Skip Trace/People Locator

The term “skip tracing” refers to finding missing persons. The term comes from the debt collection industry and refers to those who “skip out” on their debts by moving and not leaving a forwarding address. Today the term skip tracing has been adapted to mean finding a missing person, regardless of if they have skipped out on a debt.

We conduct skip tracing on claimants, their family members, witnesses, and others who we need to find to investigate a claim.

What is Involved?

After gathering pertinent information and clear goals and objectives from the client, I will employ investigative techniques required to get an accurate location for the individual. This can involve records research, surveillance, background investigation, and interviewing known family, friends, and associates. I will access databases for valid and up to date records, verifying all information from the results. Surveillance is often employed to understand the individual’s habits, gather accurate information on where they are living and working, what locations they frequent, and what activities they are involved in. Finally, a background investigation may be conducted to better understand the identified individual.

Many people assume law enforcement agencies take care of locating individuals, especially in matters of the law and debt. The truth is that most agencies have more pressing matters of public safety to tend to, and those who seek resolution and answers will turn to a competent professional.

A word of caution: While online locater websites appear to be an easy way to get the information yourself, if you want accurate and verified information you’re authorized to share and can be used in a legal matter, you will need to work with a private investigator. These online sites openly state the information may be inaccurate and/or incomplete, that an individual can have their information removed from the website, and that the records can be unclear and confusing.