Patrick Kurtz in an Extensive Article by the Der Tagesspiegel About the Detective Profession

Since last autumn, the Tagesspiegel journalist Kai Müller has been researching the topics of the detective profession in Germany, detective training and detectives in Berlin. For this purpose he also spoke with Patrick Kurtz, the owner of Kurtz Investigations Berlin. The article appeared under the title “The High Art of Snooping – Berlin Is the Capital of Private Detectives” with the introduction: “Spying on adulterers? Nonsense? That was yesterday. Nowhere are more private detectives trained than in Berlin. Yet there are things for which no one can prepare them.”

 

Below you will find a transcript of the passages concerning Patrick Kurtz and a case handled by the Kurtz detective agency. We recommend also reading the rest of the – quite extensive – article, as it examines the topic in greater detail than most other articles about detectives in recent years.

The Services of Investigators Are Sometimes Misused

It does happen that the services of investigators are misused. Patrick Kurtz became a detective after studying literature. “I have smoked a pipe since I was 14,” he says, referring to his youthful idol Sherlock Holmes. He recounts a case in which the true intention behind an assignment only became clear after it had been completed.

 

Kurtz had been commissioned by a large family to search for their missing daughter. The very first meeting had already been delicate. The parents complained that they were worried and did not know what to do. As the girl was older than 18, Kurtz explained that if he found her, he could only ask whether she wished to have contact with her family. Such are the requirements of personal rights. The family agreed. They signed the contract.

Payment Is for the Search, Not for the Result

It was not difficult to trace the woman. As it turned out, she had disappeared together with her German boyfriend, whom her family considered unsuitable. Through tears, she asked the detectives not to disclose her whereabouts, as she feared becoming the victim of an honour killing.

 

Detectives sometimes have to act as advisers in life matters, Kurtz says. In this case he hoped to calm the situation. Knowing what the daughter had said might be better than knowing nothing at all. Or might it not? Now only the final formalities remained. The detective was invited by the parents to a restaurant in order to settle the payment.

 

Detectives conclude service contracts. Unlike contracts for work, these are not tied to an agreed result. Payment is made for the search, not for the finding.

 

As a precaution, Kurtz sent two colleagues. When they sat down with the parents at a table, more and more family members came from the rear areas of the restaurant and surrounded the two men. It was clear what they wanted: the location.

Note from Kurtz Detective Agency Berlin

Our investigation contracts contain a clause that preserves the rights of target persons who have sought protection or are still seeking protection – in state or federal protection programmes, in non-profit women’s or children’s shelters, with relatives and friends. Since a justified need to seek protection constitutes a highly important legal interest, it usually outweighs the legitimate interests of our clients. In such cases, information cannot be disclosed in order to protect the person sought.

Kurtz Detective Agency Berlin

Rykestraße 26

10405 Berlin

Tel.: +49 30 555 786 41-0

Fax: +49 30 555 786 41-9

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

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

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