Quite a dilemma

Bucknutz247
Bucknutz247 Posts: 224 Member
edited December 19 in Chit-Chat
So a short background on me. I work a a Toyota dealership full time. A few years ago I got my private investigator license in ny. I really don’t use it a lot but I will from time to time do stuff for friends. So a friend of a friend had s feeling that her hubby was cheating on her. After I did some research and surveillance I found out that the other woman is literally my next door neighbor who is in the middle of a divorce. So do i rat her out? Or do I tell the friend of a friend I couldn’t find anything?
«1

Replies

  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    Isn't that part of being a P.I.? To give your client the information he/she requested if you find anything?

  • RomaineCalm
    RomaineCalm Posts: 3,972 Member
    Pour_Decisions wrote: »
    If the friend of a friend paid you to investigate then I'd tell her because that's what you were hired for. Otherwise I'd mind my own business.

    This.
  • iMago
    iMago Posts: 8,714 Member
    so did your friend pay you for the job? if she did then you're obligated to give her the info she paid for.

    even if she didn't, does it matter that it happens to be your next door neighbor? are you and the neighbor close at all?

    if not, then who cares. she made her own bed, it's not your fault if she sleeps poorly in it.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    Pour_Decisions wrote: »
    If the friend of a friend paid you to investigate then I'd tell her because that's what you were hired for. Otherwise I'd mind my own business.

    100% this
  • Bucknutz247
    Bucknutz247 Posts: 224 Member
    She did not pay me. Just a favor for a friend of a friend
  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
    cee134 wrote: »
    Isn't that part of being a P.I.? To give your client the information he/she requested if you find anything?

    :) this
  • The_Devil_In_Miss_Jones_
    The_Devil_In_Miss_Jones_ Posts: 2,069 Member
    Bucknutz247 wrote: »
    She did not pay me. Just a favor for a friend of a friend

    If you weren't paid to do it you shouldn't say anything. It's not your job, let them deal with their life on their own. Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors. Their life, their relationship, not your business.
  • iMago
    iMago Posts: 8,714 Member
    Bucknutz247 wrote: »
    She did not pay me. Just a favor for a friend of a friend

    i think it depends on you then.

    do you care more for your friend of a friend knowing the truth or do you care more about not hurting your neighbor any further
    you're the only one who can answer that.
  • Deadman_Diggingup
    Deadman_Diggingup Posts: 3,082 Member
    Pour_Decisions wrote: »
    Bucknutz247 wrote: »
    She did not pay me. Just a favor for a friend of a friend

    If she didn't actually hire you, then leave it alone. She already knows, believe me. If she has that feeling, she KNOWS. Let her confirm it on her own though.

    Agreed.
    If she paid you to do your job…. do your job.
    If not…. don't get involved.
  • Mean_Spice
    Mean_Spice Posts: 279 Member
    Dude, you sound like an intelligent person, in the future think more clearly about the tasks you take on yourself.

    If you told a friend of a friend that you would do the 'research and surveillance', you obligated yourself to release to her the results of the research and surveillance. Not doing so could place your honesty in doubt, jeopardize your status as a PI and bring into question past and future research and surveillance records and reports.

    Also, if there was no consideration taken (does not always have to be money), there may not be a verbal contract in place. As such you may not be obligated to release the information to her (do NOT give the friend of a friend false information). Another consideration is to inform or not to inform the neighbor what you found out, which brings into question, not only informing the neighbor but the neighbor's husband.

    Good luck.
  • slessofme
    slessofme Posts: 7,744 Member
    I couldn't be a PI, even as a hobby. I'm not nosy or interested enough in what others have going on that they don't clearly and plainly tell me about.

    I think the question is one of integrity. You said you would do something... So do it and maybe give more thought to the favors you hand out in the future so you don't potentially get tossed in the mix of your neighbors' mess. I'm guessing that's the bigger concern - retaliation from one of the neighbors, whether that's the husband or the wife.
  • Deadman_Diggingup
    Deadman_Diggingup Posts: 3,082 Member
    Bucknutz247 wrote: »
    I was contemplating a careers change at one point. But sometimes you have to stay where the $ is.

    He's not wrong.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • Bucknutz247
    Bucknutz247 Posts: 224 Member
    Thanks for everyone’s input
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    Bucknutz247 wrote: »
    I was contemplating a careers change at one point. But sometimes you have to stay where the $ is.

    I defiantly understand that. So did you get into car sales after switching and then decided you needed another switch or were you in it for a long time and said I need something different?

    I am also thinking of changing my career so any advice is appreciated. PI work sounds cool. Do you like it when you do it? How many jobs have you gotten to do? Is this the craziest thing that has happened or have there been other good ones like what happened here?
  • Mean_Spice
    Mean_Spice Posts: 279 Member
    I am thinking about changing my career path.....................retiring in 2 months :-)
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    Is a NY PI license a professional license, in the sense of binding you to professional standards of propinquity and rectitude?
  • Mean_Spice
    Mean_Spice Posts: 279 Member
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Is a NY PI license a professional license, in the sense of binding you to professional standards of propinquity and rectitude?

    Good question!
  • Mean_Spice
    Mean_Spice Posts: 279 Member
    It is a professional license. Basically says you cannot do PI work for compensation without the PI license. IF he has not received any compensation, he does not have to release the information. That would be the road I would take.

    NY PI Statue:
    "§70. Private Investigator license
    1. The Department of State shall have the power to issue licenses to private investigators. Nothing in this article shall prevent a private investigator licensed hereunder from performing the services of a watch, guard or patrol agency or bail enforcement agents as defined herein; however, a watch, guard or patrol agency or bail enforcement agents may not perform the services of a private investigator as defined herein.
    2. No person, firm, company, partnership, limited liability company or corporation shall engage in the business of private investigator, or advertise his, their or its business to be that of private investigator, notwithstanding the name or title used in describing such agency or notwithstanding the fact that other functions and services may also be performed for fee, hire or reward, without having first obtained from the Department of State a license so to do, as hereinafter provided, for each bureau, agency, sub-agency, office and branch office to be owned, conducted, managed or maintained by such person, firm, company, partnership, limited liability company or corporation for the conduct of such business.
    3. No person, firm, company, partnership, limited liability company or corporation shall engage in the business of furnishing or supplying for fee, hire or any consideration or reward information as to the personal character or activities of any person, firm, company, or corporation, society or association, or any person or group of persons, or as to the character or kind of the business and occupation of any person, firm, company or corporation, or own or conduct or maintain a bureau or agency for the above mentioned purposes, except exclusively as to the financial rating, standing, and credit responsibility of persons, firms, companies or corporations, or as to the personal habits and financial responsibility of applicants for insurance, indemnity bonds or commercial credit or of claimants under insurance policies, provided the business so exempted does not embrace other activities as described in §71 of this article, or except where such information is furnished or supplied by persons licensed under the provisions of §24-a or subdivision 3-b of §50 of the Workers’ Compensation Law or representing employers or groups of employers insured under the Workers’ Compensation Law in the State Insurance Fund, without having first obtained from the Department of State, as hereafter provided, a license so to do as private investigator for each such bureau or agency and for each and every sub-agency, office and branch office to be owned, conducted, managed or maintained by such persons, firm, limited liability company, partnership or corporation for the conduct of such business. Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to include the business of adjusters for insurance companies, nor public adjusters licensed by the superintendent of insurance under the Insurance Law of this state.
    4. Any person, firm, company, partnership or corporation who violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a class B misdemeanor."
This discussion has been closed.

Categories