Scope of Detective Private Investigator, Courses, Jobs & Salary

Who doesn’t want to be like Sherlock Holmes or Byomkesh Bakshi or our very own famous Karamchand Jasoos who could solve a case with their intelligence? Yes, Detective/Private Investigator is a field full of thrill, adventure, and danger.   A person who is ready to take up the above challenges, the field is perfect for them. 

The minimum qualification that is required to enter into this field is that a person must complete his/her schooling. To become a corporate investigator, the minimum qualification required is graduation or an MBA. To work in computer forensics, the person must have a computer degree. A qualification in forensic or criminology or law is an added advantage to enter into this field.

There are few institutes in India who offers course in private investigations. They are as follows:

• The Indore Christian College, Indore
• The National Institute of Private Investigation, New Delhi
• Detective agencies like ACE Detectives India International Securities, New Delhi
• All India Private Detective Association, New Delhi
•  Lancers Network Limited, New Delhi

1. With the increasing number of crimes and corruption, the job prospects of detectives or private investigators are also growing. 
2. Several investigative agencies have come up all over the country. 
3. Many establishments or individuals are hiring detectives for investigations. People mainly hire detectives for matrimonial enquiries, corporate affairs, governmental or financial matters, personal household investigations or in business dealings. 
4. Detective works for both national and international clients. They work according to the client’s needs and requirements. 

• Insurance companies also hire detectives to scrutinize few claims. They also have been hired to handle industrial and corporate cases. 
• Investigative journalism is another path for private detectives. A new area for private investigators is internet security. 
• They mainly deal with computer hackers, harassing emails, and to prevent theft and unauthorized fund transfers. There are various fields were a detective can specialize themselves. They are 

1. Legal detectives/investigator – they mainly work for any law firms or lawyers. Legal detectives/investigators help in making criminal defenses, legal documents, locating and interviewing the witnesses, gathering and reviewing the evidences.  They also collect the evidences and make reports for trials. 
2. Corporate investigators – Corporate investigators are mainly hired by business men to investigate any criminal activities that happened in the organization. They mainly investigate on the fraud that happened in the company, loopholes in the accounting system, information leak to some other company, and many other activities. The investigator investigates both internally that is within the organization and externally that is crime whether happened outside the organization. Internal crimes like whether any employee leaking any information outside or stealing of company assets or merchandise. External investigation means fraud that happened on the bills from vendors or suppliers. 
3. Computer forensic investigators– They mainly investigate on the computer related crimes like computer hackers, unauthorized fund transfers. They recover the data from the erased or encrypted files, analyze them which they use as evidence. They investigate on the intrusions into the system. 
4. Financial investigator – They investigate on the financial problem that happened within the organization. They mainly investigate on the financial audits that happen in the organization, employee investigation, and fraud investigation. Financial investigators are mainly certified public accountants (CPAs) who work closely with investment bankers and accountants. Their work is to recover the damages that happened in fraud or theft cases. 

• To enter into this field one must be aware that there are no specific working hours for a detective. They could also have to work on nights and weekends too. If a certain case demand then they have to work 40 hours a week. While working on a case, the person must remain within the scope of the law that is he should not go or do certain things which are not acceptable by law.
   

To have a career as a detective or private investigator the person must have few skills like:

• They must have an excellent communication skills
• They must be honest and trustworthy on their work
• They must be self – disciplined
• They must be open minded
• They must have the ability to think creatively
• They must be good in Time management
• They must be good in Organizational skills
• They must have good physical and mental health
•  They must be very perceptive and observant in their job
• They must be bold and alert in their job
•  They must have a good presence of mind and could handle the things tactfully
   

To become a detective / private investigator one does not need any specific education qualification, but he/she must have to complete their schooling. There are few Online and Distance Learning Courses available approved by Govt. of India. They are:

• http://www.ifs.edu.in/private-investigator-detective/

There are lot many options or scopes available for a detective/private investigator in India. They could specialize in any field (mentioned above). They could get jobs in Government as well as Private sectors too. To name a few, please find below the details:

• Govt. Sector Jobs: Central Govt. Forensic Sciences Labs, State FSL's, GEQD, Police Department, Crime Branches, CBI, CID, Regional Forensic Science Laboratories, Intelligence Bureau, Banks, Defense / Army, Courts, Qu
  • There is no particular educational qualification required to become a detective or private investigator. 
  • But, atleast a person should complete their high school to work as a detective. 
  • In India, a detective does not require a license to work within India. 
     
  • A detective’s job is to investigate on the crime that has been committed and to know the truth behind it. 
  • A detective investigates the suspicious activities, finding the facts by doing enquiries, preserving the evidences and to submit physical evidences from the crime scene. 
  • They use various techniques like fingerprints, DNA analysis, blood reports, body fluids, weapons,photography, video recording,etc. to solve the case. 
  • A detective or a private investigator assists the lawyers, investors, businesses, and the general public on different types of cases.  
  • Detectives are not only hired by the law and order administrators but they also been hired to verify the credentials of the prospective marriage partners, or to find proofs to make grounds on divorce cases, child custody, burglary, kidnapping, murder, molestation, etc.  
  • In short, jobs of a detective or a private investigator are to stop and solve the crime against people and property. 
  • A detective or a private investigator works for the people who hire them. 
  • They don’t have the authority to arrest anybody or detain any people for questioning.  Their job is only to investigate on the case for their client. 
     
  • The salary of a detective/private investigator depends upon the experience of the person, the nature of assignment he gets and of course on the client. 
  • A fresher can earn upto Rs. 5,000/- to Rs. 9,000/- per month 
  • If a person is working independently that is not working for any other organization then he could earn a handsome salary. 
  • In short, the salary depends upon the difficulty and the risk involved in that work. To work for a high profile client, the salary will be automatically good.