Vetting the background of a potential partner is just common sense

April 21st, 2007

The day may come when running background checks on a roommate or romantic partner will be as common as vetting employees.

Private Investigator, Jorge  from Salgado Investigations - reflecting on two recent cases in which women were killed by romantic partners who turned out to be disguising shady pasts — find it difficult to believe that such searches aren’t common practice already.

“If you’re involved in a relationship that’s going to affect your whole life, what could be of greater value?” asked Jorge Salgado-Reyes, a private investigator in Croydon who believes that even people who are dating should be willing to share credit reports.

Though experts have access to databases that the man on the street does not, there are measures that anyone can take to collect helpful information, or at least confirm the veracity of what they’ve been told.

“I think it should become acceptable for people to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to check you out.’ It needs to be a thing like going to a doctor for a health check-up,” Jorge said.

Most of Salgado Investigations’ clients are commercial and legal companies; but there are basic searches that even those with limited means can run.

For beginners, the investigator first advises a simple Google search, putting quotation marks around the subject’s name.

“If the person’s a murderer, there might be a newspaper article about them from their past,” Jorge said.

“It’s all out there,” Jorge said. “It’s all available.”

This assumes that a person has been truthful about providing a correct, searchable name and birth date. So to investigators, turning up nothing at all sounds more warning bells. Almost everyone leaves some sort of paper or electronic trail.

But if an Internet search provides nothing, common sense can reap volumes, Jorge said. “Listen to what people tell you”, he advised. “Make a mental note and check it out”.

“If someone says they work at wherever, pick up the phone and call them there,” he said. “If they say, ‘I’ve got a mother in so-and-so place,’ look up her address.” And you don’t know how or want amore professional approach, then call Salgado Investigations.

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