Security and private investigation glossary.

A private investigator is a professional who gathers, verifies, documents, and reports information for clients, attorneys, businesses, insurers, or individuals within applicable legal and ethical boundaries.

A due diligence investigation is a fact-gathering review used to assess a person, company, transaction, vendor, executive, partner, or risk-sensitive relationship before a decision is made.

A background check is a review of available records, credentials, history, or other information used to evaluate identity, qualifications, risk factors, or relevant prior conduct.

A workplace investigation is a structured review of allegations, incidents, complaints, policy concerns, misconduct, safety issues, or internal risk matters within an employment or business setting.

Surveillance is the lawful observation, documentation, or monitoring of a person, place, activity, or condition for an investigation, risk, insurance, legal, or business purpose.

Skip tracing is the process of locating a person, address, asset, or contact pathway using records, databases, public information, and investigative research methods.

Litigation support is investigative or documentation assistance provided to attorneys, legal teams, insurers, or businesses in connection with claims, disputes, subpoenas, witnesses, or evidence review.

A fraud investigation is a structured review of suspected deception, misrepresentation, false claims, theft, billing irregularities, or other dishonest conduct affecting a business or claim.

A corporate investigation is a fact-gathering review conducted for a business concerning internal risk, misconduct, vendor issues, fraud, compliance concerns, or operational exposure.

An asset search is an investigative review intended to identify potential property, business interests, financial indicators, registrations, records, or other asset-related information.

A witness interview is a structured conversation used to gather, clarify, or preserve information from someone who may have observed or know facts relevant to an incident, dispute, investigation, or claim.

Case intake is the initial process of gathering client goals, facts, authority, scope, risk issues, deadlines, and documentation needs before investigative work begins.

A security provider is a company or organization that delivers protective services, personnel, consulting, systems support, patrol coverage, access-control support, or other security operations for a client.

A security guard is a person assigned to observe, deter, report, control access, conduct patrols, respond to site conditions, or support client safety and property-protection objectives.

Executive protection is a security service focused on reducing risk to executives, high-profile individuals, visiting leaders, witnesses, or other protected persons through planning, movement support, situational awareness, and protective procedures.

A security risk assessment is a structured review of threats, vulnerabilities, controls, operations, documentation, and exposure areas that may affect people, property, information, or business continuity.

Vendor due diligence is the review of a prospective or existing vendor to understand service capability, legal standing, risk controls, reputation, documentation quality, and fit for a business need.

A threat assessment is a structured review of a person, situation, event, pattern, or condition that may create risk to people, property, operations, or business continuity.

Workplace violence prevention is the set of policies, assessments, training, reporting procedures, and response practices used to reduce the risk of violence or threatening behavior at work.

An incident report is a written record of an event, observation, response, or condition that a security team documents for client awareness, review, escalation, or future risk control.

A post-incident review is a structured lookback after an incident to understand what happened, what controls worked, what failed, and what corrective action should follow.

A corrective action plan is a documented plan that identifies what will be fixed, who owns the work, when it should be completed, and how completion will be verified.

Finding severity is a ranking method used to communicate the urgency, impact, or priority of a review finding, risk observation, incident issue, or control weakness.

Chain of custody is the documented history of who collected, handled, stored, transferred, reviewed, or preserved an item of evidence or information.

Evidence handling refers to the procedures used to collect, label, protect, store, transmit, and describe information or material that may support an investigation, incident review, claim, or business decision.

Open source intelligence, often called OSINT, is information collected and analyzed from publicly available or lawfully accessible sources for an intelligence, investigation, risk, or verification purpose.

Public records research is the review of government, court, corporate, licensing, property, or other publicly available records to support due diligence, investigations, or risk review.

Access control is the process of managing who may enter, use, or move through a location, system, area, asset, or controlled environment.

Security patrol is the planned movement of security personnel through a site, route, property, or service area to observe conditions, deter problems, identify risks, and document findings.

Physical security is the protection of people, property, facilities, assets, and operations through site controls, personnel, procedures, technology, and response planning.

Security post orders are written instructions that define the duties, limits, procedures, patrol expectations, reporting rules, and escalation steps for a specific security assignment.

Mobile patrol is a security service in which personnel travel between sites or areas to observe conditions, deter problems, check access points, and document exceptions.

Alarm response is the process of receiving, assessing, dispatching, documenting, and escalating a response to an alarm condition or security notification.

Visitor management is the process of identifying, authorizing, tracking, escorting, and documenting visitors, vendors, deliveries, or temporary entrants to a facility.

Camera monitoring is the observation, review, or management of video feeds and recordings to support deterrence, situational awareness, incident response, and documentation.

Confidentiality controls are policies, procedures, access limits, training practices, and documentation rules used to protect sensitive client, employee, case, security, or business information.

A scope of work is a written definition of the services, expectations, limits, deliverables, responsibilities, schedule, and assumptions for a security or investigation engagement.

Authority to act is the legal, contractual, organizational, or client-granted basis that allows a provider to perform a security, investigation, access, or response activity.

A Denver private investigator is an investigator serving Denver-area clients with fact-gathering, due diligence, surveillance, records research, workplace, legal, or business investigation support.

A Denver security company is a provider serving Denver-area businesses with protective services such as guard coverage, patrol, access control support, risk assessment, incident reporting, or related security operations.