Well, in truth, since the beginning of time there have always been spies, especially when you look at wars that have been fought and won purely by having the right information, dating back to the battles of ancient Egypt, Rome, Germania, Persia, Philistia and Babylon.
Whenever wars are planned, the information needed to help an opposing army to win the battle, there have spies given the task of risking their lives to gather essential information, generally at a price!
Infidelity and cheating goes just as far back in human history, the only difference today being the fact that today a private investigator has to be licensed to investigate a case and provide reliable evidence. Back in the bad old days, it was more than likely that the procurer of the evidence would also become executioner!
Of course, none of these could be considered private investigators in the true sense of the word, but, information is information and sometimes the only way to get it back then was to spy!
Where did profession begin?
The Bow Street Runners
Set up in 1749, under the auspices of the Bow Street Runners, the first professional police force was established in London, which by 1839 would become the Metropolitan Police, as they are known today!
Although not a recognised private investigations firm this was to be the beginning of a semblance of order in the field of private investigators.
French (CID), the Sûreté Nationale
Over the pond in France, came The Sûreté Nationale, the French (CID), which was founded in 1809, which was founded by the first officially recognised private investigator, Eugène François Vidocq.
This is actually a man who started out on the wrong side of the law, gaining experience by doing everything against the law that he would ultimately use to become a top criminal investigator!
Vidocq’s experience as a criminal turned him into one of the first and finest criminalists, which ultimately made him the founding father of Private Investigators. He also founded Le bureau des Renseignements (the office of information), which was both a detective agency and a private police force, depending on the needs at the time.
The Pinkerton’s
Founded by Alan Pinkerton, a Scotsman who immigrated to the US to in 1842, Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency was born. This led to Pinkerton becoming the first official police detective in Chicago in 1850. Pinkerton found out about a plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, after which he founded the start of the US Secret Service during the Civil War.
The world of private investigators today
Today, private investigators are professionals who have to be licensed, registered professionals in order to carry out their tradecraft according to a high standard of ethics, remaining well within the law in order to provide clients the confidence that they’re dealing with highly trained, competent professionals.
The body that regulates the industry in South Africa is the PSiRA, whose objective is to regulate the private security industry in the interests of the public and the industry itself.
As registered, licensed private investigators, when you hire an investigator from King Investigators in South Africa you’ll find that you’re dealing with a full service investigative firm. This gives this gives them the experience that allows them to do more than just one type of investigation.
Contact King Investigators in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town if you want the quality investigative services of a trusted private investigator on your side, to produce high value evidence that’ll stand the test in any court case!