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Private Investigator

Conducts investigations for private clients — missing persons, fraud, background checks.

Did you know?

The Pinkerton detective agency, founded around 1850, was the largest private law enforcement organisation in the world from the 1870s to the 1890s.

How subjects help

• Law: Gather evidence in ways that are legal so it can be trusted and used in court.
• Psychology: Read body language in interviews and notice when a story doesn't add up.
• Computer Science: Search public records and online posts to trace a missing person or check a background.
• Communication: Write detailed reports that explain what you found and exactly how you found it.

A famous name

Allan Pinkerton: Founded the Pinkerton detective agency in 1850 and hired Kate Warne, the first female US detective.

Try it yourself: Solve the case of the missing biscuit

1. Read every note. Which two facts don't fit together?
2. What can you say for sure from the evidence, and what are you only guessing?
3. What one extra piece of evidence would settle it?
4. Write your findings in two sentences without accusing anyone of more than the evidence shows.

Private investigators and digital forensics analysts line up times and records to see what really happened, and are careful to say what the evidence can't prove.

Also try: Argue both sides of a rule.

Known for it in

USA, UK, Australia, Japan, Germany

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