What does a private investigator do?
A private investigator investigates facts and builds timelines, conducts surveillance, locates people, performs background investigations and due diligence, provides investigative support in civil litigation, conducts digital investigations and open source intelligence collection, conducts fraud and financial investigations, as well as performs security consulting and risk management.
Some PI firms, like ours, also provide services such as: executive protection, intelligence collection and analysis, criminal justice consulting, corporate security, reputational defense, and retail loss prevention services.
What does a legal investigator do?
A legal investigator is a private investigator whose work is specifically tailored towards supporting legal cases by finding facts, locating people, interviewing witnesses, and preserving evidence in a way that’s usable in court.
What does an investigation typically cost?
The cost of an investigation varies depending on client objectives, requested services, resources allocated, expenses, and a number of other factors.
Typically, you can expect to pay anywhere from $75 per investigator per hour to over $300 per investigator per hour for more specialized services.
What kinds of cases do you take, and what cases do you not take?
Cascadia Risk Management takes a wide variety of case types including: supporting civil litigation and criminal defense, insurance and workers compensation cases, corporate security cases, and so much more. You can review a much larger list of the types of cases we take on our services page. We do not typically take infidelity cases unless the case involves factors of safety, legal exposure, or financial risk. You can read why here.
How do I know if hiring a private investigator is the right move for my situation?
There are many reasons people consider hiring a private investigator. If you're already considering hiring a P.I, the next step would be to request a free consultation. During the consultation, we can answer any questions you might have and determine if hiring a private investigator is the right option for you. While we want your business, we also want your satisfaction. If a private investigator isn't right for you, we are happy to suggest alternative methods of resolving your situation even if that isn't by hiring us!
What information should I have ready before our first call?
There are two things you should absolutely have in mind before you even get on the phone with us for a consultation:
1. Your goals and objectives (in one sentence: what you want proven, found, or documented)
2. What "success" looks like (and what you'll do with the information: court, HR decisions, personal life decisions, insurance determination, etc)
During your consultation, we'll tell you what information you should provide us to help us best serve you if you choose to hire us.
Can you work my case if I’m out of Washington State (or the subject is out of the state)?
Cascadia Risk Management investigators are licensed in Washington State. We are willing to conduct investigations (or portions of an investigation) in other states when legally permitted to do so. We are also happy to subcontract with other licensed private investigators if a portion of an investigation involves out-of-state work when appropriate.
What does onboarding look like?
Typically, you'll contact us to complete a free consultation. If you choose to hire us, you'll then fill out an intake form which will guide you through the rest of the process of providing us with the preliminary information required for us to initiate your investigation.
What laws limit what a PI can do (and what clients sometimes mistakenly ask for)?
There are multiple federal and state laws which relate to the permitted and prohibited conduct of private investigators. A private investigator can:
Observe from lawful locations, document facts, take photos/video where legal, conduct interviews, run lawful records checks, and compile evidence.
A private investigator cannot:
Record private conversations without consent, hack, trespass, impersonate, illegally track, or do anything that looks like harassment/stalking.
Can you help with infidelity / family law support?
Infidelity alone, typically no. Here's why.
However, we do support family law cases such as child custody cases.
Do you do missing persons / locate investigations?
Yes!
Do you do workplace investigations (harassment, misconduct, policy violations)?
Yes! Our principal investigator is extremely experienced in corporate security, insider threat, human resources, and asset protection investigations.
Do you do background investigations for hiring or due diligence?
Yes!
Do you investigate fraud (insurance, workers’ comp, disability, theft)?
Yes!
Do you do digital investigations / OSINT, and what does that include?
Yes! This includes compiling data from a wide variety of public records providers, social media, the the dark web, and more. Cascadia Risk Management also, as a matter of practice, conducts automated monitoring of a wide range of "high risk" discussion groups, forums, and secure chats, data from which supports our OSINT investigations.
Are you licensed and insured, and can you provide proof?
Yes. We are a licensed private investigations agency in the state of Washington under UBI# 606034570-001-0001. WA State requires us to be bonded as a condition of licensing. We are happy to show clients any licensing and insurance documents they wish to review.