Is It Legal to Hire a Private Detective?

When considering the question ‘is it legal to hire a private detective’, it is incumbent upon one to consider the broader implications of engaging a private investigator. Used correctly a private detective can help solve global problems, but without effective oversight a private detective can become more than a mere problem solver, they can become the problem. The legality of hiring a private detective is not strictly a legal question, and as the title of this post distinguishes between the academic and the legal it is worthwhile to explore how the scientific method can help us articulate the legal issues.

The essential legal issues around hiring a private investigator centre around: There are further non-legal questions involved around privacy, that are more philosophical than legal in nature as well as enforcement issues that are better tried and tested at the bar than at academic institutions. In terms of philosophical inquiries, proof of concept begins at the street corner, but determining the legal implications of allowing private investigators to have widely unrestricted access to closed systems of data is best done in the ivory tower.

Practical commentary can only go so far in determining the wisdom of allowing Michael Hastings of Buzzed to hire a PI to review the life of a news reporter in Los Angeles, however, scholarly analysis of the question provides an essential framework where public policy is driven by the rule of law and not private passions. The scientific method allows us to articulate the competing legal and philosophical issues, which give the general public the intellectual foundations necessary to understand the complexities around engaging a private investigator.

The private detective to certain extents is merely the boogeyman of our fears, as the notion of secrecy and privacy is being ripped under our feet, with each private citizen being encouraged to hire a private investigator to uncover the secret lives of their neighbours or the police investigate the private affairs of their citizens. As the private investigator is a reflection of society, understanding the societal implications of the private detective is critical for understanding the legality of hiring a private detective.

Part of the legal competition in Canada is whether or not the private investigator has the right to enter into Canada, and use the private detective as a weapon against the persons targeted by various State Agencies. The question of mobility and rights of entry also drives commercialization of private investigations and the legal questions of whether or not we can allow a private investigator to knock down our door.

If the private investigator is merely a weapon of the State when providing private investigation services, then the legality of hiring a private detective is relevant to the right of privacy and the right to freedom of movement. If the State and private investigators collaborate, at what point is an individual allowed to make use of a firearm, or some other weapon, to protect themselves from a private investigator? In certain countries the State has a monopoly on violence, whereas in others all persons may exercise their right to self defence, or the collective right of self defence where more than one family, or group of survivors, chooses to respond to the threat of a single aggressor.

Allowing the private investigator to cross into Canada and engage in physical confrontation, or service disruptive documents, increases the potential for violence, and opens up other legal complications finding the boundaries between freedom of travel, freedom of movement, freedom of association, corporate espionage, and invasion of privacy. The law of evidence, as explained in the article comprehensive approaches to hiring a private investigator by Mike Ainslie of Inconvenient Facts & Unpleasant Alternatives, suggests that the investigative services may be provided if hired by the right person.

There are a number of factors to consider regarding ‘the right person’ and what is proper evidence, and where evidence is obtained outside of the purview of a judicial decision the proper investigation agency may have their primary role as providing evidence to the State, or investigative body, instead of serving the needs of the general population. The legal interest in the legality of hiring a private investigator varies for corporations, agencies, and private individuals and it is this variance which gives rise to different legal interpretations.