Private Detectives

A couple of years ago, give or take a couple of years, I was sitting in my office trying to figure out a way to bring in some extra money. I was struck suddenly with a weird idea. I had access to resources of information most people didn't, so I could maybe get a PI license and take advantage of this. So I hopped on the information superhighway and did a bit of research. It took me maybe 30 minutes to track down and assimulation the information. It was a bit more money than I wanted to spend, (the individual license wasn't bad, but you could only use that if you were going to work for an existing agency. If you were going solo you had to get an agency license which was $250). I then checked and saw what would happen if I were caught using the information and resources available to me due to my possession outside of my official capacity and decided to work as a part-time janitor.

That was basically the background for this story. I was looking through a local free internet classified site shortly after the above story when I noticed an individual in an bordering county advertising himself pretty heavily as a private detective and begging for work. This guy updated his adds religiously because they were always in the top 5 posts for several days. I finally got curious and checked him out. The adds were written in a rather unprofessional way and seemed more than a tad immature or maybe fanciful. I could picture the guy seeing himself as Magnum PI. His adds stated he would find missing persons, tail people, look for thieves, ect. Something about these ads just annoyed the living hell out of me. I decided, for whatever reason, to investigate myself. I started by looking for a license. They guy had his contact information in his add, and since it required a state license it was easy to see if he had one. I didn't even have to use my official capacity. You can go onto the state website and click on the department of commerce and insurance link. They issue all of the professional licenses and anyone can use there database to see if someone is licenced. That's how you can make sure your dentist, doctor, insurance salesman, ect. is legit. This guy had no state P.I. license. So I sent him an email asking him if he was a licensed PI. He sent one back stating he had graduated from an online detective school and they had trained him and gave him all the tools he needed to be a detective.

I replied and said that was fine and dandy, but most, if not all states required Private Investigators to be licensed. I told him the requirements for this state, sent him links to the pertinent websites as proof and mentioned that if someone official noticed his ads or if he should accept money to perform professional services, and said person filed a complaint, he could find himself in a not pleasant situation. He sent back an email thanking me and stating he had wondered how to get his license but hadn't been able to find out.

This gentleman wants to hunt for thieves, trail cheating spouses and find missing persons for money, but can't do a damn Google search for "How to get a Private Investigator license in Tennessee"? Yeah, I'll send him all my business. I didn't see his ads on that site anymore after that.