Private Detectives and Investigators
On the Job
Private Detectives and Investigators find facts and analyze personal information. They offer many services, including verifying people's backgrounds, tracing missing persons, investigating computer crimes, and protecting celebrities.
Physical Demands
This career requires good eyesight.
Typical Work Tasks
People who work in this career often:
- Examine records or other types of data to investigate criminal activities.
- Interview people to obtain information about actions or status of individuals.
- Investigate crimes committed within organizations.
- Investigate personal characteristics or activities of individuals.
- Observe individuals' activities to gather information or compile evidence.
- Use databases to locate investigation details or other information.
- Prepare investigation or incident reports.
- Record crime or accident scene evidence with video or still cameras.
- Collaborate with law enforcement or security agencies to respond to incidents.
- Communicate situation details to appropriate personnel.
Typical Working Conditions
- Having telephone conversations.
- The importance of being accurate or exact.
- Freedom to make decisions without supervision.
- Meeting strict deadlines.
- Sitting.
- Dealing with external customers.
- Working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions.
This page includes information from the O*NET 24.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Source: You can learn about our data sources in the About Us section.