Should Colorado License Private Investigators? Because They Don't!!

Why licensing matters. In a state, like Colorado, where private investigators aren't licensed, who you choose to hire, or not to hire, can cause disastrous consequences and lawsuits you might not see coming. Take a listen and learn why you need to be particularly careful when hiring a private investigator in Colorado.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Imagine for a second that uh you were walking onto a commercial airplane.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

You find your seat, you stow your carry-on, buckle in, and you glance toward the front of the cabin.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

But instead of a state certified pilot with, you know, thousands of logged, heavily regulated hours sitting in the cockpit, there's just some guy. Right. Just some person. Some person who bought a pilot's hat online, built a really slick looking aviation website, and simply promises you they know how to land a commercial jet. Which is terrifying. Completely. And now imagine that the regulatory agency that normally texts their credentials, the people who ensure they actually know what all those blinking buttons do, they just packed up and went home a few years ago.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Just vanished.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Yeah. You just have to take the stranger's word for it. I mean, it sounds completely insane. Right. But right now, in the state of Colorado, that is exactly what is happening in the world of private investigation.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

It really is a startling reality, and it goes against, well, everything we naturally assume about public safety and consumer protection.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

We are so deeply conditioned to believe that if someone is operating in a high-stakes specialized field, especially one dealing with the law, somebody somewhere is watching them.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Aaron Powell Right. We assume the guardrails are bolted to the ground. Exactly. We assume there is a safety net. Well, welcome to the deep dive. Today we are taking you right into the middle of a landscape where those safety nets have been completely cut.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yeah, it's a wild situation.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

It really is. We're looking at a briefing document called Vetting Colorado Private Investigators, the Excalibur Standard. And our mission today is to help you navigate an environment where the usual rules of trust have just they've evaporated.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

They evaporated completely.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Because the bombshell fact at the center of this is going to completely change how you view professional credentials.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Let's unpack this. As of 2021, the state of Colorado entirely discontinued its licensing program for private investigators.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

They didn't just scale it back.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

No. They sunseted the whole thing. Meaning that absolutely anyone, regardless of their training or you know, total lack thereof, can legally print up a business card, call themselves a private investigator, and take your money.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

What's fascinating here is the immediate, almost invisible psychological shift this creates.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

How do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Well, when a state government steps back and deregulates an industry that handles such sensitive work, the burden of trust, the burden of verification, and crucially the burden of liability, it instantly transfers from the government entirely onto your shoulders as the consumer.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Wow. So you're left holding the bag.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Exactly. You are no longer just hiring a service. You are suddenly thrust into the role of being the regulator, the auditor, and the human resources department all at once.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Aaron Powell, which is a terrifying job to have when you're already dealing with, you know, whatever crisis led you to hire a PI in the first place. Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

You're already stressed.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Exactly. So let's talk about what actually happens when those guardrails come off. If the state isn't watching, what exactly goes missing in the day-to-day reality of an investigation?

SPEAKER_00 3:05

It's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Because the material points out four massive structural failures that happen when licensing disappears. It's no formal training, no ethical standards, no oversight, and zero protection from unqualified individuals.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

And we really need to understand the mechanics of what no formal training actually looks like in the field.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Right. It's not just like skipping a seminar.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

No, not at all. If we connect this to the bigger picture, a private investigator fundamentally deals with strict legal boundaries. We are talking about surveillance, accessing personal information, navigating financial records.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

It's invasive stuff.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Highly invasive. In a regulated environment, an investigator has to know the exact legal line between observing someone and legally stalking them. They have to know the difference between public information and criminal trespassing.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

And without the training requirement.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

When you remove that requirement, the person you hire might genuinely have zero idea how to conduct complex surveillance without getting caught. Or worse, blatantly breaking the law because they saw someone do it in a movie.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Oh my gosh. Yeah, and the lack of ethical standards. That feels like a massive red flag in an industry where you're literally paying someone to dig into people's darkest corners.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Like if they stumble onto something highly damaging and there's no governing board to strip them of their license for misconduct, what's stopping them from mishandling that data or just, you know, taking your$5,000 retainer and ghosting you?

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Nothing. In a regulated state, if an investigator crosses a line, they lose their license, which means they lose their livelihood. Right. The threat of losing their career enforces the ethics. In an unregulated environment like Colorado is right now, that ultimate professional consequence simply doesn't exist. There is no board to report them to.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Wait, I have to push back on this a little bit. Specifically regarding the legal danger to the client.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Okay. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Let's say I hire a rogue PI, a total amateur, and they decide to break the law to get me the information I asked for. Let's say they illegally place a GPS tracker on someone's car or they hack into a private digital network.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Very bad ideas.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Aaron Ross Powell Right. But why is that my problem? I just hired them to find information. I didn't tell them to commit a crime. Shouldn't they carry all the legal blame?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

That is a very common assumption, and it is entirely wrong, which is why this is so dangerous.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Really?

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Yes. The legal concept you have to worry about here is called agency or vicarious liability. Okay. When you hire a private investigator, they are legally acting as your agent. They are an extension of you.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Yeah. If they break the law while operating under your financial retainer, even if you didn't explicitly instruct them to break that specific law opposing counsel or even law enforcement, isn't just going to look at the investigator.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

They're going to look at me.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

They're going to look straight at you, the person who funded and directed the activity.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Aaron Powell So if they trespass, I could essentially be sued for trespass.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

You could be sued. Your underlying legal case could be completely thrown out because the evidence was obtained illegally. And in severe cases, you could face criminal conspiracy charges.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

That is insane.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

It's serious. You aren't just risking a botched investigation where you don't get the answers you paid for. You are risking severe, life-altering legal blowback.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

That is incredible and terrifying. You hire someone to solve a problem, maybe a business dispute or a custody issue, and they end up manufacturing a massive lawsuit against you.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

So since the state of Colorado has essentially washed its hands of this, leaving you holding the bag, how do you actually filter out the unqualified people? You can't just cross your fingers. You have to build your own proxy safety net.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Precisely. And the material we're looking at provides a very clear vetting playbook. Okay, good. Since you cannot rely on the state to filter out the bad actors, you have to know exactly what questions to ask to filter them out yourself. And the very first thing you have to look for is an external proxy for trust. Aaron Powell Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

And the standout question to ask a Colorado PI is uh are you licensed in other states? Which seems counterintuitive at first.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

It does.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Like why would I care if my Denver investigator is licensed in Florida or New Mexico or South Carolina?

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Aaron Powell Because those specific states and a few others maintain incredibly rigorous licensing standards. They don't just hand out pieces of paper. Right. They require rigorous criminal background checks, thousands of hours of verifiable investigative experience, and passing difficult state board examinations regarding the law.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Here's where it gets really interesting. It's like buying a piece of complex technology here in the completely unregulated U.S. market, but checking to make sure that product still meets the incredibly strict European Union safety standards.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

That's a great analogy.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

You're using another jurisdiction's strict rules to vet your local hire. And the best investigators in an unlicensed state don't just passively happen to have these out-of-state licenses.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

No, they actively seek them out.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

They actively volunteer for those rigorous standards elsewhere just to prove their legitimacy. They go out of their way to subject themselves to the microscope.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

They recognize the regulatory void in their home state and they intentionally build a bridge of credibility over it. If an investigator in Colorado can hand you a valid current license from Florida or South Carolina, you immediately know they have been vetted by a strict government authority, even if it isn't the local one. It proves a baseline of competence and legal knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Okay, so we look for out-of-state licenses as our proxy. What's the next layer of this safety net?

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Insurance. Specifically, you must demand proof of robust professional liability insurance, often called errors and omissions insurance.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Which I'll be honest sounds like incredibly boring paperwork.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

It really does.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

But given what you just explained about vicarious liability and getting sued for your PI's mistakes, I'm guessing this is critical.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

It is the ultimate differentiator. Liability insurance is not a bureaucratic box to check, it is a mutual financial shield.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Remember the scenario where the investigator accidentally damages property or gets accused of invasion of privacy?

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Yeah, where I get sued.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Exactly. If they don't have specialized liability insurance, the target of that investigation is coming after your bank account. An amateur who just printed a business card in 2021 is highly unlikely to pay the expensive monthly premiums for robust liability coverage.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

That makes sense. It's expensive to maintain.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Very. A seasoned professional will insist on it because they understand the inherent risks of the job. If you ask a PI for their proof of insurance and they hesitate or say they don't need it, you walk away immediately.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

So no out-of-state license, no insurance, no deal. But knowing what questions to ask is only half the battle. You have to know what a good answer actually looks like when you ask about their background.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

The source material uses a specific firm Excalibur private investigation as the benchmark for this. It's essentially the gold standard for how professionals self-regulate in the absence of state mandates.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Yes. Looking at their credentials gives us a perfect template for what the high end of the spectrum actually looks like.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Okay, but I want to look at this critically. Let me lay out the stats the industry points to with the Excalibur standard.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Go for it.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

We are talking about a firm with over 37 years of investigative experience.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

24 of those years, specifically with the FBI. They are veteran-owned and operated, and the team is composed entirely of former federal agents, military veterans, and high-level law enforcement.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

That's an impressive resume.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

It is. But now I have to be honest. If I just need to track down a business partner who is hiding assets or I need to catch a cheating spouse, isn't that level of background complete overkill? Do I really need a 24-year FBI veteran to look into a local civil dispute?

SPEAKER_00 10:59

This raises an important question, and it's a very fair critique. It does sound like overkill until you understand how evidence actually works in a courtroom.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Okay, I'm listening.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

The reason that level of federal background is the benchmark isn't for the action movie elements of the job, it's for the agonizingly strict procedural elements.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Like what?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Let's look at the specific types of cases a firm operating at this level handles. They handle Title NX investigations, cybercrime and digital forensics, and suspicious death or criminal defense cases.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Aaron Powell Okay, let's break those down. Why does a Title IX investigation require federal level experience?

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Aaron Powell Well, Title IX involves allegations of sexual harassment or assault on college campuses. These are incredibly volatile, high-stakes investigations.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Oh yeah. Tons of scrutiny.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Tons. If an investigator is sloppy, if they aren't trained in trauma-informed interviewing, or if they violate strict federal guidelines regarding due process and cross-examination, it all falls apart. The entire investigation can be thrown out, the school can lose its federal funding, and the lives of the students involved can be completely ruined by a biased fact-finding report. You cannot have an amateur handling that level of institutional risk.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Aaron Powell That makes perfect sense. The procedure has to be bulletproof. What about digital forensics?

SPEAKER_00 12:15

That's a big one.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Everyone leaves a digital footprint now. If I think my employee is stealing company data, why can't I just hire a smart IT guy to look at their laptop? Why do I need a specialized PI?

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Aaron Powell Because if your IT guy simply opens a file on that laptop to look at it, they have just altered the metadata.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Oh, I didn't even think of that.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Most people don't. They have changed the last access date. In a court of law, opposing counsel will immediately argue that the digital evidence has been tampered with, and the judge will likely throw it out.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Wow. Just from opening it.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Just from double-clicking the file. True digital forensics requires specific methodology using right blockers to prevent data alteration, generating mathematical hash values to prove the data is exactly as it was found.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

That sounds intense.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

It is. Federal agents spend decades learning how to preserve a digital chain of custody so that it is undeniably admissible in a federal court. An IT guy fixes your Wi-Fi. A digital forensic investigator ensures your evidence doesn't get you laughed out of a courtroom.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Wow. Okay. I completely see the difference now. It's not just finding the information, it's finding it in a way that is legally weaponizable and defensible.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

And I imagine that goes double for the suspicious death in criminal defense cases mentioned in the standard.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

Exponentially so. In criminal defense, you are dealing directly with literal life or death consequences, complex legal statutes, and the physical chain of custody for evidence. Yeah. You need an investigator who knows exactly how the prosecution built their case because they used to be the ones building those exact cases for the government.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Oh, that makes so much sense.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Right. That kind of capability, that ingrained sense of legal discretion isn't something you can fake. It is forged through decades of high-level operational rigor.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

So what does this all mean? It means that in a Wild West environment like Colorado is today, true professionals don't rely on a state-issued piece of paper to validate them, because that paper doesn't even exist anymore. Instead, they rely on their undeniable track record of results. They say, My standards don't depend on the state I'm standing in. I bring the standard with me.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

That is the crucial takeaway for the consumer. The best practitioners operate at the highest level of integrity and skill, regardless of what the local jurisdiction mandates. Yeah. And your job, since the state has abdicated its role, is to actively seek out that standard.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Which brings this whole deep dive directly back to you, the listener. Why does all of this matter to you? You might be driving to work right now thinking, you know, I'm not starring in a true crime documentary, I'm never going to need to hire a private investigator. Right. But the reality is, modern life is incredibly complicated. At some point, whether it's for a thorny business contract dispute, a complex digital forensics problem where your personal data is compromised, a background check on someone marrying into your family, or an insurance issue. You might actually need to hire someone to find the truth.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

It happens more often than you'd think.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

It does. And when that day comes, you need to remember that a shiny, highly optimized website does not equal state vetted competence.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

You absolutely have to be your own advocate. You have to ask about the out-of-state licenses, demand to see the liability insurance and scrutinize their actual procedural background. Right. But I think there is an even larger, slightly more philosophical concept to ponder here, something that lingers long after you close this specific briefing document.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Oh. What's that?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

The situation with private investigators in Colorado is really just a microcosm of modern life. It forces you to look around your own life and ask a much broader question. Okay. What other professionals, what other services or supposed experts are you currently trusting with your money, your personal data, or your physical safety right now? And are you trusting them purely on the unchecked assumption that government license guarantees their competence? Or worse, are you operating under the blind assumption that a regulatory safety net even exists at all when it might have vanished years ago while you weren't looking? Wow.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

That is deeply unsettled.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Yeah. It really is.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

We walk through life assuming the guardrails are there, but sometimes we're just driving on the edge of the cliff, trusting an outdated map.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Exactly. We rely on the illusion of oversight. But true trust must be earned through rigorous vetting, not assumed through perceived authority.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Well, on that slightly terrifying but entirely necessary note, we want to warmly thank you for joining us on this deep dive. Navigating a world without safety nets isn't easy, but armed with the right questions and knowing what the actual benchmark for professionalism looks like, you can protect yourself.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Stay curious, always double check the credentials, and the next time you step out of a plane or hire an expert, make sure you know exactly who is sitting in the cockpit.