover deleted e-mails and passwords.

Legal Investigators:

• They help in preparing criminal defenses, help locate witnesses, serve legal documents, interview police officers and prospective suspects and witnesses and gather and review the evidence.

• They often work for lawyers or law firms.

• They can also collect information about other parties in the investigation, gather evidence and submit it in the court.

• They can testify in the court if required to.
  

Corporate Detective:

• They conduct investigations for corporations, both internal and external.

• Internal investigations consist of checking drug use in the workplace, determining whether employees are not into stealing assets, merchandise or leaking information to competitors.

• External investigations are aimed at preventing criminal actions from outside, like excessive billing by supplier. It is common for investigators to pose as employees to investigate the frauds.

Financial Investigators:

• They are hired to make confidential financial profiles of individuals or companies which are party to large financial transactions.

• Such investigators are commonly Certified Public Accountants (CPA’s)and work closely with investment bankers.

Store Detective

• These detectives work for retail stores and their main task is to control losses and protect assets. They are also referred to as loss prevention agents.

• They prevent loss of assets and catch anyone who tries to damage store property,and prevent shoplifting of goods by shoplifters, store employees, merchandise vendors etc.

• Store detectives conduct periodic checks of stock rooms, dressing and rest rooms and help in opening and closing the store. They can testify in court against people they catch.

Hotel Detective

• Their main task is to prevent damage to hotel property and control losses.

• They protect the guests from theft of their belongings and help to maintain order in the restaurants and bars in the hotel. They also help to keep undesirable elements and thieves away from the premises.