Granted, not all Sam Spades are digging up dirt. But some clients will pay top dollar to find out highly personal information about someone else.

What prevents private investigators, or the people who hire them, from taking advantage?

Very little, it seems, as once-guarded information has become increasingly accessible to strangers. The law goes only so far. The private investigator must live by a personal code.

Private investigator Dean Pope works at his desk in his office off Pleasant Hoe Road. He said attorneys constitute a majority of his client base. MICHAEL HOLAHAN/STAFF

Picture a rudimentary, 1940s-style office, the furniture languishing under a thin layer of brown film as a rusty ceiling fan rotates just slowly enough to stir up the heat and the dust.

That image is Hollywood, not Dean Pope's office on Pleasant Home Road. His desk is new. His paperwork and professional mementos, not his feet, rest on the surface. The wall decor reflects his 30-year stint in the Navy, which culminated in his work as a criminal investigator.

According to the movies, being a private detective means you could get your throat slit for sticking your nose into other people's business.

That kind of danger is still real, Mr. Pope said during a recent interview. He always carries a handgun, although he has never had to use it. He said his intimidating size - he's 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 285 pounds - and respectful attitude have gone a long way toward preventing violence. He said it helps, too, that technology allows him and other investigators to keep a safer distance than in the past.

As he discussed his work, Mr. Pope swiveled around to his computer. His goal was to locate a woman on behalf of local attorneys in order to serve a subpoena. It was Thursday, and the woman was wanted in court the next Monday.

Attorneys constitute the majority of his client base.

``A Social Security number is the best way to find information about someone,'' he said as he accessed a secured pay Web site called AutoTrackXP. ``If I have yours, I own you.''

Some of the interesting miniature items used by private investigator Dean Pope include this room bug, left, which includes a transmitter and a tiny video camera, right. MICHAEL HOLAHAN/STAFF

Mr. Pope didn't have that magic number yet. He had only the name of the woman and her last known address.

Even though his cable line was down and he had to connect to the Internet through his telephone line, the online process took only a minute or two. The site merged databases, representing billions of records, in accordance with the name he provided. He obtained the Social Security number and performed a second search.

Here's what Mr. Pope found out: every residence the woman has called home in the past 10 years; all real property she has owned; how much she paid for her car and the trailer she bought with her husband; that she filed for bankruptcy in January; names, addresses and phone numbers of her family members and former neighbors; a chronology of credit-card purchases.

In other words, just about everything but names of pets she had as a child.

``WE DON'T DO credit reports,'' Mr. Pope stressed. He said he has high standards that are based on his personal ethics and the requirements for licensure under state law.

Mr. Pope interviews clients, examining their motives before accepting their cases. Most often, he's involved with some aspect of the court system, although his tasks can be diverse.

On any given day, he could be investigating a wreck on behalf of an insurance company, conducting electronic surveillance for a business routinely hit by thieves or tracking down a long-lost high school sweetheart.

``In today's business, you have to be able to do everything,'' Mr. Pope said.

But the bulk of his workload consists of criminal defense investigations, which sometimes put him on the opposite side of the law - at least in the courtroom.

Mr. Pope says his personal code of conduct extends beyond his respect for the law. For example, he said, he avoids deception in getting information. He said that helps with the public perception of his line of work.

Besides, his tools are effective enough that he doesn't need to lie, he said. In addition to the computer, Mr. Pope has other useful gadgets: wiretaps that fit in pill containers and video cameras that fit in spice jars. He keeps them in those types of containers until he needs them.

He calls such items his ``black stuff.'' That's because, under the law, they can be used only in certain circumstances. Secret videotaping may be done only in public areas - and even then only with a specific license. Phone conversations may be recorded only if at least one of the participants is aware of the taping.

Mr. Pope said, for example, that a husband who suspects his wife is cheating cannot bug his own phone line.

The investigator said if he were to bend the law for a client, even one who had been wronged, he could be hurting that client's chances at future legal recourse and damaging his own professional reputation.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS come up often in Mr. Pope's conversations, just because of the nature of his associations. He is licensed in Georgia and South Carolina. His friend and former boss, Gene Staulcup, is the chairman of the Georgia Board of Private Detectives and Security Agencies. The regulatory body is under the Division of Professional Licensing, overseen by the secretary of state's office.

Mr. Staulcup has owned the Staulcup & Associates investigative firm on Fifth Street since 1977.

``The board is always on the lookout for unlicensed or unethical practice,'' Mr. Staulcup said. ``Unlicensed practice is the biggest issue we deal with. We receive those complaints monthly.''

Operating a private detective or security service without a license is a misdemeanor.

Mr. Staulcup said the complaints often come from a peeved consumer who neglected to check professional qualifications up front. The so-called investigator in many cases doesn't have an office, Mr. Staulcup said, and asks for money up front. The investigator isn't qualified to provide adequate service - if indeed that is even his intent.

Mr. Staulcup said the Georgia licensing process has checks. The board reviews all applications, and the applicant must pass a board test and FBI and Georgia Crime Information Center background reviews.

Even so, ``A good number of licensees are sorely in need of training,'' he said.

Mr. Pope said he would like to see professional standards raised. ``If you have $350 and have worked security at Kmart for two years, you can run your own private investigation business.''

Georgia established licensing for private investigators in 1973. All but seven states have some form of licensing for the field.

TWO LAWS THAT GO into effect July 1 will affect private investigators. One will make their jobs easier; the other will make them tougher.

Mr. Staulcup said a Georgia law will allow the state's private detectives to continue investigations across state boundaries if the other state has similar standards for licensure and reciprocity. In the past, the investigator needed a license for each state in which he worked. The new law permits a 30-day grace period before a license must be obtained.

Investigators are less enthused about the other law, which tightens access to financial information. Under the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, financial institutions will not be able to sell individuals' records to third parties. The law will prevent ``header'' listings from credit records and other reports from being passed on to marketers and look-up services, such as the one Mr. Pope uses.

Investigators will have to access different databases or existing information, perhaps even hitting the streets a little more often, the investigators said.

Brian McKinney, vice president of Merchants Credit Bureau of Augusta, said financial institutions must notify consumers as to how they are using the information and allow them to opt out if they wish.

Mr. McKinney says the law will not significantly hinder investigations, however. ``There will be some people that won't answer the notice, and the information sharing will continue,'' he said.

Reach Eric Williamson at (706) 828-3904.