A field investigator works for an employer and conducts investigations in the field. Field investigators can work in a variety of settings, including law enforcement and insurance. Working with other field investigators and office staff to gather as much information as possible about a person or situation, these professionals have good people skills and deductive logic abilities.
Field investigators are an important part of the investigative team in the law enforcement community. They collect information from crime scenes, witnesses, and references who may have useful information, and write a report that can be combined with physical evidence analysis to draw conclusions about the circumstances of a crime and who might be responsible. Field investigators can work for national security agencies investigating potential security threats, as well as a variety of law enforcement agencies investigating everything from animal cruelty allegations to homicides.
Field investigators are also needed by insurance companies. Insurance claims frequently involve incidents that require on-the-spot investigation, such as house fires or vehicle accidents. Field investigators can go to the location, examine the scene, interview witnesses, and gather data that will be used to determine whether the claim is valid. If the claim is acceptable under the terms of the insurance policy, the field investigator may also make recommendations about how much should be paid out on the claim.
Field investigators can also work for background check agencies, gathering information on subjects that could be relevant to a character profile.
A field investigator’s job begins when he or she receives an assignment from a supervisor, which usually includes a briefing on the case under investigation. Some field investigators prefer to work with limited information so that they are not prejudiced before they arrive on the scene, while others prefer to know more about the case’s history. When the investigator is ready, he or she goes out into the field to record impressions of what they see with cameras and collect physical evidence that can be examined in a lab.
A field investigator also makes contact with potential witnesses and arranges for interviews with them. Witnesses are notoriously unreliable, and they can also present information in a clearly biased light, requiring investigators to sift through the information they collect in order to find the truth of the matter. In the course of their work, field investigators may consult experts to put the information they find into context.
Despite spending so much time in the field, field investigators must also work in the office. To prepare written reports about their observations and the evidence they collect, they’ll need good communication skills. A field investigator must also be knowledgeable about the procedures for gathering, handling, and transferring evidence.