Investigative Techniques and Information Gathering
Paper first, people second
A methodical investigator exhausts documentary sources before spending billable hours in the field: Florida's broad public-records law (Ch. 119), clerk of court civil and criminal indexes, property appraiser and recorder records, Sunbiz corporate filings, UCC liens, professional licensing databases, bankruptcy and probate files, and open social media. Every fact should be logged with its source and the date retrieved, because a fact without a source is a rumor with a deadline.
Permissible purpose is the gate
Motor-vehicle records are fenced by the Driver's Privacy Protection Act; you obtain them only for a permissible purpose you can certify, and personal curiosity is not one. Financial records obtained by false pretenses violate the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and obtaining telephone records through pretext is separately criminal. A Florida license never authorizes pretexting for those categories.
Interviews and statements
Miranda governs government action, not a private investigator interviewing a witness in a parking lot - a distinction exam writers exploit in both directions. If you act at the direction of law enforcement, you risk being treated as a state actor. You may not detain, threaten, or falsely claim police authority, and recorded statements require consent under s. 934.03.
Evidence discipline
Preserve originals, log every transfer, and keep what you observed separate from what you were told. Corroborate a single-source fact before it goes in a report.
Rule of thumb: write the source and date down at the moment you learn the fact; reconstructing later is how reports lose credibility.