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ME Private Investigator study materials
ME Private Investigator study resources

ME Private Investigator: Investigative Techniques: Background, Records, and Skip Tracing

ME Private Investigator · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Investigative Techniques: Background, Records, and Skip Tracing

What this domain tests

Which records exist, who may obtain them, and how to document a source so the finding can be defended. The exam rewards lawful pathways over shortcut databases.

Sources

  • Maine Freedom of Access Act (1 M.R.S. § 401 et seq.): state and municipal records, with exemptions.
  • Courts: dockets and filings through the Judicial Branch's public access system.
  • Registry of Deeds and tax assessor: ownership, mortgages, liens, property history.
  • Secretary of State: corporate filings, registered agents, UCC records, notary commissions.
  • Vital records and licensing boards: births, deaths, marriages, professional licenses.
  • Motor vehicle records: governed by the Driver's Privacy Protection Act; only enumerated permitted uses.
  • Consumer reporting data: requires a permissible purpose under the FCRA when used for eligibility decisions.

Limits

  • Pretexting for financial records or telephone records is a federal crime.
  • Unauthorized access to accounts is a computer crime regardless of who owns the device.
  • Health information and student records carry separate protections.

Skip tracing method

Start with stable identifiers (full name, date of birth, last known address, employer), then work from official records outward to aggregators, then verify against a second independent source. Record source name, retrieval date, and the exact record identifier.

Worked example

Locating a judgment debtor. Reasoning: begin with the Registry of Deeds and the court file for the last known address and employer; pull corporate filings if he owns a business; use an aggregator only to generate leads; confirm the current address through a second official source before any attempt to serve or observe.

Traps

  • Relying on one aggregator hit.
  • Omitting retrieval dates from the report.
  • Using a pretext call to a utility.

Key points

  • Public records first, aggregators second, verification always.
  • DPPA and FCRA restrict vehicle and consumer data.
  • Pretexting for financial or phone records is criminal.
  • Record source, date, and record identifier for every finding.
  • Confirm addresses through two independent sources.