09/17/2026
Yesterday, I was speaking with an attorney client about something that I believe every criminal defense attorney, judge, auditor, and defendant should understand about private investigator licensing in Texas.
There is a major difference between an individual private investigator license and a private investigations company license.
An individual PI license does not give someone the authority to simply open up shop and independently start accepting investigative cases. An individually licensed investigator works under and is affiliated with a properly licensed investigations company.
I explained to the attorney that I became aware of one particular investigator who received approximately $30,000 worth of Harris County appointed criminal defense cases while possessing only an individual license and not being affiliated with a properly licensed investigations company.
Think about how many levels of oversight had to fail for something like that to happen.
The attorney requesting the appointment.
The judge signing the order.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office dealing with the case.
The defendant relying on the investigation.
The Harris County Auditor processing payment.
And ultimately, the taxpayers paying the bill.
Providing regulated investigative services without the required company license is not some insignificant paperwork issue. Texas regulates this industry for a reason. There are also legal consequences associated with performing regulated services without the required license and with knowingly engaging someone who is not properly licensed to provide those services.
Now consider this from the defendant’s perspective.
Imagine sitting in prison after your case was investigated by an inexperienced or incompetent investigator who was not legally authorized to operate independently in the first place. You trusted your attorney to know who they were hiring. You trusted the court system to ensure that the people being appointed and paid with public money were properly licensed.
That is not fair to the defendant.
It is not fair to the taxpayers.
And it raises a legitimate question: How far up the chain does the failure of oversight go?
This is why attorneys should never simply look at a credential that says “Private Investigator” and assume that means the person can independently accept cases.
VERIFY IT.
Verify the investigator.
Verify the company.
Verify that the investigator is properly affiliated with that licensed company.
Verify the company’s license through the Texas Department of Public Safety.
And when public funds are involved, make sure the entity receiving payment is actually the properly licensed investigations company.
Creating an LLC or filing a DBA does not magically create a licensed private investigations company. A business name registered with the state or county is not the same thing as a company licensed by Texas DPS to provide regulated investigative services.
The appointment and payment should reflect the properly licensed company providing the investigative services, not simply an LLC or assumed business name someone created without obtaining the required investigations company license.
Licensing matters.
Oversight matters.
Competence matters.
And when someone’s freedom and taxpayer money are on the line, “I thought they were licensed” is not good enough.
We would never consider it acceptable for someone to practice law simply because they created a legal-sounding company and printed credentials.
The investigative profession should be taken just as seriously.
