Ethics Week, 4 – Client Confidentiality

Client Evidence & Information–Paranormal evidence is popping up all over the web and on television. Under no circumstance should you ever publicize evidence without the client’s prior permission. This is where a release form comes in handy. This allows the client to grant or deny the right to share with the public any evidence you may have. Some clients do not want their private residence and their belongings shown to the world. Also do not share a private residence’s address or any other personal information with the public. It is your job, as a professional, to respect the rights and privacy of your client. If you publish evidence or information without permission, this may upset the client and make you and/or your group seem unprofessional; not to mention it may land you and your team in legal trouble.  When doing a home investigation the main priority should be for client confidentiality. Due to religious concerns, personal reasons, and simply the fact that some are embarrassed of the idea of paranormal phenomenon many clients will not want their name of information released.

• One way to avoid releasing any client information even to investigators is to create a case number when the case comes in and there-on refer to the case as such. Only the case manager or other records management individual will have the case information.
• It is imperative to only intrude into the client’s life as much as the case determines. Needless to say going through their underwear drawer most likely isn’t going to find you any paranormal evidence ( unless you have a pervert ghost)
• One method that some teams do is to cover or turn around any photos of the family to avoid any contamination. The less interaction investigators have with the family the better in order to avoid any potential contamination. Upon doing client interviews only the case manager and a DVR should be present, and this should not be made available to the rest of the team to allow for as close to a blind investigation as possible.
• Choose 2-3 investigators to work as a review team for each case in order to lessen the potential for bias. All evidence kept can be reviewed with the team as a whole. ( It is always a good idea to not let everyone review their own evidence to avoid bias )
• When doing public or historic locations is it difficult if not impossible to keep the team from knowing the history of the location. It is important to remind them however that they are looking for what is happening that day…not what has been reported in the past.

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Ashley Ann Lewis

Director / Dept Chair Occult at National Paranormal Society

Ashley became interested in the paranormal at a young age, but at that young age she did not have much understanding in it at all. I wasn’t until 2010 that she really became interested. Thanks to a Resolve carpet cleaning can that flew across the room, Ashley among three others who witness what happen that night, they pulled a team together. Ashley is a heavy researcher and though she may find the answer to what she is searching for she’ll search even harder. She’s overly determined and takes her part in the paranormal field very seriously. Between working hard and spending every dime she had she became a found of a paranormal team that is based out of Historic Louisiana and was honored to take on a position as a Representative with The National Paranormal Society. There is still so much she does not understand which drives her to work even harder and to further educate herself on everything.

Latest posts by Ashley Ann Lewis (see all)

• Alma – Wild Man of Central Asia - April 8, 2016
• Crypto and the Eye - November 19, 2015
• Negative spirits versus demonic - April 9, 2015