Investigative Resources WorldwideION maintains information on over 33,000 investigative agencies throughout
world. The majority of these are part time agencies operated by people with good credentials, skills and abilities. They are capable and available but being very small lack resources for far reaching marketing. Although they might be best resource for a given job, they are difficult for clients to locate when needed. The actual ION Network of investigators we know most about and to whom we refer 85% of cases includes over 500 members in 37 countries. Being full time is not a criteria for belonging to ION's Network but, operating in a professional manner with integrity is at top of list. The scope of ION's Resource Line was expanded from nationwide to worldwide in 1996 and currently, 10% of more than 300 referrals made each month are to investigators outside U.S.
Private investigation does not delegate well. The majority of investigation agencies are small. Many have only one or two investigators. There are almost as many models for a private investigation business as there are full time agencies. The private investigation agencies around world have more things unique about them than they do things in common. This makes selecting a foreign local investigator you have confidence in difficult.
With each international referral, we learn more about available resources in other countries and how their rules, regulations and customs differ from ours. In certain countries, for example, getting something done in certain months can be an extra problem because nearly all businesses in country close down for entire month and everyone goes on holiday. Countries with certain religious cultures have holidays that sometimes last for days. Some of what we consider public records in U.S. are not only non public in other countries but illegal to obtain without proper authorization. The practice of payments to government officials known by several names such as: "grease", baksheesh or la mordida, must be dealt with. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act apparently does not prohibit all "bribe" type payments. According to Phoenix international trade attorney, Frank G. Long, there is an exception that allows payments, gifts or promises to be made for "facilitating or expediting" any "routine government action" whether "by a foreign official, political party or party official."
In U.S. cost of investigation ranges from $35.00 an hour with no minimum to over $100.00 an hour. Strong competitive pressures in U.S. keep cost of investigation low compared to other professions. Internationally, cost of using an investigator is generally higher than in U.S. Even in many countries where wages and earnings are low by American standards, investigation costs more.
In years past, clients in countries where private investigation is common, have occasionally needed investigative services in one of countries where private investigation is not common. They have called associates and asked around until they came up with name of an investigator in target country or in an adjoining country. Much like in U.S, when they tried to make contact with local investigators phone numbers were frequently disconnected. If needed work was crucial, price became a non-factor in deciding whether or not to hire whatever investigator could be found who was available to do work. The client ended up hiring an investigator from U.S. or another location almost as remote from work. The cost of sending someone from another country is very high. It is made even higher because non local investigators usually don't have local knowledge or connections to avoid lost time.
Agencies received cases that under domestic circumstances would have earned hundreds of dollars. When worked internationally, equivalent cases earned thousands. Sensing big money, they sent investigators to set up satellite offices in foreign locations. Establishing a foreign national in an office is expensive so consequently, new offices did not reduce high cost of investigations in countries they were in. High fees for non domestic investigations have discouraged clients from investigating many things that should be investigated, and volume to support remote offices usually failed to develop. With a high failure rate of foreign outpost offices and clients reluctance to commit high fees for routine cases, investigation facilities have developed slowly in most non western countries. The problem of locating a competent local investigator in a remote place for a once in a lifetime need had not changed much until ION expanded Resource Line to Worldwide. Fees for international investigations that have traditionally been very high are showing signs of becoming more competitive.
