How to Find a Licensed Private Investigator

When you have a case that you'd like a private investigator to work on, it may be tempting to simply head over to the nearest private investigator's office. However, before you decide to work with any private investigator, you should first know whether or not they're licensed.

A licensed private investigator is more likely to offer you a professional service and this is why many people will not work with investigators who don't possess a license. However, you can't go from one investigator's office to another checking if they have a license. There are simpler ways of going about the issue of finding a licensed private investigator.

Searching for a licensed private investigator online is an easy way of getting what you want. By now, many investigation agencies have a website. Being licensed is a big deal for any private investigator and an investigator that's licensed will probably mention it on their website.

In case you find a private investigator who hasn't listed their license status on their website, you can find out by searching their name on the tool provided on the Security Industry Authority's website for the purpose of telling the public who is licensed. Previous clients of a particular private investigator may also mention whether they're licensed in their reviews on Google or some other website.

Apart from searching online, there are other ways that you can know if a private investigator is licensed. If the private investigator shows you a license card with a barcode or QR code, you can scan this and you'll be told whether the license is valid, active or suspended. You'll also be given other relevant information about the license holder. Older licenses have security chips embedded in them.

In the UK, there is only one body that you should turn to if you want to confirm whether or not a private investigator is licensed. This body is the Security Industry Authority. This is the body that is in charge of issuing licenses for those who work in the security industry. They also maintain a register of all individuals who are currently licensed and those who were licensed in the past.

Therefore, by using the tool provided on the website of SIA, you can know the licensing status of a private investigator you're working with or whether the license they're using is authentic, expired, active etc.