Rene said:
> I don't know about the US but here in the Antipodes
private dicking
> seems to be an ever-growing industry (one of the
few), to the point of
> where late-night television has ads recruiting
potential applicants to a
> training course. The work mostly consists of
surveilling & videotaping
> insurance claimants fixing their flat tires, etc, as
I understand it. I
> guess they might do missing person stuff - they were
certainly doing it
> in the 1960's when my mother hired one (long story)
but I think
> insurance co's are the bread & butter of the
"pi" business in Australia.
> I think the training course advertised mostly
consists of learning how
> to use a vidcam, from what I heard from a guy who
actually went for the
> job (he preferred it to the public service - go
figure).
> Oh, yeah - he never mentioned anything about any
beautiful, mysterious &
> deadly female clients but I think he's just trying
to keep a good thing
> to himself.
********** I talked to a school friend a few years out of
high school, and he had become a private investigator. And
yes, what he said confirms what you say. Divorce work and
insurance claims take up the majority of his time. I can
still remember the gleam in his eye as he told me about
getting tape of a guy off from work on a back-injury
disability pulling and pulling on a outboard motor cord
trying to get it started.
Its not in front of me, but I think the original quote didn't
actually say that the P.I. would become extinct, but that the
romantic view we have of what he does is false. To be
truthful, even the private investigators in fiction are known
to complain about the hard realities of the job. Crumley's
P.I. in THE LAST GOOD KISS couldn't hardly stand doing the
work because of all the crummy divorce work involved. And
Gores's CASES showed some P.I. work that might be closer to
reality, although it also had a really kick-butt underlying
plot and a higher body count than anything I've read in a
long time.
miker
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