City and vertical
Houston investigation work runs through Texas DPS private security licensing, Occupations Code Chapter 1702, one-party recording-law review, field assignments, surveillance notes, evidence records, and attorney handoffs. PI Core structures that work without replacing investigator judgment.
Quick answer
PI Core is Butler Solutions' investigation case management software surface for Houston private investigation firms. It supports intake, assignments, investigator notes, surveillance records, media and document organization, evidence references, attorney handoff context, audit-oriented operations, and migration from CROSStrax, Trackops, or CaseFleet. Houston fit depends on Texas Department of Public Safety private security regulation, Occupations Code Chapter 1702, Texas Penal Code section 16.02 recording-law review, one-party consent context, local attorney relationships, Harris County court-adjacent investigation work, and federal Southern District handoffs where investigations support legal matters. PI Core does not file DPS renewals, decide whether a recording is lawful, guarantee admissibility, or replace investigator judgment. It keeps licensing, evidence, recording-law, assignment, and attorney-review context visible in the case record. Pricing is $99, $149, $199, or custom by user count, with a 3-month free trial, founding cohort discount, design partner path, and migration terms described on Butler's pricing and migration pages.
PI Core in Houston
This page is narrower than the Houston city hub and the Texas PI Core page. It is for investigation firms evaluating how PI Core maps to Houston field and attorney handoff work.
The page cites Texas licensing, recording-law, court, and local legal sources. It does not claim automatic recording-law decisions, direct court integration, or automatic evidence admissibility analysis.
Houston regulatory landscape
Houston investigation software has to account for state licensing, one-party recording-law review, surveillance documentation, evidence records, and attorney handoffs in a large regional legal market.
Texas regulates private investigation through DPS private security authority and Occupations Code Chapter 1702. PI Core can track license-review context, assignment records, responsible staff, and case documentation without filing renewals or deciding eligibility.
Texas Penal Code section 16.02 and recording-law guidance make recording decisions practitioner-reviewed. PI Core can track audio flags, consent notes, interview context, and attorney review status; it does not decide whether a recording is lawful.
Houston investigators often serve criminal defense, civil litigation, family, business, and federal matters. PI Core keeps attorney, court, matter, evidence, document, and delivery context organized without claiming court-system integration.
Surveillance records, photos, video, location notes, witness interviews, and document collections need an audit-oriented case record. PI Core structures those materials around assignment, source, review, and handoff context.
Workflow specificity
PI Core's Houston workflow framing focuses on modern investigation operations: field assignments, surveillance documentation, evidence organization, recording-law review context, and attorney handoffs.
PI Core keeps client, requesting attorney, subject, assignment, investigator, due date, status, and scope notes visible for Houston cases. It does not decide whether a requested investigation is lawful or advisable.
Investigators can keep surveillance notes, observation windows, media references, location context, and review status close to the case record. PI Core does not automate field legality, trespass review, or recording-law judgment.
PI Core organizes documents, photos, video, audio flags, witness materials, and case notes around assignment and handoff context. It supports chain-of-custody style review discipline without guaranteeing admissibility.
Houston investigators working for lawyers can keep attorney, matter, privilege context, deliverables, review notes, and handoff status together. Attorney work product and privilege decisions remain practitioner-reviewed.
Houston firms moving from CROSStrax, Trackops, or CaseFleet can use the PI Core trial period for a parallel run. Imported cases, contacts, documents, media references, assignments, and active statuses are reviewed before cutover.
Pricing and programs
PI Core uses Butler's uniform pricing structure: Starter at $99 per user per month, Small Team at $149 per user per month, Firm at $199 per user per month, and custom pricing above 25 users. PI Core includes a 3-month free trial. Each product has a founding cohort with 100 spots and 25% off for 2 years, plus an application-based design partner program with 10 spots per product.
Migration
PI Core migration follows Butler's existing migration program. Founding cohort customers receive migration free. Standard cloud-to-cloud migration is $499 for typical scope up to 5,000 records. Complex migration is $1,499 for multi-source histories, large document libraries, or unusual source structures. Migration fees are credited back as platform credit after 6 months of paid subscription.
Houston PI Core FAQ
Yes. PI Core is built for investigation firms that need intake, assignments, evidence records, surveillance documentation, attorney handoffs, recording-law review context, audit-oriented operations, and migration support from incumbent PI systems.
No. PI Core can track license-review context, staff responsibility, assignment records, and documentation status. It does not file DPS renewals, decide eligibility, or replace licensing review under Texas private security rules.
PI Core can keep audio flags, consent notes, interview context, and attorney review status close to the case. It does not decide whether a recording is lawful under Texas Penal Code section 16.02 or any other authority.
Yes, as case workflow. PI Core supports assignments, surveillance notes, observation windows, media references, evidence organization, review status, and handoff tracking. Field legality, trespass, and recording decisions remain investigator-reviewed.
No direct court integration is claimed. Court and attorney sources are used to frame legal-market context. PI Core organizes investigation records, assignments, documents, evidence references, and handoffs on the firm side.
PI Core can track requesting attorney, client, matter, scope notes, deliverables, evidence references, review status, and delivery context. It does not decide privilege, work product, or admissibility questions.
Yes, where usable exports or records are available. Migration review identifies cases, clients, contacts, assignments, reports, documents, media references, custom fields, and active investigation risks before cutover.
Butler does not position PI Core as the cheapest option. Pricing is per user at $99, $149, $199, or custom by user count. The reason to evaluate PI Core is modern evidence and handoff workflow fit.
No. PI Core supports structured evidence records, review status, source notes, and handoff context. Admissibility, authentication, privilege, and court use remain practitioner and attorney review questions.
Start with PI Core pricing if user count, trial period, founding cohort eligibility, and migration terms are the main questions. Use contact if the questions are licensing workflow, recording-law review, surveillance evidence, attorney handoffs, or migration scoping.
Public sources cited
City and vertical information cited from public sources current as of May 5, 2026. Butler updates city+vertical content as court, licensing, and local practice sources change. The source set combines local city and county authorities with matching state-level PI Core authorities where those sources support the city-specific claims above.
Houston PI Core evaluation
Use pricing if the main question is user count, trial period, founding cohort, or migration terms. Use contact if the question is local court fit, source-system migration, or implementation scope.