However, if he expects to accomplish
anything by hiring detectives, the layman or lawyer must first
make sure of his agency or his man.
One other feature of the detective business should not be
overlooked. In addition to charging for services not actually
rendered and expenses not actually incurred, there is in many
cases a strong temptation to betray the interests of the
employer. A private detective may, and usually does, become
possessed of information even more valuable to the person who
is being watched than to the person to whom he owes his
allegiance. Unreliable rascals constantly sell out to the
other side and play both ends against the middle. In this
they resemble some of the famous diplomatic agents of history.
And police detectives employed to run down criminals and
protect society have been known instead to act as stalls for
bank burglars and (for a consideration) to assist them to
dispose of their booty and protect them from arrest and
capture. It has repeatedly happened that reliable private
detectives have discovered that the police employed upon the
same case have in reality been tipping off the criminals as to
what was being done and coaching them as to their conduct.
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