do cops need a warrant to get into a P.I.'s files or get info on his clients?

I know private investigators that share readily with the police to private investigators who maintain no files and no memory. So the question is really about what does your story need?

Absent licensing requirements, a private investigator is subject to the same Constitutional rules that everybody else is. Therefore, a warrant is required unless the private investigator wants to turn it over to the police.

best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

It would be same as the police needing a warrant on anyone else's files. PIs are private citizens.

Of course they do, unless the PI voluntarily shares the info. Same rules apply as when the police want to see any individual's stuff.

In Florida, the prosecutor is going to want the warrant to preclude any issues with the court case. But, like others say, a private citizen is free to release anything they wish to the police. The twp PIs I know best are ex police officers and maintain strong ties to the law enforcement community. It's how they get their job done, and both have worked for the District Attorney's office on occasion and both get referrals from the police or sheriff's employees. Unless there is a confidentiality agreement, common in some cases like industrial espionage with trade secrets, they will gladly share information.

Now, every PI I know, Florida or elsewhere, will call the police if they believe a crime is imminent, especially a crime against a person.

Getting a standard warrant in Florida is usually an hour or two, unless the grounds for the warrant are shaky.

Jeff

benbenberi said:

Of course they do, unless the PI voluntarily shares the info. Same rules apply as when the police want to see any individual's stuff.

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This.

However, I would add that some PIs may not be free to share their client's info with the police, if there is some kind of contract between the PI and the client addressing privacy.

I would never call the police about a crime in progress unless it were a violent crime. That's not my job. And ex-cop PIs are the worst PIs.

As far as ex-cops being bad private investigators, you have to know when to use them. They're good at records searches, security clearances, and sometimes missing persons. They're going to be less useful if the search is going to involve questionable or definitely illegal acts. There are some communities that don't deal well with police officers.

Privacy of a private investigators' files are initially based upon the agreement between the private investigator and the client. However, even with such an agreement, if the police show up with a valid search warrant, the private investigator will have to turn over the records. This is why some private investigators maintain no records. They'll complete the investigation, write a report, and then delete everything off the computer and destroy all paperwork. They can't be forced to turn over what they don't have, and their memories are terrible.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

JHFC said:

I would never call the police about a crime in progress unless it were a violent crime. That's not my job. And ex-cop PIs are the worst PIs.

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Not a cop, not a PI, don't know any PI's, but I am curious what you base this opinion on.

Cops make bad PIs because cops have everything handed to them. So when they aren't cops anymore, they don't know how to function in the sometimes think-out-side-the-box ways PIs have to operate. Notice the guy above said that the ex-cops he knows stay in touch with the LE community, and that's "how they get their job done."

There's probably a more efficient way to do half the things they are doing, but they don't know how or don't care to know how.

So how does this change if the PI is hired by an attorney? Where and how does attorney client privilege kick in in regards to the PI's records?

It's under the work product rule and not attorney/client privilege. The attorney is protected from having to show it to opposing counsel pursuant to the work product rule. This doesn't do anything for the attorney with the police. I suppose you could argue the subpoena in court, but no privilege would apply. You might be able to get it sealed for only police and the court to know what's in it.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

JHFC said:

Cops make bad PIs because cops have everything handed to them. So when they aren't cops anymore, they don't know how to function in the sometimes think-out-side-the-box ways PIs have to operate. Notice the guy above said that the ex-cops he knows stay in touch with the LE community, and that's "how they get their job done."

There's probably a more efficient way to do half the things they are doing, but they don't know how or don't care to know how.

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Some of it may have to do with what information is admissible in court, if the case were pertaining to an insurance claim or fraud or business dealings. I know from my time in law enforcement there were all sorts of fun ways to get information, but nothing so creative that could reliably be put in front of a judge and ensure prosecution. So it depends what the client wants as an end result. If you were dealing with business, sometimes they need probity in their info sources. :-/

And I don't mean to imply that there's anything wrong with cops. Just that they can kind of be the blowtorch-when-you-need-a-match types.