There are many Private Investigator online courses available, most will be a waste of money and not help you become a Private Investigator. The leading issue with these problematic online PI courses is that they do not focus on practical Private Investigator education. Rather, they focus on educational topics that are exciting. This is to draw attention and appear appealing to potential customers. This includes online Private Investigator courses that are made mandatory by governments in order to obtain a Private Investigator license.
Unfortunately, most individuals wanting to become a Private Investigator must take a government approved online PI course as part of the process to obtain a Private Investigator license. What is unfortunate about this is that most, if not all, of these government approved licensing courses are short and only really focus on what laws PIs need to be aware of while performing investigations.
It is important to know of these laws, mostly privacy laws, but a new Private Investigator still needs to learn how to perform investigations and to learn the fundamentals of PI investigations. This is a long and difficult process. Perhaps this is one reason why most courses do not teach this.
Then there are the online PI courses that are not associated with governments. These courses do teach more valuable skills; however, the topics taught are generally not practical and focus more on rare exciting investigations a PI might perform. The topics taught can be,
fingerprinting
corporate espionage
undercover operations
executive protection
interviewing
interrogation
counter-surveillance
criminal psychology
corruption
background investigations
witness locates
extortion investigations
de-bugging
forensics
theft investigations
These types of investigations are rare for Private Investigators to work on. Furthermore, a new Private Investigator would generally not perform these rare investigations. They would be given to a more experienced PI. What new Private Investigators need to learn, and what is not often taught, is the complexities of the PI industry and how to perform common investigations.
To learn the complexities of the private investigation industry you will need to understand a few Private Investigator industry topics. Regional licensing requirements for Private Investigators will teach you what you need to obtain your Private Investigator license. To help you decide if you want to enter the career of private investigation you will have to learn the common misconceptions about the Private Investigation industry. Understanding the learning curve of a Private Investigator will set you up to become a successful PI. Before entering the PI industry, it is useful to know the challenges encountered as a Professional Private Investigator. This will also help you make career decisions. Then you need to learn what you will be doing as a Private Investigator. Learning the areas of specialization as a Professional Private Investigator and types of clients and corresponding file requirements will help with this. You will need to learn how Investigators obtain assignments and hours of work to determine if this work environment is right for you.
If you are concerned about your ability to perform as a Private Investigator, learning what factors will determine your aptitude as a Professional Private Investigator and what makes a “good” Professional Private Investigator will be essential. It is also important to know the physical and health requirements and health considerations. Then there is equipment. Learning about equipment needed in order to get started in a career as a Professional Private Investigator is a must. Furthermore, you will need to educate yourself on communication devices and their role in private investigation. Lastly and most importantly, you must learn “The Investigative Mindset.” This will teach you how to think like a Private Investigator. Learning the complexities of the Private Investigator industry is first thing a Private Investigator online course should offer.
After learning the complexities of the private investigation industry, you will need to develop practical investigative skills in various areas. Single person surveillance is the biggest part of the PI industry; however, there other important PI topics you should learn about in an online Private Investigator course. These other topics/ subjects are Desk Investigations, Pre-surveillance, static surveillance, mobile vehicle surveillance, on-foot surveillance, obtaining evidence, and litigious reporting. To learn Desk Investigations you will need to understand what is a Desk Investigation, Desk Investigation nomenclature, corroborated/ circumstantial evidence, The Evidence Document, The Desk Investigators Mindset, Google Basics for North America, and social media search basics for North America. Surveillance will be the largest subject to learn. Under this field you should learn about setting up a proper surveillance vehicle, surveillance spot checks, and surveillance set ups for various investigative operations.
As a Private Investigator, you will spend the majority of your time performing investigations solo. This is why learning single person surveillance is crucial. Furthermore, you will occasionally work in surveillance teams, so you will need to lean how to perform surveillance with two or more surveillance operatives. Private Investigators perform a lot of their surveillance from a surveillance vehicle, but also on foot, you will need to learn this also. The entire reason Private Investigators are hired, is to obtain evidence. Obviously, learning how to obtain evidence, mostly in video form, is a must. As a Private Investigator, you will need to obtain quality video that is litigious and that will satisfy your client. At the end of all this, you will need to learn how to create an investigative report that will most likely be used in litigation. If you see that an online Private Investigator course offers subjects such as these, it will be a strong indication that it will provide you valuable education.
Outside of helping you create a good foundation to become a Private Investigator and teach you how to perform investigations, a good Private Investigator online course will help your future career in other ways. A good online PI course will help you become a successful Private Investigator, know every aspect of the PI business, think like an Investigator, successfully work investigations, have career fulfillment, and start your career positively earning you over 100k per year. It should be apparent now what to look out for when choosing an online PI course: stay away from courses that focus on exciting non-practical subjects and consider courses that do focus on practical subjects.
