True detectives: The private lives of private investigators

This Canterbury husband and wife share how they went from being local police officers to private investigators working all over the world. 

MAS Members Simon and Leone Scott are a down-to-earth Christchurch couple living a life that is far from ordinary. As former police officers turned private investigators, they find themselves everywhere from workplaces to war zones, uncovering all kinds of misconduct, from fraud to corruption to abuse. It takes a certain kind of courage, and a strong bond, to do what they do, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Where it all began 

Simon: I’m from a family of 12, and grew up on a farm just outside Timaru. I joined the police in 1991 and worked in Wellington and then Auckland until late 2009, when we moved down to Christchurch. During my time in the police, I ran several Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) offices and many cases, including one very high-profile homicide enquiry into the death of Anan Liu, in Auckland in 2007 [and her husband’s subsequent abandonment of their 3-year-old daughter ‘Pumpkin’ in Melbourne]. That case went right around the world. 

Leone: I joined the CIB quite early in my career and wound up doing a lot of investigation into sexual harm. I always knew I didn’t want to end up in management in the police, I was more interested in working on the humanitarian side.  

Finding each other 

Leone: We met through mutual friends in the police. Simon likes to say he was my boss, but he wasn’t. A week after our wedding, we were deployed to the Solomon Islands. At that point, we were the first married couple to be deployed overseas together in any of the services. Now here we are, years later, and we’ve ended up back in the humanitarian space, working with UN organisations and NGOs all over the world. 

Pivoting from policing 

Leone: In 2010, I was on maternity leave, Simon was transitioning out of policing and we’d just moved to Christchurch. Then the earthquakes happened and that whole experience ended up launching us into something new. We had friends with investigation businesses in Auckland and they needed work done in Christchurch, so we decided to do it. These days, we’re split between 2 organisations: OSACO New Zealand, where we work with some business partners running workplace investigations locally, then Simon works for OSACO Group [an international organisation] with consultants all around the world. He is their Global Investigations Coordinator.  

Simon: Through OSACO Group we work with several UN organisations, but also hundreds of other humanitarian organisations around the world. They have a lot of people working in refugee camps under the worst conditions. They don’t always have the ability to investigate confidential issues or if there’s been a conflict of interest, so that’s where they will engage companies like OSACO Group to do expert investigations. 

The challenges… and the risks 

Leone: With this work you do end up in some interesting places and having unusual experiences. I’ve done a couple of jobs in Papua New Guinea, and they tell you they’ll organise some transport, and you find yourself in a caged metal van, carrying a beacon in case you get into any trouble. You’re thinking, “But these people I’m dealing with are so nice.” You just can’t imagine that you’re actually going to get hurt. 

Then a couple of years ago, I went into the biggest refugee camp in the world, in Cox’s Bazar, Southeastern Bangladesh. In that scenario, you’re talking to people who have been displaced for years and they’re still highly traumatised from what’s happened to them and their family. A woman I spoke to there had experienced terrible things, including being separated from 2 of her children, and losing one of her children in the most horrific act when they’d been pushed over the border from Myanmar. You have to earn trust from someone before they’ll share that story. 

Simon: New Zealanders are well placed to do this work, especially as police officers. We’re hard-wired to be respectful and to respect other people’s cultures, and we’re used to building one-on-one relationships very quickly. Our skills honed in New Zealand Government organisations have stood us in good stead for dealing with these other investigations all around the world. 

Making it work, together 

Leone: It helps that we’re good friends – although he is quite loud. There are not many people in the world who are more extroverted than Simon. When he was in the police, he would get up really early and get a lot of work done, so that by the time the troops were coming in he could focus on them. He made it fun for people and he always spent time talking to them about their cases. With OSACO Group, he’s dealing with people all around the world, but he’s still able to bring a bit of humour to what he does.  

Simon: I’d say we have complementary skills. I always say, “There’s no use marching in the right direction if you’re in the wrong forest.” So I make sure we’re in the right forest, but Leone’s really good at marching. 

Leone: I’m a really detailed person. I’m there figuring out how we’re actually going to do something and what it takes to make it happen.  

My expertise is in interviewing. We’ve both interviewed many survivors of historic abuse over the years, but we have completely different styles. Simon will talk to men who are survivors and he’ll be talking about cricket and rugby, and somehow, in the midst of that, the person will share their story and will leave feeling really happy that they’ve told it.  

Dealing with the tough stuff 

Simon: People don’t always think about it, but when you’re in the police you have to deal with death a lot. It’s everything from dealing with the body, to getting it to the mortuary, to having to tell the family about the sudden death of a loved one. It’s not easy, but as a young police officer you learn to do it pretty quickly.  

Leone: When it comes to the stories you hear from people, you just have to remember that you can’t own it. You have to say to yourself, “This is not my story. I’m just here to help.” I’ll definitely think about those cases a lot while I’m working on them, but I don’t bring my work home with me. 

When we’re not working, we go to the gym a lot and we go walking in the hills. Plus, we’ve got 3 busy, sporty kids, so we don’t actually have time to dwell on this stuff. We get involved with their sport and we’re on the committee for things, and it means you just go and meet a whole different group of people.  

Sometimes we find that there’s a lot on our plate, but I don’t think we’d have it any other way.  

Human nature 

Leone: What this job teaches you about human nature is that we’re probably never going to be out of work. People are always going to do terrible things to each other, whether it’s in relationships, workplaces or war zones. A lot of times, people do what they do to survive or because they don’t know any better. Other times, and I know this sounds terrible, but you do think it’s just evil.  

Simon: That said, we deal with people who work for humanitarian organisations and who put themselves in danger every day because they care so much. And that’s not going away either. We see the absolute best and the absolute worst of humanity.  

Leone: One thing you can say about our job is that no 2 days are ever the same. And we’ve got a great bunch of friends and family we can always go and talk to. We don’t necessarily have to talk about what we do, but it’s having that support that matters. The kids are funny – people will say, “Where’s your mum today?” and they’ll say, “Oh, she’s in some remote country.” One of our boys just tells people we’re spies! 

A moment with MAS   

Leone: Our house was previously owned by a doctor, and he had an EQC claim [now the Natural Hazards Commission] that hadn’t yet been settled when we bought the house. I asked who his insurance company was, and he said MAS. So we became Members and they were amazing. Dealing with them through repairs and getting the house sorted, they were rock stars. They continue to be fantastic, including last year when our boys flooded the upstairs bathroom! We were out for a walk at the time, and when we got back there was water everywhere. Everyone we spoke to at MAS was great, and it means that dealing with insurers is not one of the stresses we have to worry about.  

Find out more about MAS House Insurance and MAS Contents Insurance options or contact the MAS team on 0800 800 627.