The Essential Guide to Hiring a Private Detective for Effective Private Investigations

Barefoot Professional Investigations is known throughout North Carolina and neighboring states for our integrity and professionalism. Throughout our more than 30 years of supporting clients on both sides of the courtroom aisle, we’ve gained our reputation because our investigators remain focused on tracking down the facts of the case and arriving at the truth. Our job is to provide our clients with evidence and information that supports their case in a factual and honest way, as even one piece of false evidence can negate an entire court proceeding.   

Our legal system is built around a fairly well-known maxim – a defendant is innocent unless proven guilty. Due to the structure of how a court hearing is conducted, much of the burden of proof lies on the plaintiff to present evidence and then support that evidence through the use of various types of witnesses. The defense is generally either focused on presenting its own evidence that contradicts that of the plaintiff or witnesses that do the same. In both cases, one of the most effective tactics deployed is to show a witness to be either lying or incorrect, generally leading to the testimony of that witness being removed from the record and disregarded by the judge or jury. In order to ensure this does not happen, it’s necessary to vet witnesses, and law firms or the parties on both sides will secure the services of a private investigator to perform background checks and question witnesses. 

Witnesses will not always want to be completely honest about their background, often due to a criminal past of their own. While a disclosed criminal record won’t completely negate a witness’ testimony, an undisclosed criminal past exposed during redirect questioning by opposing counsel comes across as something intentionally hidden. That’s why our firm performs extensive background checks into not only criminal history, but also financial background, civil history, and even a review of the witness’ social media and online behavior. The goal in our background check process is to ensure we know as much, if not more, about the witness than they themselves know. Our goal is to identify witnesses who, regardless of past events, can provide credible accounts during testimony. 

In addition to standard background checks, our investigative efforts can go as far as witness surveillance and computer forensics services in order to divulge current concerns that might not show up in an extensive background check. 

Depending upon the type of court case, there’s a chance that expert witnesses will be a stronger resource than friends, family, and coworkers familiar with the events at hand. This is true in situations where there might be extensive amounts of technical evidence, complicated forensics, or situations where experts in a given field are useful in negating the opposing counsel’s evidence. 

When our team gets hired by a legal team to assist in witness vetting, our primary concern is ensuring the witnesses are reliable and prepared by the time they reach the stand. Whether a standard witness or one providing expert testimony, we ensure our clients will not be surprised or blindsided while the witness is on the stand. To learn more about how we support legal clients, or to schedule a meeting, reach out to our offices in Charlotte directly.

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