Summer School: The Life of a Private Investigator

DEVIANT

Cold Open Media

True Crime

4.8 • 610 Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ever wonder what private investigators really do when the cameras aren’t rolling? Forget the Hollywood clichés—no wiretaps, no lockpicks, no magic gadgets. In this episode, host Andrew Iden and veteran PI Ken Childs pulls back the curtain on the realities of surveillance, insurance fraud cases, missing persons, and the risks of being spotted in the field. From tense stakeouts in Beverly Hills to dangerous encounters in bad neighborhoods, Childs shares 27 years of experience tracking cheaters, scammers, and fraudsters across Los Angeles. He also reveals how new technology—Ring cams, social media, and open-source intelligence—has completely changed the game for private investigators. Whether you’re fascinated by true crime, curious about the PI world, or just want to know how close TV shows come to the truth, this episode will keep you hooked. 👉 What do you think—are private investigators properly understood? Do they deserve more credit for the risks they take? Drop your thoughts in the comments. GET KEN'S BOOK ON BEING A PI: https://a.co/d/idYQqlI JOIN OUR PATREON: http://www.deviantpodcast.com Visit DEVIANT's socials: http://www.instagram.com/deviant.podcast http://www.tiktok.com/@deviant.podcast Copyright 2025 Cold Open Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.0	I've ruled out uni because I want to live at home. I've ruled out uni because I want to earn money.
0:35.8	I've ruled out uni because of my grades.
0:43.2	Study with the Open University and there's no need to rule out anything.
0:47.5	With our respected degrees, you can learn from home and work alongside study.
0:49.0	We're open to all.
0:51.9	Plus, you'll have the support of expert tutors.
0:55.9	So rethink your future with the degree you didn't think was possible.
0:57.8	The Open University.
0:59.7	The future is open.
1:08.6	There's a lot of jobs in the crime and justice and criminal space that we've obviously explored on our deviant summer school series.
1:12.1	But one of the ones we haven't gotten to is what we're jumping into today, and that is the job of a private investigator. And I think we all sort of have
1:18.1	probably a vision in our head of what a private investigator looks like and, you know, does.
1:23.6	Cheating husband, cheating wife calls and has a PI, figure out what's going on.
1:28.6	But it's actually a lot more nuance than that.
1:32.0	And we're going to talk today to a guy by the name of Ken Childs, who is just that.
1:37.1	He's a private investigator, a private detective.
1:40.0	And unlike a lot of PIs has never been a police officer or a detective.
1:44.8	So he comes to this solely 100% from the side of being, you know, private.
1:51.2	But what's interesting is that he does a lot of work in the insurance space,
1:55.2	in the corporate space.
	...

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