A sister was desperate to find a missing family member. When the private investigator took the call one of the first things the sister said was, “We know his social security number and date of birth but we’ve been unable to find him. Someone like you should have no problem.” Her brother had disappeared a couple of years prior. He actually moved away on his own without telling anyone. The family was genuinely concerned for his well-being.
Typically, after receiving such a call, exploratory questioning begins. We may perform some cursory work just to see how difficult the task will be. The brother left no forwarding address. An old cell phone was no longer activated. His driver’s license had expired and he had no registered vehicles in his name. He was retired and didn’t participate in social media. There was no record of his death, no online presence and no other relatives. Law enforcement had taken a report but would not actively search for him. In similar cases, the persons information is entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) System. Should a law enforcement officer come into contact with the person, an inquiry of their welfare would be made. The person would be notified that they were reported missing, etc.
It should be noted that the family was out of state but called a Georgia private investigator for assistance. Naturally, the question is why? How and why did the family believe an agency in Georgia could assist them? “He always wanted to live in the north Georgia mountains. It’s a place he visited as a boy,” the sister said. There was no indication he had travelled to Georgia; it was simply a place they thought of. How would he have gotten to Georgia, the investigator asked? Would he have travelled by plane, bus or train? The family said they doubted it because he didn’t like people, avoided crowds and wouldn’t have wanted to sit by anyone. Remember, the sister believes locating her brother ‘should be no problem.’
More questioning (over an hour has passed at this point), reveals the brother’s only source of income was money he had when he left and a monthly social security check. The investigator advised them that with so little to go on, he didn’t feel comfortable taking on the matter. A long silence was interrupted with the sister replying, “You came highly recommended, I thought you had access to databases?”
In the world of providing skip tracing services or location services; the expectations of the public are severely jaded by television and movies. It portrays that in milliseconds a flashing red light will appear on a map of anyone in the world. Further, a database must exist that answers all subject matters with just a few clicks.
An additive to the magic database belief, is that private investigative services are a commodity and should have little rise in costs. After all, if you have the database, you simply enter in the information and out pops the answer. So, we educate the public. Think of an auto mechanic whose rates are around $85.00 to $100.00 per hour (more in some areas). The public will normally accept those rates. We pose this comparatively and sometimes the light bulb will go off. Not to mention in this matter, the family believes we can convince the Social Security Administration to give us the address of where the brother’s check is going. If not, isn’t there a database for that?
While private investigators have access to databases it’s normally just publicly available information that is aggregated. They are simply starting points. What is also difficult to communicate, is that under most circumstances it’s not recommended we share the missing person’s address, if located. We normally need their consent. Now we’re really talking confusion on the part of those looking for their missing loved ones. In most cases the missing person will agree, although not necessarily immediately, to either share their location or contact the family on their own terms. In some cases, we’ll hand our phone over to the missing person once found and connect the estranged family members.
The missing brother was eventually located by our efforts but only after our search had stopped. It was the result of questioning, calling, and laying bread crumbs along the way, that later someone who kept our information called. He had left his family because he was tired of them. Yes, he did want to live in the mountains. He floated in and out of campgrounds and roadside motels. Some people just want to be left alone. The family was grateful and post-educated about our services. More importantly, they understood there is no magic database.