Out of obscurity: The contemporary private investigator in Australia

DOI10.1177/1461355720931887
Published date01 September 2020
AuthorMichael King
Date01 September 2020
Subject MatterArticles
Article
Out of obscurity: The contemporary
private investigator in Australia
Michael King
School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Abstract
The business of private investigation has grown significantly in the past two decades. No longer can private investigating be
considered an obscure form of private policing. Yet, despite the recent growth of interest in private policing, little research
has been conducted on the servicesprovided by private investigators. This articlepresents the results of an analysisof 33 in-
depth interviews with Australian private investigators in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. The article discusses
their contemporary role in the context of providing justice, public policing and future regulatory challenges. The article
extends the limited research on the services private investigators provide, including corporate fraud and financial
investigations, risk advisory, and cyber and misconduct investigations. It identifies their backgrounds and education, and
describes theirclients. The study found that, contrary to expectations, to meet thesenew services, private investigatorsare
now highly qualified academically and professionally. It was found that regulatory gaps have been created in the licensing of
contemporary private investigators, and the use of private investigators allows clients to sidestep the justice system.
Keywords
Fraud, policing, private investigation, private police, white-collar crime
Submitted 17 Sep 2019, Revise received 24 Apr 2020, accepted 05 May 2020
Introduction
Private policinghas been the subject of debate in the United
Kingdom (UK), Europe, the United States (USA) and Aus-
tralia, based on the contribution to policing. This aspect of
policing research has received significant and sustained
research over the past four decades as reflected in the large
body of research that has been produced (Button and John-
ston, 2012; Button and Wakefield, 2018; Draper, 1978;
Jones and Newburn, 1998; Prenzler et al., 2008; Shearing
and Stenning, 1981, 1983, 1987; South, 1988). Contrary to
popular belief, private policing is not limited to uniformed
security guards protecting property, an area that has occu-
pied much of the current research. A sophisticated investi-
gative functionhas developed in private policing in response
to the need to protect clients from fraud and other forms of
corporate crime. The most significant research on private
investigations is now dated (see Ericson et al., 2003; Gill
and Hart, 1996, 1997a, 1997b; Prenzler, 2001; Prenzler and
King, 2002); howe ver, since the 1990s ,p rivate investigation
work and the industryhave grown significantly.Research on
this topic remainsimportant because knowledge on the types
of services private investigators provide is still an ‘obscure
from of private policing’ (Gill and Hart, 1997b). Early
researchers lamented that private investigators had never
been subject to detailed and objective scrutiny; they were
conspicuously absent from research (Gill and Hart, 1996).
Despite this, private investigatorsconstitute an essential ele-
ment of civil and criminal justice systems (Prenzler, 2001).
This article focuses on the contemporary contribution to
policing of private investigators in Australia. This is impor-
tant because the observations made by Prenzler (2001),
although significant, are dated, and research on Australian
private investigators has remained scarce since then.
Corresponding author:
Michael King, School of Justice, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of
Technology, Level 4, C Block Gardens Point, 2 George Street, Brisbane,
QLD 4000, Australia.
Email: m25.king@hdr.qut.edu.au
International Journalof
Police Science & Management
2020, Vol. 22(3) 285–296
ªThe Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1461355720931887
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