Important things you should know before enlisting the services of a Private Investigator/Private Investigation company.

Like any industry, the private investigation has had  bad apples. To ensure that you have selected an appropriately licensed and accredited Private Investigator/Investigation company, always insist upon sighting their credentials such as a current Private Inquiry Agents License/Corporate Private Inquiry Agents License (in the case of a company), and competency accreditation from a recognised training organisation (R.T.0.).

Membership of a Government recognised industry body such as the Institute of Mercantile Agents (I.M.A.), The Institute of Security Executives (ISE) and world investigation organisations like The World Association Of Detectives (WAD) or World Investigators Network (WIN) is preferable. All members of these organisations are vetted and considered to have high ethical and competency standards.

Be wary of any Private Investigator/Investigation company who insists on calling upon you to collect money and who insists upon large cash payments and does not advertise their physical address. A post office box or mobile telephone number alone will not allow you to have recourse against unscrupulous operators. Some private investigators advertise the address of an accountancy practice and not the physical address of their business. This can be because they don't have a business address or because they don't want you to know where they are when you make a complaint or request your funds to be returned. Some private investigators operate out of serviced offices and use them simply as an answer service and never attend this address at all. Its always best to call upon the address of the investigator you are dealing with, this way you get the measure of the company you wish to engage and at least you can be certain that you are dealing with someone you can identify and hopefully call upon again if you need to. Professional private investigators refer to these operators as P.O.Box P.I.'s and Garage Gumshoes. They are to be avoided at all costs.

Always insist upon a receipt with the name and address of the organisation and the person who you give the money to, and make sure the receipt doesn't say "Deposit non Refundable" and where ever possible a written agreement setting out the charges of the private investigator and a budget. Make sure that a detailed report of findings and the investigators activities is included in any contract.

If private investigators tell you they can get access to criminal histories, hospital or medical records, Centrelink records, births deaths and marriages records, taxation records or bank records, dont give them any money. These records are not available to anyone except by those very departments and via court order. They will take your money and tell you lies and never provide the proof.
Lyonswood Investigations and Forensic Group, it's principals and it's operatives all hold the appropriate licences. The management of Lyonswood Investigations and Forensic Group are competency accredited (Certificate IV from the Canberra Institute of Technology) and are members of the Institute of Mercantile Agents (I.M.A). They also hold an Advanced Diploma in Security (Risk Management).

Here are some links to assist you to identify those  private investigation companies already published and exposed for their less than desirable practices. There are also alleged associations that advertise in the yellow pages and when you call these alleged associations they only recommend companies or businesses that they themselves are associated with. They proport to provide lists of qualified investigators but only direct you to their own businesses. This can hardly be a recommendation without a vested interest. Look at the addresses of the associations and some of the major advertisers and you will see similarities regarding locations. There are only a few industry representative bodies that are recognised by Government and who are considered truly representative of the the private investigation industry. The Department of Fair Trading can assist you here.

Be aware that the name of a private investigation company does not indicate the name of the individual behind that company name. If you have doubt about who is running the business ask the principal of that business to provide their  master private inquiry agents license details. By law, any private investigator doing business in the investigation industry on behalf of a potentail client must provide this license. This will then give you the name of the person ruunning that business so that you can Google that name and learn the truth.

http://www.investigateway.com

If in doubt about the integrity of the private investigator individual or private investigation company you are dealing with, contact the Department of Fair Trading on (02) 133 220 or the New South Wales Police Department C.A.P.I. Registry on 1300 362 001.

You should report all unethical or improper conduct on the part of a licensed private inquiry agent (Private Investigator) . The police are there to serve you.

The Commercial Agents and Private Inquiry Agents Act and the Security Industries Act makes provision for penalties against investigators who breach the Acts.