Elena Criado. Detective. Barcelona.
La Sociedad Clave should take to the street the true work that private detectives carry out every day, not only in the socio-economic sphere but also in the social and political one. It seems incredible that people still associate us exclusively with sick-leave fraud or infidelities, but, except within the legal world, that is exactly how it is.
Unaware that, on many occasions, justice is done precisely because the detective's evidence brings the courts closer to the reality of the facts and, at the same time, makes up for numerous shortcomings of the judicial system.
However, I have always personally felt that the detective has never overcome an inferiority complex that has weighed on the profession since its very beginnings, forever begging for space instead of recognising the space already held. Always on the defensive, believing that the whole world is against them, when in reality it is the detective who fails to value everything that has been achieved from the outset, always seeking external acceptance when not even among ourselves does consensus exist; and it is, in my opinion, this burden of low professional self-esteem that prevents us from evolving as a collective.
And speaking of evolving, it is clear that we are entering the digital age in full. Everything that has happened so far will be a mere anecdote compared with what is to come; we will soon fail to recognise the society we live in today, and all of this will happen at a headlong pace. If we are not alert and it catches us off guard, we run the risk of disappearing or being disparaged, because other professional groups may overtake us on the inside.
What I believe La Sociedad Clave should do is put forward a new figure of the detective (the current one is outdated), as a professional capable of adapting to the times, as if it were a professional reconfiguration: to give value to their many facets and fields of action, to assert them and, in addition, to offer ideas so that those of us already here and those just coming in may steer their professional careers towards the digital age.
The private detective is not only on the street (which is fundamental), but also in cyberspace (which is indispensable).
And why in Barcelona? Because Barcelona, whether others like it or not, was the cradle of private investigation in Spain, where the first investigation agency was born, where the first national association of detectives was created, and where the first professional body was established; it is therefore this city, as a pioneer in professional advances, that deserves to lead a project of change that elevates the figure of the detective and adapts it to the times we live in. In my view, in January, in Barcelona, we should without fail be talking about digitalisation and the detective; we must carve out a space for ourselves and, moreover, from La Sociedad Clave promote quality training in this field.
We are already running late!
