The private investigator is hot on the trail of her quarry until he jumps into an ominous-looking town car. She frantically grabs her phone, shouting into it, 鈥渢race that licence plate!鈥�
Soon after, she tracks him down, breaking open the door to his cabin. Another case solved.
This kind of scenario plays well on screens and pages but it鈥檚 not how things go in real life. In real life, being a private investigator is a whole different story.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think a lot of the public knows what P.I.s actually do,鈥� Burnaby private investigator Jolene Johnson told the NOW. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like the movies, it鈥檚 not like the TV shows coming out, it鈥檚 nothing like that.鈥�
Johnson has been a private investigator for five years and has run National Risk Management Group Ltd. since 2018. The Burnaby resident employs four fully licensed private investigators and one private investigator under supervision in B.C. and Alberta. She also has licensed security staff in Alberta.
One aspect of the work of the private investigator is locating people, and much of that work is done online, she said.
鈥淲e do surveillance, that鈥檚 one piece of it. We do witness statements, that鈥檚 another piece of it,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淲e do covert investigations but we don鈥檛 have any actual power like law enforcement, for example.鈥�
One of the major differences between fictional P.I.s and actual investigators working in the private sector is that there are limitations on what they can do, she said.
鈥淧eople think private investigators have all kinds of abilities to do this, that and the other thing on a file but really we don鈥檛,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淲e have no authority whatsoever.鈥�
For instance, private investigators can鈥檛 run licence plates or do driver鈥檚 licence searches, she pointed out.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no power that I have that you don鈥檛 have as a private citizen, there鈥檚 nothing. The only thing is I鈥檓 licensed by the provincial government and I鈥檓 insured,鈥� she explained. 鈥淢y licence only gives me the right to charge money for services. And it also only gives us the ability to legally follow from place to place.鈥�
In B.C, repeatedly following someone is a criminal offense for those without a private investigator鈥檚 licence.
鈥淚f a subject becomes aware that we are following them, and they get afraid, then it鈥檚 a criminal offence,鈥� Johnson said.
Private investigators don鈥檛 buddy up with investigating officers for intel or help on a case, either, she said.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 work with police,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淚f police stop one of our people doing surveillance, we are not allowed to disclose who we鈥檙e working on. We do tell them, 鈥榳e鈥檙e on surveillance, here is our plate number.鈥� But we鈥檙e not allowed to legally disclose to the police what we鈥檙e doing.鈥�
However, if the police have a file they鈥檙e working on in the area and the private investigator is impeding that, they do stop, according to Johnson.
However, the one element of fictional P.I. stories that rings true is the havoc it can wreak on an investigator鈥檚 personal life, so Johnson is very careful to help her employees with that side of things.
Because a lot of work they do involves sensitive material, Johnson allows her employees to disclose to their partners what kind of file they鈥檙e working on, though no personal details are shared.
鈥淚n some cases we鈥檙e investigating adult-oriented material where a subject may be involved in escorting. So that type of assignment, a male employee would have to go into that kind of environment and again, it raises havoc in relation to relationships as well,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he partner may not know this is work related, or 鈥榠s my husband stepping out on me?鈥� So they can鈥檛 know who the file is on, but the type of file, we definitely allow our employees to disclose the type of file because at the end of the day, we Google weird things.鈥�
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