Ontario Private Investigator Mock Exam 1

All 60 questions in this test

Every question and its answer choices. The correct answers and explanations appear when you take the test above.

1. Which ability does the syllabus list under adaptability for private investigators?

   1. Keeping the same routine on every file
   2. Choosing clients based on personal comfort
   3. Refusing assignments in uncomfortable settings
   4. Adjusting appearance or persona to suit the assignment

2. You need a statement from a 16-year-old witness. What is industry practice?

   1. Wait until the youth turns 18 before taking a statement
   2. Have the youth's teacher sign in place of a parent
   3. Get a parent's or guardian's permission and let them be present
   4. Interview the youth alone so that their answers are not influenced by adults

3. Which of these is an example of trace evidence?

   1. A surveillance video of the subject
   2. A signed witness statement
   3. A business invoice from a supplier
   4. Fibres from clothing found at the scene

4. Which of these is a team surveillance technique named in the study guide?

   1. Door knocking
   2. Tailgating
   3. Pretexting
   4. Leapfrogging

5. Which law governs access to records held by Ontario government ministries?

   1. The Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
   2. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
   3. The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
   4. The Private Security and Investigative Services Act

6. Who may arrest a person found committing a criminal offence on or in relation to property?

   1. Any investigator hired by a neighbouring business that saw the offence
   2. Only the property's insurance company
   3. Only the police force for that municipality
   4. The owner or lawful possessor, or someone they authorize

7. Who is exempt from Ontario's private investigator training and testing requirement?

   1. A former police officer who left the service in the last year
   2. A holder of a permanent PI licence from another province earned by testing
   3. Anyone with five years of full-time experience as a licensed security guard in Ontario
   4. Any graduate of a university criminology or law degree

8. When may an investigator place a GPS tracking device on a vehicle?

   1. Only at night when the vehicle is on a public street
   2. Whenever the driver is the subject of the file
   3. Whenever the client is paying for the investigation
   4. Only with the permission of the vehicle's owner

9. A target offers you, undercover, a share of the client's stolen goods. What does the study guide allow?

   1. Refuse it and immediately reveal your identity
   2. Sell it quietly and use the money to cover the costs of the investigation
   3. Accept the property, but as a rule do not take part in theft
   4. Accept it and help with the next theft as well

10. A statement you are taking may amount to a confession. What must you avoid?

    1. Letting the person read the statement first
    2. Asking the person to initial each page
    3. Writing down the time the interview ended
    4. Any threat or promise of immunity

11. You go up a house's front walk to knock and ask the resident a question. What does the Act presume?

    1. Entry is trespass unless a sign invites visitors
    2. Any entry on residential land needs written permission
    3. Access to the door for a lawful purpose is not prohibited
    4. Entry is allowed only if the owner is home

12. While undercover for suspected theft, you see serious safety violations the client did not mention. What should you do?

    1. Fix them yourself without telling anyone
    2. Report them to the workers' union first
    3. Observe and report them along with the theft
    4. Ignore them, as they are outside your mandate

13. When is an undercover operation generally used?

    1. As the first step in every workplace case
    2. Only when the police ask the agency for help
    3. As a last resort after other techniques are exhausted
    4. Whenever the client prefers not to pay for surveillance

14. Which is a decision-making skill the study guide expects of private investigators?

    1. Telling relevant facts apart from irrelevant ones
    2. Making decisions quickly without checking facts
    3. Relying on first impressions of a subject
    4. Letting the client make every judgment call

15. Which detail should open every standard surveillance report?

    1. The investigator's opinion of the subject
    2. A summary of the subject's guilt
    3. The subject's name, file number, date and time
    4. The client's billing rate for the file

16. A knife is to be presented in court as real evidence. What is usually needed to show it is the same object?

    1. A signed statement from the accused's employer
    2. A witness explains where and how it was found and where it was kept
    3. A photograph of a similar knife from a store catalogue
    4. The investigator's own opinion that the knife looks the same as the one at the scene

17. When may an organization disclose personal information to another organization without consent for an investigation?

    1. Only when the person has already been charged with an offence
    2. When it is reasonable to investigate a breach and consent would compromise it
    3. Whenever the requesting organization holds a valid PI business licence in Ontario
    4. Only when the information is more than seven years old

18. Under the Ontario Evidence Act, what notice must a party give before using a business record as evidence?

    1. At least seven days' notice to the other parties
    2. At least 24 hours' notice to the witness
    3. At least 30 days' notice to the court clerk
    4. No notice, since business records are always admissible

19. A retail loss prevention worker watches for shoplifters in a store. Which licence does the PSISA treat this work as needing?

    1. A business licence to sell investigators
    2. A security guard licence
    3. No licence at all, as store staff
    4. A private investigator licence

20. After the signatures on the last page of a statement, what is common practice?

    1. Staple a blank page for the lawyer's notes
    2. Draw an x through the rest of the page
    3. Leave the space blank for later additions
    4. Write the client's name in the remaining space

21. Why should you not rely only on a digital recorder for surveillance notes?

    1. Recordings of your own voice are inadmissible
    2. Clients will not pay for transcription time
    3. Batteries can drain and the device can malfunction
    4. The PSISA bans recorders during surveillance

22. How must a public complaint against a licensee normally be filed with the Registrar?

    1. In writing and signed, within 90 days of the events
    2. In person at a police station within one year
    3. By phone to ServiceOntario within 30 days
    4. Online and anonymously at any time after the events

23. Before signing, a witness asks to remove a sentence from her statement. How is the change made?

    1. Strike a line through it; both of you initial the start and end
    2. Leave it in and add a note on the last page
    3. Use correction fluid on the sentence and have only the witness initial it
    4. Rewrite the whole page and destroy the original

24. After making a citizen's arrest, what must a private investigator do?

    1. Deliver the person to a peace officer as soon as possible
    2. Hold the person until a lawyer arrives to advise them
    3. Release the person after taking a written statement
    4. Take the person to the client's office for questioning

25. While following a subject's car, the subject runs a red light. What should you do?

    1. Obey the Highway Traffic Act and stop at the light
    2. Follow through the light to avoid losing the subject
    3. Run the light only if no other cars are nearby
    4. Flash your headlights so traffic lets you through

26. Which information can be collected without consent under the Regulations Specifying Publicly Available Information?

    1. Some publicly available records, such as certain judicial records
    2. A subject's bank statements obtained from a helpful teller at their branch
    3. Medical records requested from a family doctor
    4. Tax returns obtained from a former accountant

27. To serve a document, you must get inside an apartment building with a locked lobby. What applies?

    1. You may enter if you show your licence to the superintendent
    2. You may follow a resident in, since service is urgent
    3. Serving a court document overrides the building's rules
    4. You must still comply with the Trespass to Property Act

28. Which duty appears in the Code of Conduct for individual licensees while working?

    1. Share useful information with any client who asks for it
    2. Keep work information confidential unless disclosure is required
    3. Keep all information secret even when a law or the work requires disclosure
    4. Report every case to police before telling the client

29. Which is NOT a way to give notice that entry is prohibited under the Trespass to Property Act?

    1. Using red markings at the access points
    2. Telling the person orally
    3. Mailing a notice to the local police division
    4. Posting signs visible at each normal entrance

30. You learn the subject of your surveillance is represented by a lawyer. What is general practice?

    1. Contact the lawyer to ask for the subject's schedule
    2. Avoid any verbal contact or interaction with the subject
    3. Tell the subject the lawyer has approved the surveillance in advance
    4. Interview the subject before the lawyer finds out

31. Under section 34, what must be true of an act done to defend yourself from force?

    1. It must use less force than the attacker used
    2. It must happen only after police are called
    3. It must be approved by a supervisor first
    4. It must be reasonable in the circumstances

32. When should you write your investigative report after an interview?

    1. Immediately after the interview
    2. After the case goes to court
    3. At the end of the week with other reports
    4. Only if the client asks for one

33. In surveillance training, what does being made mean?

    1. The video has been sealed as evidence
    2. The file has been approved by the client
    3. The subject has identified the person watching them
    4. The investigator has finished a full shift

34. Which list gives the six core steps for containing evidence?

    1. Observe, deter, record, report, testify, file
    2. Collect, analyse, copy, share, return, archive
    3. Locate, seize, photograph, label, store and then destroy
    4. Collect, secure, preserve, identify, continuity, log

35. An applicant was convicted of an offence listed in the Clean Criminal Record regulation and has no pardon. What happens?

    1. They may work under a provisional licence until the Registrar holds a hearing
    2. They may be licensed after a one-year waiting period
    3. They are not eligible and the application cannot be processed
    4. They may be licensed if their employer vouches for them

36. What is the key purpose of taking a witness statement?

    1. To keep an accurate record of the witness's recollection
    2. To get the witness to agree with the client's view
    3. To replace the need for the witness to testify
    4. To test whether the witness will take a bribe

37. Before going undercover in a workplace, which briefing topic does the study guide list?

    1. Who the supervisors and any known suspects are
    2. The client's annual profit and tax filings
    3. The home addresses of all the employees
    4. The salaries of the company's managers

38. An authorized person arrests a trespasser under the Trespass to Property Act. What must they do next?

    1. Hold the person until the occupier decides on charges
    2. Release the person once they give their name and address
    3. Promptly call police and hand the person into police custody
    4. Take the person's photo and escort them off the land

39. Your file is missing the subject's date of birth before surveillance starts. What should you do?

    1. Ask the subject's neighbours for it
    2. Phone the subject pretending to be a pollster
    3. Start anyway and guess from the subject's looks
    4. Check the file or contact your office to confirm it

40. An accused voluntarily admits the theft to a co-worker, who later testifies about it. How does the study guide treat this?

    1. It is admissible only if a police officer was present
    2. It counts as opinion evidence from the co-worker
    3. It is hearsay and can never be admitted in a trial
    4. It falls outside the hearsay rule and may be admissible

41. What kind of law is PIPEDA?

    1. An Ontario regulation on licence renewals
    2. A federal law on intercepting phone calls
    3. An Ontario law on access to records held by municipalities and boards
    4. A federal law on how businesses handle personal information

42. Why should you limit how many people handle a piece of evidence?

    1. Because the Registrar must approve each handler
    2. To lower the cost of storing the evidence
    3. To keep an unbroken, documented chain of custody
    4. Because only licensed investigators may touch evidence

43. Under the PSISA, what kind of paid work requires a private investigator licence?

    1. Occasional fact-checking done as a small part of another job
    2. Work that mainly consists of investigations to provide information
    3. Work that mainly consists of patrolling to protect property
    4. Any job that involves regularly reading public court records for others

44. What is the minimum in-class time for basic private investigator training?

    1. 33.5 hours
    2. 40 hours
    3. 50 hours
    4. 29 hours

45. What is the minimum age to hold an individual private investigator licence in Ontario?

    1. 21 years old
    2. 19 years old
    3. 16 years old
    4. 18 years old

46. Which of these courts is the highest court in Canada?

    1. The Federal Court of Appeal
    2. The Supreme Court of Canada
    3. The Tax Court of Canada
    4. The Ontario Court of Appeal

47. In a civil lawsuit, what is the person or business that starts the action called?

    1. The defendant
    2. The third party
    3. The Crown
    4. The plaintiff

48. While openly working as a private investigator, a member of the public asks who you are. What must you do?

    1. Give only your first name and your employer's main office phone number
    2. Identify yourself as a private investigator and produce your licence
    3. Show your business card instead of the licence itself
    4. Refuse, because your work is confidential under the PSISA

49. Under established Canadian practice, when is monitoring employee email without notice considered acceptable?

    1. When it is done on the company's own server or network
    2. When the employee's personal email is accessed remotely
    3. When it is done on the employee's home computer
    4. When the employee is on vacation and away from work

50. Under section 423(2), attending near a dwelling is not watching or besetting when it is done only to:

    1. Show the occupant they are being watched
    2. Wait until the occupant agrees to talk
    3. Obtain or communicate information
    4. Pressure the occupant to settle a claim

51. Which of these is one of the ways to commit trespass under the Trespass to Property Act?

    1. Using the normal path to knock on a front door
    2. Taking a photo of a building from the street
    3. Refusing to leave right away when the occupier says to go
    4. Walking on a public sidewalk that runs beside someone's private land

52. Before starting a locate or background investigation, what should you first establish with the client?

    1. A cover story for contacting neighbours
    2. A justifiable mandate for the investigation
    3. The number of hours the client will pay
    4. The subject's likely daily schedule

53. You suspect the person a client wants found is in a witness protection program. What must you do?

    1. Ask the Registrar for written permission to continue
    2. Locate the person but report the address only to police
    3. Continue if the client signs a release of liability
    4. Not locate or gather information to locate that person

54. You are working undercover as a warehouse employee. What does the study guide say about carrying your licence?

    1. You must wear it visibly so co-workers can check it
    2. You need not carry or show it if that would endanger you or the case
    3. You must leave it with the client for the length of the job
    4. You must carry it but show it only to the warehouse supervisor if asked

55. Without lawful authority or a signed release, which records must an investigator not try to obtain?

    1. Small Claims Court files
    2. Bank, tax or credit records
    3. Land registry and corporate searches
    4. Newspaper archives at the library

56. Under the Trespass to Property Act, who can be an occupier of premises?

    1. Only a tenant with a written lease
    2. Only the person named as the registered owner on the land title
    3. Anyone in physical possession or in control of the premises
    4. Only a person who lives on the premises

57. A client wants a credit check on a job applicant. According to the study guide, when can it be done?

    1. With the consent of the person being checked
    2. Only after the person has been hired
    3. Only with a warrant from a justice of the peace
    4. Whenever the client has a business reason

58. You see a person committing an indictable offence. What does section 494 allow?

    1. Only a peace officer may arrest them
    2. Any person may arrest them without a warrant
    3. You may arrest only if you are on duty
    4. You may arrest only with the client's consent

59. All previous addresses for a missing person are out of date and other searches failed. What is the last resort?

    1. A local newspaper ad with the last known address
    2. Requesting the person's tax file from the CRA
    3. Asking a police contact to run a database check
    4. Posting the person's photo on social media as wanted

60. A client asks you to give less courteous service to people of a certain ethnic origin. What does the Code of Conduct require?

    1. Refer the request to the Registrar before deciding
    2. Comply only if the client puts the request in writing
    3. Follow the client's instructions, since the client pays
    4. Treat all persons equally without discrimination