this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2024
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Happened to my mum!
She said she felt like someone was following her as she kept seeing a new car outside and she didn't know who it belonged to.
My sister who lives with her said she was crazy.
Surprise surprise, few months later she gets a letter with pictures of her sometimes leaving the house saying they did an investigation.
Since the pictures were mostly her limping heavily to take her service dog out to go to the bathroom it was fine.
But yeah its no joke, but makes sense. My mom has been on disability near 10 years, that's 400k+ in benefits paid out. Paying 2k for a private investigator only has to work a small percentage of the time to save money.
Kind of weird that they would send the pictures when the result of the investigation was that the claim was legitimate.
Or do they have to legally provide that info I don't know how it works
Could just be their policy. Don't know more I'm afraid.
So they legally have to release the pictures after a while? That would be good to know.
And of course the government is bought and paid for so no one is arresting them for stalking charges
I mean PI's are legal.
Laws are complicated. But as long as they don't cause a nuisance and stay on public property, they're no more invasive than paparazzi's after all.
They are technically legal but really shouldn't be. They have been used historically as a rent-for-hire police force and we have enough problems with real police forces that have much more oversight. The solution to poor regulations isnt less regulations, it is better regulations.
Not to be too snarky but if I a middle aged man who looks like a construction worker was following a woman in your life around taking pictures of her how would you feel? And yes feelings matter. Consent is fucking important and I am tired of people dismissing it. Just because I have the ability to lawfully do something doesn't mean that I should or that it should be acceptable that I do.
People should have a right to be left alone and not be stalked. And if that means the occasional worker gets a slightly bigger settlement then they should so be it.
Oh and fyi I have been on the receiving end of this. Right when I graduated I took a job with a corporation that had a weapons division (I didn't even work in that department) and under a week after I started my neighbors told me that someone started asking about me. Plus I had a car follow me around. Mentioned it at work to my new boss and he said the same thing happened to him when he started.