What a Private Investigator Can and Can't Legally Do

By David Schassler, licensed New York private investigator. Updated October 2026

Headline Answer

A private investigator can do what any private citizen can do, with more skill and a license. She can follow and film people in public, search public records, use DMV data for a lawful purpose, interview willing witnesses and record calls she's part of in one party states. She can't trespass, pose as police, wiretap, or lie to a phone company or bank for records. In California, Florida, Texas and Virginia she can't put a tracker on a car without the owner's or lessee's consent.

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Two investigators take the same cheating spouse case. One parks on a public street, films the car leaving a hotel lot and writes down the time. The other slips a tracker under the bumper and calls the phone company pretending to be the husband. The first one hands you evidence. The second one hands you a criminal case, and maybe drags you into it. We list 156 woman owned agencies on Shleuth, and the gap between those two investigators is what we want every client to see before hiring.

Can Do vs Can't Do

Most of what a private investigator does, you could do yourself. She's faster at it, and she knows where the legal lines sit.

Her license doesn't give her police powers. It lets her charge for investigation work in her state. Everything else comes from the same laws that cover you.

Lawful vs over the line for a private investigator
Task	Lawful	Crosses the line
Watching and filming	From a public street, or a place she has a right to be	Filming into a home, a restroom or anywhere a person expects privacy
Recording a conversation	A call she's part of, or one where a party agrees, in a one party state¹	Bugging a private talk nobody in it agreed to, or skipping the all party rule where it applies²³
GPS trackers	On a vehicle whose owner or lessee consents⁷	On someone else's car without consent, in states that ban it⁸⁹¹⁰
DMV and plate records	For a purpose the federal driver privacy law allows, like a court case or an insurance claim¹²	A lookup with no lawful purpose¹⁸
Phone and bank records	Public records, plus leads your lawyer can subpoena	Lying to a phone company or a bank to get records¹³
Interviews	Neighbors, coworkers and witnesses who agree to talk	Posing as a police officer or a federal agent¹⁴¹⁵
Arrests	The same citizen's arrest any private person has¹⁶	Holding anyone with police power she doesn't have
Private property	Public places, and property where she has permission	Entering land or a home without consent⁹

What can a private investigator legally do?

A private investigator can legally watch and film people in public, search court, property and business records, use DMV data for purposes federal law allows, interview willing witnesses, and record calls she's part of in one party consent states. She can't trespass, wiretap, pose as police or lie to get phone or bank records.

Surveillance has its own rules on distance, cameras and time. The guide to how private investigator surveillance works goes deeper on that part.

Recording Calls and Conversations

Federal law lets a person record a call or a conversation they're part of, or one where any one party has agreed. The exception is a recording made to commit a crime or a tort. Breaking the federal wiretap law carries up to 5 years in prison.¹

States can be stricter, and two big ones are. The rule follows the state where the talk happens, not the license.

Recording rules in the five states where Shleuth lists the most agencies
State	Agencies on Shleuth	Recording rule
Florida	20	Every party has to consent³
Virginia	17	One party may consent⁵
California	16	Every party to a confidential talk has to consent. Up to $2,500 per violation, up to a year in county jail, or both²
New York	10	One party may consent⁴
Texas	6	One party may consent. Illegal interception is a second degree felony⁶

Can a private investigator record a conversation?

Yes, if she's part of it or one person in it agrees, under federal law and in one party states like New York, Texas and Virginia. In all party states like California and Florida, everyone in a private conversation has to agree. She can't secretly record a private talk when no one in it has agreed.

California's rule covers confidential talks. A conversation at a public gathering is left out of it.² That's why a lot of lawful evidence is video with no sound.

GPS Trackers on a Car

Trackers are where clients push hardest. They're also where the law is clearest.

Car tracker laws in four states
State	The rule	Penalty
California	No one may use an electronic tracking device to find a person's location. It's allowed when the registered owner, lessor or lessee of the vehicle consents⁷	Misdemeanor, plus grounds to revoke an investigator's license⁷
Florida	No tracker or tracking app on another person's property without that person's consent. A spouse's consent is presumed revoked once either spouse files for divorce⁸	Third degree felony⁸
Texas	No tracker on a vehicle owned or leased by someone else. A licensed investigator has a defense with the owner's or lessee's written consent, or a court order⁹	Class A misdemeanor⁹
Virginia	No tracker placed by deceptive means and without consent to follow a person¹⁰	Class 1 misdemeanor¹⁰

The Florida rule surprises people. A spouse who agreed to a tracker on a shared car years ago is presumed to have taken that back the day a divorce petition is filed.⁸

Texas adds a second line. If installing the device means going onto private residential property, the licensed investigator needs written consent from that property's owner or lessee too.⁹

Can a private investigator put a GPS tracker on my car?

Not without consent from the vehicle's owner or lessee in California, Florida, Texas or Virginia. In Texas a licensed investigator needs that consent in writing, or a court order. In Florida a spouse's consent is presumed revoked once a divorce is filed. Without consent it's a crime, and in Florida it's a felony.

If an agency offers to put a tracker on your spouse's car with no talk of who owns it, find another agency.

Records, Plates and Pretexting

Records are the quiet half of the job. Most of them are public. A few are locked by federal law, and lying to get them is the crime.

DMV and Plate Records

The federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act lets a licensed private investigative agency get DMV personal information, but only for a purpose the act already allows.¹² Those include court cases, insurance claims and checking facts to prevent fraud. A person whose record is pulled for no lawful reason can sue for actual damages of at least $2,500.¹⁸

Can a private investigator run a license plate?

A licensed agency can use DMV records, but only for a purpose federal law allows, such as a court case, an insurance claim or verifying facts to prevent fraud. A lookup with no lawful reason can bring a lawsuit with damages of at least $2,500.

Phone Records

Getting someone's phone records by lying to the phone company, lying to the customer or using a fake document carries up to 10 years in federal prison. Buying or receiving those records when you know they came by fraud carries the same.¹³ The guide on whether a private investigator can get phone records covers what she can lawfully do instead.

Bank Records

Bank balances work the same way. She can find bank leads in public records, and your lawyer subpoenas the rest. The guide to where a private investigator looks for hidden assets walks through it.

Badges, Arrests and Private Property

Three lines show up again and again in complaints. Pretending to be police, acting like police, and walking onto private property.

Badges and Pretending

Pretending to be a federal officer and acting as one carries up to 3 years in prison.¹⁴ California also makes it a crime to wear or show a police badge or uniform to pass as an officer.¹⁵ A real investigator shows her state license, not a badge that looks like a cop's.

Can a private investigator arrest someone?

Only the way any private citizen can. In California, for example, a private person may arrest someone for a public offense committed in their presence, or for a felony that has in fact happened. A license adds no arrest power, so most investigators call the police instead.

California's citizen's arrest rule is the same for her as for you.¹⁶ It isn't a tool she should reach for.

Can a private investigator go on private property?

Not without permission. A license isn't a pass onto someone's land or into their home. Texas spells it out for trackers. A licensed investigator needs written consent from the owner or lessee to go onto private residential property to install one.

Following someone can also cross into stalking when it turns into a pattern meant to scare. Read when a private investigator can be charged with stalking for where that line sits.

What Gets Left Out

Most pages on this question list a few dos and don'ts and stop there. Three things get skipped.

The Fourth Amendment isn't her rulebook. In United States v. Jones, the Supreme Court held that the government putting a GPS device on a car is a search.¹¹ That ruling binds the government. An investigator answers to state law instead, and state law can be tougher. In Florida a tracker without consent is a felony for anyone.⁸
The client can be on the hook too. The federal wiretap law covers anyone who gets another person to intercept a call.¹ Buying phone records you know were obtained by fraud carries up to 10 years.¹³ Saying the investigator did it won't protect you.
The license is a real bar. California wants three years of paid investigation work, with each year at least 2,000 hours, before it licenses an investigator.¹⁷ Check the license before you pay. The steps are in how to check a private investigator's license.

The work itself is mostly ordinary. On Shleuth, 95 of the 156 woman owned agencies we list name background checks as a service, and 81 name surveillance. Only 11 list bug sweeps, which means finding devices someone else planted.

Is it illegal to hire a private investigator on someone?

No. Hiring a licensed investigator is legal. What matters is what she does on your case. If she trespasses, wiretaps or plants a tracker without consent, she can face charges, and you can face charges or a lawsuit too if you asked for it.

The guide on whether you can sue someone for hiring a private investigator covers the other side of that question.

5 Questions to Ask Before You Hire

Five questions sort a careful agency from a risky one. Ask them on the first call.

Which state's recording rule applies to my case? She should know without looking it up.
Will you use a tracker, and on whose vehicle? The answer should name the owner and the consent.
How will you get records? Public records and subpoenas are the right answers. Calling a bank or phone company as someone else is not.
What's your license number? Then check it with the state.
Can I have the plan in writing? A written scope protects both of you.

We built Shleuth so you can start that call with a woman owned agency. How to hire a female private investigator walks through the rest, and the state pages for Florida, California and Virginia list the agencies we have there.

Primary Sources

General information, not legal advice. Recording, tracking and licensing laws differ by state and change. Ask a lawyer in your state about your own case.

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