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Demystifying private detectives' lives

The Young Reporter (2008, November), 41(02), pp. 6.
Author: Edith Tsang Hok-yee. Editor: Queena Mak Chee-leung.
Permanent URL - https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/bujspa/purl.php?&did=bujspa0015908

Edith Tsang Hok-yee

Chris Cheng stands on the opposite side of the road, leans against a lamppost and pretends to be talking on the phone. He is keeping a watchful eye on a man in a neat and tidy business suit. To complete his mission, the essential thing he needs to do is to look no more than an ordinary man.

They cannot be gorgeous or hideous. Men and women with remarkable appearances will never find it easy to enter the industry Mr Cheng belongs to.

Besides, the workers are not necessarily highly educated, yet being smart, patient, observant and quick-witted is the minimum requirement for the job.

Going by the name of Chris Cheng, the private detective trainer of The World of Detective Company, said that appearance is one of their employment criteria: they only hire people who do not stand out from the crowd, someone who can be a fly on the wall.

Mr Cheng pointed out that beautiful people leave impressions in people’s mind. “All we need is just Joe Bloggs, not anything spectacular,” he said. So private detectives would never dress up in chic clothes, and also not anything particularly old-fashioned.

Whilst having to look mundane, they sacrifice more than normal people do, like working on public holidays from time to time.

“Prime time for investigation bureaus include Valentine’s Day, Christmas and other long vacations. Workload could be very heavy during those days,” said Mr Cheng.

“The industry is growing. More and more people use our service. And I am pretty sure it will continue to rise,” said the director of The World of Detective Company whose false name is Matt Chan.

Recently, there are more and more investigation bureaus established in Hong Kong. Over 20 investigation bureaus provide similar services, including checking marriage and family backgrounds, finding proofs of affairs, tracing activities of children and employees and collecting evidence of crimes.

“Some of the evidence we found have been brought to the court,” Mr Chan explained that the court will often put the collected evidence into consideration as tracing is legal in Hong Kong.

“We charge $20,000 for each operation with a team of three to four private investigators, and we provide photos, videos and a detailed written report after the investigation is done,” he said.

“Collecting evidence of adultery and insurance fraud investigation are the most popular services in our investigation bureau,” he said.

And it is the same case in another company, the Hong Kong United Investigation Group.

“Customers rely on us because we don’t know each other. Things are much easier as they don’t need to worry about their reputations. They can tell us everything without holding back,” Jenny Kwan, the customer service manager of the group, said. She went on to point out that people often cover their scandals in an effort to save face.

To many people, $20,000 can be spent in many other ways, but a lot of them opt to spend this sum of money on letting these “detectives” investigate their privacies. “Our clients’ ages range from 20 to 80. The oldest man who came even needed a hand just to stagger into the office,” Ms Kwan said.

In the past, most of the private detectives enter the industry through referral by veterans. Nowadays, many investigation bureaus make recruitment open to public. Ms Kwan said that they have posted employment advertisements in newspapers to recruit new blood.

Both Ms Kwan and Mr Cheng expressed that their companies provide one-month training to new employees.

“We try to crank up their patience, refine their reflexes and also the use of devices,” Mr Cheng said. To Ms Kwan, the most important quality of being a detective is to be painstaking.

The three private detectives mentioned admit that they have become detached to their clients’ emotions through the many years of work.

“We often see our clients cry when they watch the video we recorded. No matter the client is male or female,” he said that he started to be insensitive towards betrayal.

“Men’s heart changes through time,” Mr Cheng expressed. “But everything happens with reasons,” he added, finally showing a glimpse of detective-like cryptic smile.

Edited by Queena Mak Chee-leung

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