A friend and I want to start solving crime cases?

Pocky-Chan ♥s L-Sama: A friend and I want to start solving crime cases?
…But we live in different states. We contact via text and internet. Is it possible? And can you suggest some things to get started? We’re both teenagers.
Even finding clues about crimes and calling crime hotlines would work.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Jay
You do not have the legal authority to investigate crimes. In fact even if you did you have no experience and you would probably be embarrassed.

If you want a small taste of police life join your local police explorers post.

Answer by John
Let me guess… you both finished watching Death Note and now you want to be like L and Light. You even use a pic of L as your avatar.

Try going to college for criminal psychology.

Answer by The Red Herring
Read some Private Investigator books or books on investigation in general. Make sure you actually get books or materials that are written by former investigators so you get the real stuff.

Answer by Mickey Boy
The way you are describing what you want to do, no you can not just start doing that.

First, it sounds like you’re talking solely about “violent” acts. If you’re going to limit yourself to this, you will not have much clientle because generally police do this. However, families can hire PIs to do investigations, but rarely include obtaining clues like how I’m thinking you mean clues, like a bloody foorprint, etc.

PI’s do a lot more than that crap. They can work for debt collectors, you can be hired by someone to find out if their spouse is cheating etc.

If you want to be an actual PI and not a movie version of a PI then:
the first consideration is licensing; all but only a handful of states require a state-issued license to be a private investigator. Each state has different background, education and experience requirements that may vary from simply attending a state-approved training course to pre-licensing education, exams, years of work experience and obtaining a sizable professional liability insurance policy with “errors and omissions” coverage. To make matters just a little more confusing, there are some cities that require private investigators to either register or obtain a municipal license in states that do not otherwise require them.

The second consideration is training. Private investigation specific training is the most important investment you can make in yourself! Since most new PIs don’t have the ability or are not ready to start up their own investigations company you will most likely be looking for employment with an established agency. As an owner of an established and well respected detective agency I get resumes all of the time; the first thing I look for before considering a candidate is to ask the question, “How has this person invested in themselves before asking me to invest in them?”

For information about licensing:
https://pursuitmag.com/resources/investigator-licensing/

You would both have to be licensed in the state of the investigation. However, if you are donig just the investigation, because I doubt a teen is going to hop on a plane to help investigate, then you are more than welcome to discuss it with them and get their opinion, but they can not “investigate.” Essentially, they can be a secretary, otherwise you have to comply with that state’s laws.

I found the site provided in the source via google. You’re really better off doing your own research online and via real PIs than asking in a forum where people will probably give you generic or vague answers because they’re “looking to score points.”

Good luck!