When the unimaginable happens and you lose someone you love to violence, questions can plague your mind. Some questions like “Why did this have to happen” and “How do I honour my loved one’s memory” don’t have straightforward answers. But for others like “Who did this” and “How can I see my loved one’s murderer brought to justice”, turning to a private investigator can give you the answers that you need. In fact, with murder in South Africa being a comparatively common occurrence, hiring a private investigator is often the best solution. Here are 7 reasons why:

1. The Police Are Overwhelmed

Based on 2020’s crime statistics, people report over 5000 crimes on average to the South African police every single day. Many of these thousands of cases are opened for crimes ranging from hijacking to shoplifting. But people report 58 cases of murder in South Africa to police on a daily basis.

As you can imagine, having such a large case load leaves police officers in South Africa overwhelmed. There is immense pressure to have every case investigated, whether it’s a robbery or a murder. But there are also time constraints that restrict how much effort and how long an officer can spend on a case before they need to move on to the next one. Incidents like murders would justifiably receive more attention than, say, a shoplifting. But if police were to spend all their time and efforts focussing on individual cases, many other cases would go unresolved.

Many people are quick to point out the inefficiency of the SAPS. However, when you consider how many reports they have to deal with on a daily basis, you can start to understand that it’s not individual officers, or even inefficiency that’s to blame. It is the nature of having so much crime, and murder, in South Africa occurring on a daily basis.

2. We Can Give Your Case the Attention It Deserves

Police officers are inundated with cases every single day. Private investigators are able to manage their case loads more carefully. This means that we can ensure that your case gets the attention that it deserves. We spend the necessary time and effort investigating your loved one’s murder. We are also able to take the time to report our findings back to you on a regular basis. This is a benefit that the police force cannot afford. We will keep you up to date with our investigations, and reassure you that we are finding the answers that you need.

3. We Perform Thorough Investigations of Murder in South Africa

We are able to spend more time and effort investigating a murder in South Africa. This also means we are able to do so more thoroughly. For example, a private investigator can interview a wider range of individuals to get more information about your case. This gives us the opportunity to find, and follow up on, more leads than the police could. We are also able to put together more intricate timelines for both the perpetrator and victim that can provide you with detailed insights into your loved one’s last hours. This can not only help to solve the case and provide you with the answers that you need. It can also give you a greater understanding into your loved one’s personality, routines and the kind of person that they were. This often helps families find peace and closure.

4. We Specialise in Sensitivity

To us, your loved one’s murder is more than just another case number. We understand the difficult situation that our clients are in when they come to us to investigate a murder in South Africa. And we are sensitive to your needs, taking the utmost care in uncovering what happened. We focus on the human elements of every single case we encounter. We conduct our interviews with care, and present any information that we find in a personal manner.

5. We are Discreet in Our Investigations

Private investigators work with discretion when it comes to the information that we uncover. We’ll only ever provide our findings to our clients and the police. But that is not where the benefits to working discreetly end.

When police interview or interrogate suspects for murder in South Africa, it is well known to all parties involved that they are police officers. This can lead to suspects closing themselves off. They may refuse to cooperate, because they feel like they will be blamed or arrested if they provide information. There is also the added threat that the murderer may harm them as well if they were to talk to the police.

A personal investigator is more easily able to conduct interviews discreetly. This provides us with the opportunity to gather more information. Our sources feel comfortable talking to us. Dealing with an investigator one-on-one is often less stressful and more informative than being interrogated by a police officer. Our discretion could also see them providing information to us that they would not want to offer the police directly.

6. We Have Experience in a Range of Fields

Private investigators are often experienced in a wide range of fields. These include, but are not limited to, murder in South Africa. We investigate cases that can range from robbery, to fraud, to family disputes and beyond. This helps us uncover and understand a wider range of motives that may lead to murder. And puts us in a unique position. We are able to investigate multiple aspects of a murder, and uncover a wider range of information.

7. We Pay Close Attention to Detail

Often it’s the small details of a case that see it opening wide up. You may have heard of American serial killers like Ted Bundy being arrested because of a traffic roadblock. Or the Son of Sam being arrested because of a parking ticket.

Paying attention to close details is another area that private investigators specialise in. And it’s often because of that wide range of fields that we have experience in. Police officers aren’t able to investigate every detail that comes across their desks. Private investigators, on the other hand, can pay close attention to every detail that we find. We take the time to investigate every lead and find out how they relate to your case.

If you are looking for a private investigator to uncover details of a murder in South Africa, Investi-Centre should be the first place that you turn to. Investigator, Abraham Baumann, has decades of experience in working on both police cases, and private investigations. Contact him today to find out more, and to bring your loved one’s murderer to justice.