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The French PI Revolution

8 September 2021

The French Private Investigator Revolution



Private Investigators are legally permitted to investigate in France for civil, commercial and administration. Not only this but at the conclusion of proceedings in France you can claim the costs of the private investigator as part of normal costs recovery. 

Due to several reforms of the French Criminal Procedure in 1998, Private Investigator were officially regnosied as being able to assist Lawyer in France.

mxaimilien jazani, pi

The man we have to thank for these provisions in pictured left, Maximilien Jazani. Originally joining in 1997 the Association of Business Lawyers and then appointed as President of the Human Rights Comission of the Association, at the time, now working in other roles. He successfully petitioned for in the 4th amendment to the code a change which allowed Lawyers to legally utilise Private Investigators.


Resulting in the use of PI's in the French legal system officially.

If only we took a hint from the French legislators and starting regulating Private Investigators in the UK, we may have a more professional, efficient system in place.



Legislation and penal code changes like these are a pivotal part of how we can operate legally as Private Investigators. Unfortunately in the UK we still lack basic provision and there has been a lack of useful civil tort cases for where the law stands in a lot of situation. As such we continue on in the hopes of having our own Maximilien, hopefully soon.

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A common problem all agents encounter, especially so in cities is the problem of parking. A good parking location for a vehicle is essential in ensuring line of sight (LOS) and gathering recordings behind tint or disguised. Now you may be thinking, you would solve this problem through foot surveillance. This isn't always helpful, residential areas may not have many people on foot nearby, there may be nowhere to sit or bled in and a host of other reasons may want your bottom firmly planted in a car seat for this one. So you arrive or even better, as part of a recce (reconnaissance) or planning, you notice a parking problem. I find it helpful to break up the different problems into categories, I will list the types of scenarios. 2 Primary types of areas Urban - City or Town Rural - Villages, farms, greenery or forests Primary types of problems No LOS - Cannot observe the property or points of egress LOS but too distant - Cannot record of observe with any accuracy or with the level of responsiveness needed LOS but blocked - Your vision is obstructed temporarily Too close - The risk of exposure is too high and no places further away are available Primary causes of problems Temporary blockage by vehicle - A behemoth has just parked in your LOS Double yellow lines - No parking here Single yellow lines - Restricted at certain times, they will always be the times you need to be their All spaces are in use - The most frequent issue Moved too many times already - You've been moving around frequently and are reaching a point where further movement between spaces will compromise the surveillance A mixture - A mix of the above It is incredibly frustrating when your turn up to perform your surveillance and have nowhere to park. You know the client will not be happy and your stuck in a tough spot. Parking for private investigators is an essential part of the work and for some cases is strictly required to ensure good results.
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One of the most frequently asked questions is "Can a private investigator access my Instagram in the UK?". Accessing a Facebook account through a login and password procedure without permission from the account owner is clear. No, we cannot. A Facebook account is accessed through a login and password, which if accessed by a private investigator would be ILLEGAL under UK law. However, there are a few things you should bear in mind. Social media is by nature open, with the ability to share your most intimate moments whenever and wherever you are. However, if you are the subject of an investigation, skilled private investigators will use the inherent openness of this data to their advantage. The question of whether a private investigator can access your account through a login and password procedure is clear. No, we cannot. An Instagram account is accessed through a login and password, which if accessed by a private investigator would be ILLEGAL under UK law. At least without the account owners permission, which is highly unlikely to be granted if they are the subject of the investigation. However, a private investigator has many ways to access media posted a non-private Instagram account such as pictures, videos, stories, comments, followers, followers and more. To protect yourself, you may want to pay closer attention to what you post, while configuring your account settings for suitable privacy. Skilled investigators can take information from social media to pivot and find further details about the subject. This can be information from photographs, hashtags, statements, followers and other information. Utilising this effectively is what separates good investigators from great investigators as these types of profiles reveal a lot more then it seems on the face of it. You can see our video for an example of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) which is commonly used by UK private investigators. Instagram is one small part of OSINT and can be critical in gaining further insights into the persons history, behaviour, friendship groups, finances, lifestyles and more. Operant Investigators are a professional UK investigation service who utilise Instagram and open source intelligence in our investigations for our clients.
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