Chapter XIII: Private Detectives

In the State of West Virginia the law does not require the private detective to be bonded, pay license to operate, etc. A detective employed by an agency or corporation does not need a license or commission as an officer of the law. The agencies and corporations have the necessary power to employ anyone to investigate any matter for them pertaining to their business. The successful detective does not make arrests, he gets the evidence, works up the case and lets the police, sheriff, constable or his superior officer make the arrest. The private detective who is trained by the correspondence schools does not follow the instructions given him, and through the lessons he is given it does not give him any experience in this line of work. I do not attempt to say that the detective training schools do not give the beginner a lot of valuable information, but most of the new beginners want to take out a license to carry weapons, wear a badge and exhibit his credentials in a general way to the public. This, however, is not the instructions of the training school. The making of a detective is not a simple matter--it’s not uniform or badges, nor medals of heroism; even natural ability does not make a great detective, without the proper training and experience. More and more the prosecuting attorney and the court demand proper evidence upon which to base convictions, thus it falls to the lot of the man who wants to be a detective to be scientifically trained and have considerable experience before going into court.

The detective should acquaint himself with the law of extradiction. Extradiction means to extradite a prisoner from one state to another for a trial on a felony. Fugitives may be extradited from one state to another for any crime whatever. Proper procedure to extradite a prisoner from one state to another consists of a lot of “red tape”. You must first make sure that the man under arrest in another state is the man wanted; then if the man has been indicted by the grand jury of your county, you must secure from the clerk of the court a certified copy of the indictment. Your next step is to get affidavits from the clerk of the county court certifying that so and so is the prosecuting attorney of your county and that (blank) is the judge of the court; then the prosecuting attorney makes an affidavit stating that the man wanted is a fugitive from justice and that his arrest is not wanted to recover any damages or money in a civil action. After these papers are prepared they are taken before the Governor of the State, who issues a requisition on the Governor of the State in which the prisoner is confined, and employs some citizen or officer as his representative or agent to convey the prisoner back to the state in which he is under indictment. Where no indictment has been returned, and a warrant has been issued for the person charged with crime, practically the above procedure is followed. In all cases of this kind it is necessary to first consult the prosecuting attorney. After you have arrived in the city in which the prisoner is confined it is best to consult the local officers first, as in many cases the person charged with crime is willing to return without the necessity of securing extradition papers.

After you have your man, take him out of the state as quietly as possible to prevent his attorney from invoking the aid of the local courts through _habeas corpus_ proceedings. Sometimes a Governor refuses to honor extradition papers, believing the prisoner will not be given a fair trial or is unjustly prosecuted.