Mike Aldridge is successful when he does his job without being seen.

Sometimes the private investigator follows people’s vehicles. Other times he watches someone’s house from a nearby field. Still other times he sets up video surveillance or puts tracking devices on family cars.

“Our philosophy is, we show up and if you don’t know we’re there, then we did our job,” said Mr. Aldridge, president of Metro Service Agency, which specializes in investigating corporate fraud and worker’s compensation claims.

The nation’s private investigator and detective profession is expected to grow to 61,000 employees by 2016, an 18 percent increase from the 52,000 employed in 2006, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That increase — attributed to growing concerns about security, litigation and identity theft — represents a growth faster than the average of all professions nationwide, according to the bureau.

The median salary for the profession is $33,750, according to the bureau.

At least a dozen private investigation and detection agencies offer services in the Chattanooga area, according to the Yellow Pages. Many private investigators in this area provide services for clients, businesses or attorneys, and specialize in insurance, corporate and mortgage fraud, spousal infidelity and child custody cases. Those who are licensed are monitored by the state Private Investigation and Polygraph Commission.

The Better Business Bureau in Chattanooga has received very few complaints about private investigators, said Gidget Knight, vice president of operations.

“To me, that’s not one of the high-risk type businesses,” she said. “I think when you sit down with private investigators, they line up what they’re going to do and how they’re going to do it and this is their fee.”

What they do

Using surveillance, the Internet and the latest technological devices, investigators help companies discover who’s lying about injuries while receiving workman’s compensation, spouses determine if their significant other is cheating, and divorced parents uncover child abuse by the other parent.

“You get these people that are supposed to be hurt and they aren’t, supposed to have bad backs and you catch them in the supermarket shopping or chopping wood behind their house,” said Ric Cooper, owner of A-1 Action Investigations.

But investigating claims has gotten more difficult, he said, especially after Sept. 11, 2001, because the government began passing legislation to restrict who can get certain types of information. Investigators used to be able to call a financial institution and impersonate someone else to receive confidential information — called pretexting — but doing so now is a federal crime, Mr. Cooper said.

The laws aid privacy and help oust crooked investigators, but they make it harder to find information that once was readily available, said Charles Lombardi, president of Special Operations Group, Inc., the parent organization of I Spy Investigations.

“It’s a shame, really, for the clients, because that kind of information, I’ve seen that break a case wide open,” he said.

Mr. Aldridge said he tries to determine a client’s intent before accepting his or her case. He refuses to take a case that involves breaking the law or one that will result in the client doing something illegal with the information they gain, he says.

“You have to act legally with the information we give you,” he said. “You don’t burn down the mistress’ house.”

However, mishaps occur, he said. He once was hired by a woman who wanted to know if her husband was cheating on her. She told Mr. Aldridge the out-of-state hotel at which he was staying. Mr. Aldridge tracked the man and his lover to the hotel and watched them from the hotel roof, he said.

About 5 a.m., Mr. Aldridge got a call from the wife, who asked what he’d discovered and if the husband was at the hotel with the other woman. When he replied yes, the wife, who was sitting in the hotel lobby, got two hot cops of coffee, told the front desk her last name and said she’d forgotten her key in the room. Upon obtaining a key and entering the room, she poured both cups of coffee on the mistress, according to Mr. Aldridge.

Legal databases allow access to licensed investigators to find information — everything from phone numbers to addresses and magazine subscriptions. Some of the work can be done by anyone and involves visiting courthouses, looking up criminal histories and running tag numbers to see who owns what vehicle, said Seth Bryant, owner of CSI Confidential Surveillance Investigations.

Under state law, tracking devices are allowed only on vehicles if both spouses own the vehicle and one asks that the device be placed there, he said.

“You’re not wanting to be seen, you’re wanting to blend in wherever you’re at,” Mr. Bryant said. “We don’t trespass on private property, no wire taps, no peeking into bedroom windows.”

Beyond police work

Private investigators typically have police or military experience or security work on their resumes, having honed their detective skills for years before setting up an agency.

“I believe that it gets in your blood, just like anything else,” Mr. Aldridge said. “It’s not a job, it’s a personality.”

Former Chattanooga police officer Lawrence Goodine recently began offering his services as a private investigator, though he says he works mostly for attorneys and business has been slow.

“Anything that deals with law enforcement is intriguing,” he said, explaining why he got into the business.

Mr. Lombardi said much of the investigative work deals with civil matters, something not often investigated by police.

“We would be useful in gathering evidence or gathering information prior to an allegation of some criminal act,” he said. “If it’s not obvious, the police really aren’t going to be able to do too much about it except act as a counselor giving advice to the complainant.”

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