“10 Questions for a Private Detective” – Patrick Kurtz in an Interview with VICE Magazine

“How often do you break the law? What was the hottest sex you have ever observed? How can I cheat without my partner noticing?” – these and other questions were put to Patrick Kurtz, owner of Kurtz Detective Agency Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein, by Lea Albring of VICE Magazine in the casually provocative category “10 Questions for a Private Detective You Would Never Dare to Ask”. A transcript of the article can be found below; the original is available here.

The Profession of a Private Detective

You want to call yourself a private detective? Then do so. You do not need to work in one of the 1,200 detective agencies in Germany to use the title. There is no state-recognised training programme for detectives in Germany, and the term itself is not protected. “That is why there are, of course, also botchers in the industry,” says Patrick Kurtz. His investigators, he assures us, are all professionals.

 

As he says this, he puffs on a pipe – a habit he did not only take up after becoming a detective, as he explains: “I have been a passionate pipe smoker since I was 14.” We do not wish to question this statement, although we would probably not notice if he were lying. After all, invented stories, false pretences and fake identities are part of his everyday professional life. Between his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Literature, he had a year to bridge. In a newspaper he found an advertisement promising €1,700 per month as an intern in a private detective agency. “That was when I realised: you can earn money in this industry.” The advertisement turned out to be fake – Patrick’s instinct did not. “As a good detective, you can earn €3,000 net,” he says.

Fields of Activity for Detectives in Germany

Private individuals hire him mainly for four reasons: “Maintenance claims, custody violations, infidelity, address investigations.” Companies usually engage him because they want to know whether field staff are billing their hours correctly or whether employees are pulling sickies. However, since 2015 employers have no longer been permitted to hire him arbitrarily, as ruled by the Federal Labour Court. In order to deploy a private detective against employees, bosses require concrete indications. In around 75 per cent of cases, however, their suspicions prove correct, says Patrick: in three out of four private cases, too, the initial suspicion is confirmed.

 

He says he rarely feels sympathy for the people he observes. Only once, when he was supposed to check whether an employee was falsifying his hours, did he notice “that the problem lay more with the employer, because he treated his staff badly. But even in such a case I must remain professional; legally speaking, it was clear that the employee had made a mistake.” Normally it is his job to gather information – now he is expected to provide some. We have questions.

VICE: Are you a stalker?

Patrick Kurtz: “There are parallels – we too observe people in their personal sphere. However, a stalker does so in an intrusive way. Detectives have boundaries when conducting surveillance. If we witness very intimate matters, then only because they take place outside the front door. If a man accused of infidelity has sex at a motorway service station, then it is our job to observe it. The aim is to clarify a criminal offence or personal problems. A stalker is driven by obsession. In one case, my agency was actually hired by a female stalker. In order for us to spy professionally on her victim, she had credibly constructed an infidelity scenario. This was uncovered at the very beginning of our investigation, and we informed the person concerned.”

What was the hottest sex you have ever observed?

“We do not watch everything up close like on a porn set; there are limits when observing sexual acts. I do remember one particularly brazen case: it involved a field sales representative. His employer suspected that he was not working properly. This was in the Hanover area; we observed him for five days. On the first days he drove around aimlessly, customer appointments were very brief, and he spent large parts of his supposed working hours at home. He parked his car a few streets away so no one would notice. On the final day he picked up a young man. The two drove onto a field track and had sex in the car for around two hours. The signs: steamed-up windows, the car rocking, and often unmistakable noises.”

Have you ever observed a woman and fallen in love with her?

“No, that has not happened to me, and I would rule it out. I do know of two colleagues who became involved with people connected to investigations afterwards – though these were clients, not target persons. One was an affair that began some time after an infidelity investigation – the colleague then knew the woman no longer had a partner. In the other case a relationship developed that continues to this day: a woman working for the city who had been repeatedly threatened felt she was being bugged; it was a counter-surveillance operation. Her suspicion was not confirmed, but the assignment still paid off for her, because she and the colleague became a couple shortly afterwards.”

How many things do you discover that you absolutely were not meant to discover?

“One thing happens from time to time: women who have been cheated on learn that their husband is cheating with other men. Out of 100 infidelity investigations involving men, in around two we discover that a concealed bi- or homosexual inclination lies behind it. I have not yet encountered secret lesbian relationships. I believe men are often embarrassed about their sexual orientation; moreover, their existing life – wife, children, sometimes even grandchildren – is at stake. That is why they conceal it. A classic double life with two families, however, we have not yet had. We did have a case of a very wealthy man who, alongside his wife, maintained several women simultaneously, each of whom he financed with a flat and supported financially.”

What do you really do when you sit in a car for hours and nothing happens?

“Every case is different. An infidelity surveillance can be boring, as it often consists almost entirely of waiting outside a house. It is exhausting to watch a driveway for many hours when nothing happens. I listen to music and audiobooks. If I become tired, I put on hard rock such as Soundgarden or sometimes Metallica – that keeps me awake. Otherwise I listen to all kinds of audiobooks, a lot of Edgar Allan Poe and indeed also Sherlock Holmes stories.

 

Around 70 per cent of surveillance work is waiting time, 30 per cent more or less action. Even when following a target person you must remain highly concentrated. A pleasant working day for me is one on which a lot happens.”

How do I follow someone without them noticing?

“My investigators and I have standard tricks to conceal that we are detectives. If neighbours become aware of us, we must invent stories – so-called legends. You can, for example, say that your wife has thrown you out of the flat. If I have a blanket and a thermos flask with me and ruffle my hair, residents will believe the story. Being exposed happens to us virtually never. It has only happened to me once. The reason was extremely poor surveillance conditions: in a very rural area where everyone knows everyone, we were to check whether an employee was malingering. A colleague and I parked our cars far apart, about 700 metres from the property. The unfamiliar vehicles were probably noticed by a passing farmer, who must then have informed the target person. That person appeared at my car and said we could end our observation. Nevertheless, we later successfully proved his misconduct. In principle, if we suspect that the target may have noticed something, we immediately change our strategy.”

How often do you break the law with your investigative methods?

“The problem is that we often operate in a grey area. Laws for the detective industry are often not clearly defined; sometimes they simply do not exist. Only court rulings clarify what is permissible and what is not. GPS trackers are now considered illegal; information in exchange for money not necessarily so. But that too is a grey area: is it legal to offer a waiter money to tell you whether person X dined there with another person at a certain time? In my agency we refrain from such practices as a precaution and instead work with constructed legends: investigators pose as relatives or business partners, for example. Of course that is a lie – but not a criminal offence.”

Are detectives failed police officers?

“I employ many investigators who were formerly police officers. Very few were dishonourably discharged. Many are retirees who wish to earn something on the side. Or police officers who saw no prospects of promotion or had problems with their superior – things like that. Once, however, I was unlucky: a retired senior police officer took on an assignment for my agency. Because I had a very good relationship with the client, it emerged that he had falsified surveillance reports. He was supposed to infiltrate a company and uncover bullying. Upon enquiry it turned out that he had worked there for only one day, for four hours, and then reported sick. Yet his invoice and report listed five days of eight hours each. I reported him for fraud and sued for damages.”

How can I cheat without my partner noticing?

“Best done without written flirting or chats, but through verbal arrangements. If a partner suddenly no longer leaves their phone lying openly, that is an indication. And for meetings: never in public places. Otherwise one should not change behaviour conspicuously – for example suddenly taking up sport or going to the hairdresser more often. These are all indications that clients describe to us when we are to check their partners.”

If I want to disappear, how should I go about it?

“As an EU citizen, you should ideally remain within Europe to avoid leaving traces at border crossings. It is best to choose a country to which you have no traceable connection. Under no circumstances should you travel by plane or train; passenger data and cameras leave traces. By car you can disappear effectively. The key is to be uncompromising. Many initially succeed in disappearing but do not wish to forgo the comfort of their old life. They continue using old credit cards and rent a new flat under their real name. Anyone who does not wish to be found must renounce convenience and needs a completely new identity with forged documents. Very few do that. That is why only 15 per cent of our missing-person searches are unsuccessful – and those few often for budgetary reasons.”

Note

The statements attributed to Patrick Kurtz are not verbatim quotations but paraphrased – in some cases meaning-altering – formulations.

Kurtz Detective Agency Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein

Hopfenstraße 1d

D-24114 Kiel

Tel.: +49 431 3057 0053

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-kiel.de

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-kiel.de/en

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