A minimum of 2 years investigative experience is required to be hired as an Ethos investigator. Many of our employees exceed this requirement by many years. A majority of Ethos employees hold bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice or a similar field. Those without degrees must have equivalent experience in law enforcement. All Ethos Department Managers hold a minimum of 5 years of investigative experience.
All new hire investigators must attend an 80-hour training course. The course covers topics that include surveillance techniques, social media and background ethics, legal guidelines (including privacy/trespassing laws), report writing, neighborhood and witness canvassing, pretexting, mobile surveillance, and covert surveillance. We also provide training on ancillary investigative services including, but not limited to, Recorded Statements, Scene Investigations, Activity Checks, and Clinic Investigations. We also discuss and distribute a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedures manual to ensure all personnel adopt the same policies and procedures with regard to conducting uniform investigations and reporting back with their updates and reports to company headquarters. Each investigator is supplied with a comprehensive investigative training manual during the Ethos training program. Upon completion of the course, field investigators are required to score an 80% or higher on an essay exam. Once an investigator passes the educational training, one to two weeks of field training with one of our senior investigators is required.
