Private Investigator flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

State-level licensing

Private investigator licensing in the United States comes from state statutes enforced by a state board or department; there is no single federal private investigator license.

Employee exemption

Many statutes exempt a company's own salaried employees who investigate internal matters from private investigator licensure, but the scope of that exemption varies by state.

Unlicensed practice consequence

Practicing private investigation without a required license is usually a misdemeanor punishable by fines, plus administrative penalties and possible injunctive relief from the regulator.

Interstate licensure rule

Most states do not grant full reciprocity, so an investigator generally must hold a license or registration in each state where investigative services are performed.

GLBA pretexting prohibition

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act makes it a federal crime to obtain a financial institution's customer information by false pretenses, with fines and imprisonment possible.

DPPA permissible purpose

The Driver's Privacy Protection Act permits access to motor vehicle records only for enumerated purposes and requires the requester to certify the purpose, with statutory damages for misuse.

FCRA employment disclosure

The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a separate, clear written disclosure and the subject's authorization before an employer obtains a consumer report for employment purposes.

Social media pretext account

Using a fake profile or requesting passwords to view private content can violate state law, platform terms, and computer crime statutes, and may be discoverable.

Chain of custody

The documented, unbroken record of who handled an item, when, where, and for what purpose, from collection through analysis to court presentation.

Hash value

A fixed-length digital fingerprint such as MD5 or SHA-256 computed on a file or image; matching values before and after analysis show the data was not altered.

Authentication requirement

Under Federal Rule of Evidence 901, the proponent must present evidence sufficient for a reasonable jury to find an item is what it is claimed to be.

Best evidence rule

Federal Rule of Evidence 1002 requires the original writing, recording, or photograph to prove its contents, unless a duplicate or a recognized exception applies.

One-party consent

A recording rule allowing a conversation to be recorded when at least one participant consents; it applies in most US states to in-person and telephone conversations.

GPS tracker installation

In United States v. Jones (2012) the Supreme Court held that physically installing a GPS device on a vehicle to track its movements is a search.

Surveillance log

A contemporaneous record of dates, times, locations, subject and vehicle descriptions, activity observed, equipment used, and investigator initials for each observation period.

Miranda trigger

Miranda warnings are required only for custodial interrogation conducted by government agents; a privately retained investigator ordinarily has no such constitutional duty.

Cognitive interview

A memory-based interviewing method that reinstates context, asks for everything remembered, varies recall order, and changes perspective to retrieve more accurate detail.

Non-custodial interview

A voluntary interview in which the person is told participation is optional and that he or she may leave or decline to answer at any time.

Preponderance standard

The burden of proof in most civil cases, meaning the claim is more likely true than not, often expressed as greater than fifty percent likelihood.

Probable cause

Facts and circumstances that would lead a reasonable person to believe an offense has been committed and that a particular person committed it.

Subpoena duces tecum

A court-issued command requiring a person or organization to produce specified documents or records, usually at a stated time and place.

Litigation hold

A directive suspending routine record destruction once litigation or a formal investigation is reasonably anticipated, documented to show preservation compliance.

Report objectivity

Reporting only observed facts and verbatim statements, labeling inference as inference, and recording unknown information as unknown rather than estimating.

Correction protocol

Errors in a case record are corrected with a single line through the entry, initials, date, and the corrected text, never by erasure or correction fluid.

State action doctrine

Constitutional search limits bind government actors; a private investigator is generally not a state actor unless acting at police direction.

Curtilage

The immediately surrounding area of a dwelling, such as a yard or porch, treated as part of the home for reasonable expectation of privacy analysis.

Intrusion upon seclusion

A tort claim requiring an intrusion into a private place or conversation where the plaintiff had a reasonable expectation of privacy in a highly offensive manner.

Open fields

Unenclosed or undeveloped land beyond the curtilage of a home; government entry is not a Fourth Amendment search, though private trespass law still applies.

Engagement letter

A written agreement defining scope of work, deliverables, fees, expenses, confidentiality, termination, and the client's stated permissible purpose for the investigation.

Kovel doctrine

A rule allowing an investigator hired by an attorney to assist legal advice to share the attorney-client privilege and work product protection.

Retainer

An advance payment from a client against which hourly fees and expenses are drawn, typically held in trust where state rules require it.

Errors and omissions

Professional liability insurance covering claims that an investigator's negligent act, error, or omission caused a client financial loss.