Dave Bell formed Expol Ltd when he retired as a detective chief inspector in 2005. His colleague, former Detective Inspector Rob Kinrade, joined the firm as a director in 2007.

Mr Bell explained: 'We were both former senior detectives with the Isle of Man Constabulary so the natural thing to do when I retired was to use the skills and competencies I had acquired during my police career.

'It was the same for Rob, doing something he was particularly skilled at, being the former head of the drug squad.'

As police officers they were trained in leadership and management as well as the investigation of serious and complex fraud.

'We do a whole myriad of things,' Mr Bell said. 'People use the phrase "private investigators", we coined the phrase "civil investigators" because it describes what we do more appropriately.'

The majority of their work is for the legal profession and businesses although they do have some private clients.

Expol Limited are investigators and inquiry agents operating in areas such as corporate and white collar crime, employee fraud, person tracing, asset tracing, due diligence and surveillance. Much of their work is carried out as defence support reviewing evidence and procedures and dealing with the unused material.

The business has grown steadily and has now branched into the areas of pre-employment staff screening and debt recovery.

Mr Bell said: 'Employers are aware of their responsibilities when employing individuals and prospective employees arrive from all over the world. We have a proprietary network of professional resources around the globe to provide a comprehensive screening network.

'Poor employee screening can result in litigation, sabotage, damage to the company's reputation and significantly lower future earnings.'

The firm has two subsidiaries, ExpolCollect and ExpolCheck.

Mr Kinrade said: 'Because of the credit crunch and economic crisis we have been driven by requests from clients to are undertake a number of debt recovery matters because, with the uncertainty in the economic climate, people are very conscious of gathering all of their assets.

'We have been inundated with clients recently requesting us to carry out debt recovery matters. We have developed a really efficient and professional investigative company, offering a quality service and delivering on time and to budget.'

Between both directors they clocked up 47 years' service with the police force and currently employ two staff. They have, on occasion, been accepted by the courts as expert witnesses on police procedures.

Both Mr Kinrade and Mr Bell were senior investigating officers, Home Office trained and qualified in the investigation of serious crime. Mr Bell said: 'We are very conscious that we have been out of the police for several years and it is important for our clients, if we are going to be effective on their behalf, that we keep our credentials up to date.'

Through their network with other former law enforcement professionals, the Expol directors recently attended a refresher course for former SIOs in Lancashire.

Using the expertise of a recently retired head of detective training school, the course was designed to provide an update on the latest procedures, case law and forensic issues.

Mr Bell said: 'Investigation techniques and practices constantly move forward. We have established ourselves as the leading support service to the legal profession, insurance industry, business and private clients.

'We must always keep our competency and knowledge base up to date. That way we can represent the best interests of our clients. The course has been extremely well received by the investigative sector in the UK and is likely to become an annual event.'

It is hoped the next event will be held in the Island.