Becnel is president of the Private Investigators Association of Virginia and has written several books on the topic based on his experience.
How’d you get into private investigation?
To be honest, I fell into it. I was a recent college graduate working for indigent defendants and getting paid through the court system. The pay rate was $10 per hour. So obviously, there was a dearth of investigators with any talent. But what excited me was that the stakes were high. You were working with people whose lives were on the line. But then I realized that to make any money in this business, you have to take on private clients.
Any perks of being an investigator in D.C.?
D.C. is the perfect place to be doing this. There is a culture of litigation here — we are certainly in high demand. I’m in the right place at the right time.
How has the industry changed in recent years?
It used to be that if you wanted to find somebody you’d have to go out and knock on doors. There’s so much information being bought and sold to investigators today. You can plug a name into a database and instantly get 10 leads. There’s a lot more work at your desk than the old days. I wouldn’t want to go back 10 years — not having these tools. For example, it’s so much harder to find somebody in London because of the privacy laws in Europe.
Can you apply your investigative skills to your daily life?
My wife would laugh — I fill a niche in that I’m sort of a human lie detector. I do behavior analysis of interviews for plaintiff attorneys. I tell them if I believe the story being told. In theory, that should work well in my private life with my young kids. But it’s hit-and-miss. There are too many distractions.
– Brian Hughes
