Being approached as a private investigator to find a partner/ex-partner or child is common; in fact, I can receive up to half a dozen or more requests like this a day. With very few exceptions, I don’t take any of them. 

Any ethical investigator would know this type of activity/job carries with it great responsibility, risk and caution. 

And the very first thing you ask yourself is…why? 

Up until now it was the investigator’s responsibility to ensure that the reason for the locate is genuine. No person – no investigator ever – wants to be party to a domestic violence offence. This has changed somewhat (in Queensland anyway) with the proposal of new coercive control legislation. In essence, the bill proposes the creation of a new offence of enabling domestic violence. What this means is that someone who engages in behaviour against a named domestic violence order victim, commits an offence. It’s “aggravated” if done for monetary benefit. 

For a private investigator, this means you may go to jail for five years. 

And, it will be up to you to prove that you had a “reasonable excuse”, if you did in fact aid or abet a domestic violence perpetrator. 

So what does all this mean for you as a private investigator? 

Well, taking on matters that even hint of domestic violence (or any violence against another for that matter) would not only be highly unethical and wrong, but now criminal. Of course, being able to satisfy yourself that DV doesn’t exist is almost impossible. The police aren’t going to tell you. The alleged perpetrator may not tell you. There may be no signs or indicators. 

In the end it’s just not worth it. Even if everything seems legitimate. 

This leaves the genuine people wanting to find someone for all sorts of reasons – will beneficiaries, missing persons, debtors, long lost friends/associates, witnesses – a bit lost and caught up in the risk the proposed legislation creates. But in reality it’s probably a fair trade off to address the scourge of domestic violence in today’s society. 

The upshot of the new legislation is that PI’s must be extremely vigilant to requests to locate someone. Effective due diligence must be heightened to a level where certainty of legitimacy must exist. 

Contact us today to find out more about what PICA can do for you and your investigative needs!