FAQ - using a private investigaor

​Using a private investigation firm can be a daunting task. We hope the below FAQ answers any questions you might have; if you still have questions we are happy to answer them.​

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1. Do you operate across the whole country?

We engage with Clients in the South West & Midlands area of England. (click here for a map of our operational area). While we can engage clients from outside of this region we generally recommend that these clients seek local representation.

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2. Will my personal privacy be jeopardised?

We fully understand the need for our services to remain undetected and hold the confidentiality of all our clients as the highest priority at all times. ​Calls to our 0800 number are free from UK land lines and will not show up on a BT or cable phone bill.

We assure complete client confidentiality at all times and operate to a professional standard. In order to protect your confidentiality our investigators are required to confirm your identity in any correspondence. Under no circumstances will our investigators make contact with the Subject of the Investigation or with any person connected with the Subject, without your prior written consent.

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​3. What experience and qualifications do your investigators have?

Our Investigators come from a wide variety of legal, security, financial and technical backgrounds. This enables Broughton, Ramsden & Page to adopt a flexible and down to earth approach to delivering you fast, accurate and meaningful results.

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4. Can I cancel my investigation once you've started?  Do I get a refund?

You can stop your investigation at any time.
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Fixed Fee Package refunds
If you decide to cancel within 24 hours of requesting an investigation we will refund your payment in full. If you decide to cancel your investigation within 48 hours of requesting an investigation we will deduct £100 from your refund amount to cover our initial costs in reviewing your case. Any cancellations made after 48 hours of requesting an investigation will not be eligible for a refund.
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PAYG refunds
If you decide to cancel your investigation prior to 48 hours of the start date of any work you wish us to undertake we will refund you in full. If you decide to cancel your investigation within 48 hours of the start date we will deduct £100 from your refund amount to cover our initial costs in reviewing your case. Any cancellations made within 6 hours of the start date or after the start date will not be eligible for a refund.

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5. Are your investigations legal?

Broughton, Ramsden & Page conduct all steps of an investigation in accordance with our Procedural Guide and will only conduct surveillance operations that are lawful. Surveillance is only carried out only for the strict purpose of the Investigation and where we believe it is "necessary" and "proportionate".

Before authorising surveillance your Case Investigator will take into account the risk of intrusion into the privacy of persons other than the specified subject of the surveillance (collateral intrusion) and take measures wherever practicable to avoid it. Your Case Investigator must be satisfied that it is necessary to use surveillance in the investigation for it to go ahead.

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6. What is electronic surveillance?

Electronic surveillance is the gathering of information by use of electronic techniques and equipment. We have extensive experience in Social Network Analysis & Data Profiling techniques and our operational teams have access and use of the latest electronic surveillance equipment.

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7. What is Social Network Analysis & Data profiling?

Economic and social dealings in modern society generate large quantities of stored information. In the past, this data was documented in paper records, leaving a "paper trail", or was simply not documented at all. Correlation of paper-based records required human operators to manually sort through documents, which was time-consuming and incomplete, at best.

Today many of these records are electronic, resulting in an "electronic trail". Public records (such as electoral role, birth, court, tax and other records), web traffic and online purchases are widely available online. In addition friendships & affiliations, thoughts and activities can often be discovered within social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace Twitter and others.

Broughton Ramsden & Page have extensive experience in assembling information about a particular individual or group in order to generate a profile  that is, a picture of their patterns and behavior - through the application of statistical techniques to discover previously unnoticed relationships within data.

Data profiling is an extremely powerful tool for use in infidelity investigations. Our skilled analysts can discover facts about a person that they might not even be consciously aware of themselves.

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8. Is Data Profiling legal?

Broughton Ramsden & Page conduct all data profiling in accordance with our Procedural Guide and will only use information that has been lawfully obtained. Information relating to many individual transactions is often publicly available because it is not generally not guarded in isolation, since the information, such as the title of a movie a person has rented, is not sensitive. However, when many such transactions are aggregated they can be used to assemble a detailed profile revealing the actions, habits, beliefs, locations frequented, social connections, and preferences of the individual.

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​9. Do you comply with the data protection act of 1998?

Any personal information is held and used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Broughton Ramsden & Page will not disclose such information to any unauthorised person or body but where appropriate will use such information in carrying out its various functions and services. All information is used solely for the purposes of the investigation and is not retained following completion of the investigation.

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10. Is the use of an electronic tracking device legal?

An electronic tracking device uses a cellular (GPRS) and Satellite (GPS) receiver to determine the precise location of a vehicle, person, or other asset to which it is attached and to record and transmit the position at regular intervals.
 

The use of electronic trackers by private surveillance companies is legal within the UK. The use of a tracking device only provides information regarding its location. It does not provide any personal or private information about an individual and therefore cannot infringe a persons human rights under the Human Rights Act 1998. The Surveillance Commissioner in the UK has stated Section 26(4) of Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 'use of a Tracker (not manufactured and adapted to capture of send audio or video signals) is not intrusive, provided that the surveillance itself is lawful, and no offences are committed in attaching or removing the tracker.'
 

The placement of a tracking device without permission on a vehicle parked on private land such as a driveway is trespass to land. If we do not have permission to attach a tracking device to a vehicle on private land then we will only do so in a public space.

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11. Where can physical surveillance be carried out?

Surveillance can be carried out in any public place so long as trespass is not committed. A public place can be defined as a place or premises to which the public has access or has access subject to conditions, and where a reasonable person could have no general expectation of privacy, or would expect privacy to be significantly reduced. This extends to private land that is capable of being overseen by the general public such as driveways and gardens. A public place also includes private areas that are open to the public such as parks, community centers  bars and restaurants whether by free admission or by payment.

In practical terms this means we can take photographs or carry out inquiries in a public place and we can take photographs in a public place looking into a private place if it would be deemed reasonable that we did not have to make an effort to do so, such as climb up a ladder or look over a wall.

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12. Can you track or access my partners mobile phone?

The technology to access or track a mobile phone is available. However, the phone user must provide consent in order for the information to be available legally. Failure to obtain consent is an offence under both the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. Such behavior runs a risk of up to two years imprisonment and a fine. As your partners consent is unlikely to be obtained, we do not advocate this approach.



​13. Are there any restrictions on using your services?
We will only accept investigation requests from clients aged 18 and over.

We will not undertake any cases where surveillance activity is required on subjects aged 16 or under.