Before going further, it’s important to first identify they type of missing person investigation to be carried out as this will determine the techniques, tools, resources and time it will take. There are three categories of missing person search I’ll cover here, the time taken for investigation being different for each.

Searching for a person who has been out of contact for at least a year
Starting with the easiest and often quickest type of investigation first, namely trying to trace a person who has been out of contact for at least a year. Maybe it’s an old school friend, long lost family member or work colleague but no matter why you’re trying to locate them, the longer it’s been can often and ironically mean you’ll find them faster than the other types of people search I cover here.

The fact of the matter is if it’s been years since you lost contact, they have probably put down roots in their new location and left finger prints you can trace them with. I’m not referring to real fingers so beloved of detectives of course but instead the kind of social foot prints we all leave in our day to day lives: registering with declarations on electoral roles, signing up on social networks, maybe even bad debt reports, and it’s through such foot prints they can be located.

As I’ve discussed before, there are several incredibly useful tools that can now help you find your lost person. As detailed in How do you find a missing person – little known online tricks of investigators there are various techniques to search Facebook, Linkedin and other social networks quickly and often very successfully. It’s a reality however that it can still take days, perhaps weeks.

“You took your time, Holmes.”

Inspector Lestrade, Sherlock Holmes

Finding a person you’ve just lost contact with
Next, and the opposite of the first type of search: finding a missing person who has moved away very recently for legitimate reasons and is not trying to hide. This is more difficult and will take you time, take longer than you might think for the simple reason that it will take a while for them to become established elsewhere and start leaving traces which can be used in the search.

If you’re quick however there are things can produce a fast result and lead to your lost quary in several weeks. I’ve written about techniques that worked well for me in how to find a missing person first steps, these include asking neighbours, friends and family and landlords.

Someone who has recently disappeared on purpose
This is the most difficult sort of investigation. If the person you are looking for has run off on purpose they are unlikely to leave the kind of social finger prints you can use to find them on Facebook etc and this can make them to most difficult to find.

Adding to your difficulties will be that if they’ve only just disappeared they are unlikely to show up on official registers such as electoral roles or sign up with utility supplies that private detectives can trace them through. Equally, they probably won’t apply for credit or loans, again through which professional people searchers and skip tracing services typically track people down.

This all means it’s going to take time to find them, the depressing fact is that it can take months perhaps even a year before someone starts to show on up and can be located. You best bet is to find a private detective who can register a trace and then be alerted once your objective starts to reappear on official registers.

And, finally
Missing persons investigations can take time, patience will become your friend, but can be done yourself and for relatively low cost or even free. How long it takes however will ultimately depend however on the effort you put in. If you want to save yourself some effort, may I suggest you sign up for my free email newsletter in which I reveal tips and advice or invest in one of the excellent books on the subject – my favourite one’s are listed here: the top five books for private investigators.

Picture: healingdream / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Just as with medical care, an immediate response is key. Ask any medical professional and they will tell you the first hour after a life threatening injury is vital if the patient is to saved. In finding missing people, your response in the first days after someone goes missing are equally vital in your search to find them.

In investigations to find a missing person, it’s not medical care but rather talking to as many people as possible while memories are still fresh to find out what they they recall, conversations overhead and actions seen. Take massive action, get out and talk to as many people as possible.

Get your boots on and hit the streets

Visit the area where the person lived. Knock on doors, talk to parsers-by, visit the neighbors of the person who’s gone missing. Did they see, hear or witness anything. In particular, do they recall any comments that the person you are searching for made in the run up to disappearing?

Depending on the circumstances of the disappearance, you may need to ask discreetly. Don’t come across as demanding or heavy handed, you’re asking people to help you afterall.  And never lie. Tell the truth as to why you’re looking for them and they’ll be more likely to help you.

And do it again and again, keep going back, visit at different times and talk to different people. Don’t make a nuisance of yourself by pestering the people however.

Friends and family
Although obvious, many people often forget to ask the friends and family of the missing person. It’s also worth using the power of social networks, your missing friend, family or aquaintence probably now has more contacts on Facebook and Linkedin than they do in their their local community. I didn’t think about this for a while and it nearly cost me dear, using the online tools to people search databases and social networks  can speed up communicating with your contacts friends.

Who else do they know
Aside from discretly asking neighbors if they know or might have heard where the missing person has gone, it’s also worth asking if they can think of anyone else or saw anyone regularly visiting that might know something.

Another avenue to explore is the neighbors often know have some details for landlords so they can contact them in event of problems – so ask if they have contact details and then reach out to them.

After neighbors and landlords, think of businesses who might have been involved if the person has moved away. Brainstorm the type of business you’d need if you were moving, storage and van rental businesses should be top of your list. Visit them, be honest, explain what’s happened and ask if they know anything.

Location jigsaw – putting it all together
Asking friends, neighbors, landlords and local businesses will often reveal several different snippets of information. These can at first often seem contradictory but rather than treat the different information as conflicting look for common themes that once pieced together may give you a vital clue. Writing down everything you’ve learnt on pieces of paper and group them together around common themes, associations or locations can can often give reveal a bigger picture you might otherwise miss.

Alternatively, and a technique I’ve used to great effect, is to create a mind map of all everything you know about the missing person. Various software for creating these mind maps is available to let you organise different ideas and evidence strands visually to help you spot links and patterns in your search for missing persons.

Lastly, keep copious notes. If your search doesn’t reveal results and you decide to use the services of a professional private investigator (it’s always worth discussing your problem with reputable investigators as they’ll have access to people search resources you have missed) details of friends and family can be very useful.

You might also be interested in: The top five books of private investigators and online techniques on how to find a missing person.

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DIY Private Investigations searches the search engines to reveal little know people search tips and the online tricks of investigators.

YoName: Everyone knows about social networks and it seems like nearly everyone is on them but searching facebook, linkedin, myspace and dozens of other social networks can take time. Bring in YoName.com.

From a single website you can trawl across social networks, YouTube, Flickr, blogs and dozens of other networks. What I liked about this is that it it shows a picture from the profile of each person it finds so you can quickly identify if they are the missing person you’re looking for.  Free to use, it’s recommended although somewhat disadvantaged for UK use by its American focus. Free missing person search at: www.yoname.com

Spokeo: If you know the username the person you trying to find used online, their email address or a telephone number Spokeo should be high on your list of online destinations. From dating to shopping and music sites, Spokeo churns through 60+ networks finding matching accounts. Profiles at main social networks – facebook, twitter, youtube etc – can be viewed from a basic account while accounts on esoteric networks, soureforge for example, need a paid account. Find a missing person at www.spokeo.com

192.com: For missing persons not online, you need to search other record databases such as electoral roll and for this 192.com is hard to beat. Type in a name and rough location and the search technology behind 192.com will scour UK electoral rolls from 2002 to 2011, directory enquiries and the Birth, Marriage & Death registers looking for a hit. It’ll then present a list of people it finds.

What’s particularly useful is that it shows not just the names and locations of people it thinks correspond with the name you’re looking for but also shows the names of individuals also registered at the addresses it shows, so if you’re looking for someone who has run off with someone you can quickly identify hot leads.

Basic headline details are shown, to view detailed records you’ll need to sign up for an account at £149 and then buy “credits” to view the records. It may seem expensive but compared to alternative methods it can prove a lot quicker. The disadvantage is that it requires someone has established themselves in an area, registered on electoral rolls etc.  Electoral roll searches at www.192.com.

Pipl.com: Although similar to Spokeo and Yoname, pipl digs through the underbelly of the Internet to help find missing people and found a greater variety of sources, such as long past entries in Internet discussion forums, in the test investigations I carried out.  This can prove useful in that it could reveal information you didn’t previously know about someone to narrow your search elsewhere. For example, they might have posted a question years back which leads to an interest or location that can give you a new lead to follow up. Trace missing people: www.pipl.com

People Search Tricks With Google

Although the above search engines focus on people, the vast volume of information and number of websites Google knows about makes it a powerful ally in any attempts to trace a missing person. However due to huge amount of data it keeps the results it returns can often be overwhelming.  Thankfully there are a number of tricks you can use to improve the accuracy of the search results and reduce the amount of false-positive results Google displays.

Date range search: You can search for when Google indexes a web page by adding “daterange:x-y” to your Google search. x and y being the start and end dates. Unfortunately you’ll need to specify the dates in Julian format but there are loads of Julian date conversion tools. So if I was searching for online references to John Doe from June 1st to June 31st, I’d enter : daterange:2455714-2455744 “john doe”.

Location searches: Along with date, you can also narrow your search to location. Find the location setting on the left in Google and click on ‘Change location’. In the box that appears (before and after seen in the picture), enter the location you wish to search and click on ‘Set’. Now enter the name of the person you’re looking for as normal and Google will show results for the location given.

Better search results: If you’re searching for names, eg people, you’ll want to search for just pages where the words entered are next to or near each other. By default, Google will list pages where the words appear in the text but not necessarily next to each other. So searching for Arthur Doyle will find pages containing mentions of the creator of ubber private detective Sherlock Holmes but also pages with Arthur and Doyle in them and not necessarily about the detective story writer.  You can focus the results more accurately by placing quotes around the name, thus “Arthur Doyle” will show just pages where Doyle comes immediately after Arthur. But this search, matching just what’s in the quote, will find references to the musician Arthur Doyle as well as our crime writer. You could put Arthur Conan Doyle in quotes but this will then miss references to “Arthur C Doyle” – the quotes telling Google to find only exact matches. To get around this you could use the wild-card character “Arthur * Doyle”, where the asterisk means match any sequences of characters.

Alternatively, use the little known Google AROUND operator, which allows you to find words that are close to each other, entering : Arthur AROUND(2) Doyle will find all references to Arthur and Doyle separated by upto 2 words, including Arthur C. Doyle, Arthur Conan Doyle and Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle – his full name.

Lastly, the above tricks are specific to Google but other search engines often have similar capabilities so it’s worth checking for their advanced search functions in your missing person investigations.

See also: Top 5 Books To Learn The Secrets Of Private Investigators

Picture: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

If you’ve watched Police and PI detective series on TV, you’ll have seen private detectives flashing ID cards to get into secure areas, by-pass police cordons, gain entry to premises and even login to secret computer systems.

In the UK the reality is different. I was quite surprised to find that there are no legal requirements to be a private investigator or carry out investigations, there’s no legal control over who can be a private detective and you don’t need license. Anyone can do it.

Of course, this also means that there’s no Police PI badge that will gain you access to places and information normal members of the public can’t reach but for most of us that’s not important.

Private Investigator licensing, it’s changing soon!

The lack of statutory licensing for private investigators is not likely to last however. In May 2001, Parliament passed the the Private Security Industry Act which heralded a licensing system for the security industry in England. The industry has been broken down into four sectors: door minders/bouncers, wheel-clampers, manned security and private investigators, with the first three becoming regulated as of 2005 by the Security Industry Authority (SIA).

Private investigators are the last sector to be covered and although not covered yet it are expected to be licensed soon although no definite date has been confirmed.

If you’re thinking of becoming a professional private investigator you might want to talk to the ABI. In the absence of legal requirements, the Association of British Investigators (ABI) – a leading trade association for private investigators in England and endorsed by the Law Society – is running a membership scheme to which only investigators who have passed various criteria and complied with their standards can join.

You might also be interested in: What does a private investigator do? and my most popular article: The top five books to learn the secrets of private investigators and online techniques how to find a missing person online techniques.

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There are several forms of insurance you can consider.

Private Investigator Liability Insurance

If you’re out and about in public, you should seriously consider liability insurance. This protects you from claims for damage and accidents you’re involved in for which they may make a claim against you. You should know however that such policies do not cover for intentional damage. You should also note that different liability policies exist for domestic liability and commercial liability, eg if you are carrying out work for third parties as an employee or self employed the terms of a domestic policy will probably not cover you.

How much a liability insurance policy costs depends on the amount of cover and scope but it’s not uncommon to find policies for around £50 providing several million pounds of cover.

Professional idemnity insurance

This is needed if you’re providing services to customers and working as a private investigator. You could be held liable or a claim made against you for loss if the information you provide is wrong or inaccurate. Private investigator professional idemnity insurance policies are designed to protect you from such claims.

Typically, idemnity cover will be for less than liability insurance but will cost more – over £100 for private investigator cover.

Employee Liability Insurance

In the UK, if you employ other detectives or staff of any kind in a private investigation business, or any business for that matter, you must have employee liability insurance. This is in case the employee’s are injured or fall ill as a result of working for you.

Exact costs depends on a range of factors and it’s recommended you call an insurance broker and discuss your particular requirements.

What cover should I have for private investigations

For DIY personal investigation, where you are carrying out normal activities, you can possibly get by without liability insurance and may be covered under an existing house-hold insurance although you check. If you’re carrying out paid professioanl services, you should have both business liability and professional idemnity cover.
Picture: healingdream / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Unlike the glamours image portrayed by TV private detectives, private investigators rarely have police powers and can’t detain or hold suspects.

Finding People

Perhaps the most common perception of the work carried out by the private investigator is finding people.

Increasingly, especially when seaching missing person for debt collection agencies which can make up the majority of work for private detectives, the search involves searching public records and databases such as electorial rolls and setting up automated systems to identify when someone moves and appears on shared financial and service databases.

For traditional people searches it can often involve leg work, getting out and talking to people – especially when searching for missing people. Pounding the streets, calling people and just plain asking around.

Serving notices

Aside from looking for people, another common function of the PI is serving legal notices – delivering court notices on behalf of someone else.

See also: How do you find a missing person – little known online tricks of investigators
Picture:FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Everything Private Investigation Book: Master the Techniques of the Pros

I could rant on about how this book is packed with the tricks and techniques used by professional private investigators but instead I’ll borrow the words of the one of the reviewers on Amazon who summed this 300 plus page book up succintly but perfectly:

“This is a well written book for anyone keen to do their own amateur sleuthing or to become a private detective or crime writer”. I can’t The Everything Private Investigation Book: Master the Techniques of the Pros to Examine Evidence, Tracemaster the Te … Track Down People, and Discover the Truth the book enough recommended.

Serious Surveillance for the Private Investigator

Probably better suited to those aiming to carry out or performing professional private investigation, Serious Surveillance for the Private Investigator is a packed with useful information and although a little short it’s well worth reading.

Surveillance Tradecraft: The Professional’s Guide to Surveillance Training

If you’re really serious about finding someone, getting the inside track on what they’re upto or perhaps thinking of earning a living as private investigator this book has to be on your shopping list. Surveillance Tradecraft: The Professional’s Guide to Surveillance Training is the gospel from someone who’s done it all and it shows. A bit off putting at first but don’t let the glossy pages, this book is business – what more can I say than this book is read by read by those operating in the security sector including close protection officers, Police Officers and Military Intelligence Units.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating

Although written largely for an American audience, the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating has some interesting ideas and I found it useful not so much for the practical advice but rather the mind-set it conjures up.

Advanced Surveillance: The Complete Manual of Surveillance Training

From the same author as Surveillance Tradecraft: The Professional’s Guide to Surveillance Training (above), Advanced Surveillance: The Complete Manual of Surveillance Training is not just a great book on the subject but also relevant to the UK – where Peter Jenkins operates – unlike many books in the genre.

If you’re looking for someone or trying to trace a missing person you might also be interested in: online techniques how to find a missing person online techniques. If you’re thinking of becoming a UK private investigator or carrying out missing persons investigations you may be interested two articles I’ve written to help: what private investigation insurance should I have and do I need a license to be a private investigator.