You asked for a summary of the eligibility criteria and application procedures for a private detective license. You also want to know if the law contains any reciprocity or waiver provisions.

SUMMARY

The law prohibits unlicensed people from (1) engaging in the private detective business or (2) soliciting business, representing themselves, or advertising as private detectives or as furnishing detective or investigative services. In practice, the Department of Public Safety (DPS), which regulates private detectives, requires any person or entity operating a private detective business to be licensed. But it does not require private detectives who work for the licensees to be licensed. By law, the licensee must register such employees with DPS.

An applicant for licensure must (1) be at least age 25; (2) be of good moral character; and (3) have at least five years full-time investigator experience, as determined by the DPS commissioner, or at least 10 years experience as a police officer, except that police officers who were detectives or investigators need only five years. The applicant must undergo and pay for state and national criminal history record checks, and the DPS commissioner must find him or her to be “suitable,” competent, and a person of integrity. The combined cost of the record checks is $ 49.

Applicants are ineligible for licensure if they (1) have ever been convicted of (a) a felony or act of moral turpitude or (b) specified misdemeanors in the seven years before applying or (2) were discharged from the military under conditions that demonstrate questionable moral character. Anyone vested with police powers, including a partner or agency shareholder, is also ineligible.

The fee for an initial private detective license (issued to an individual) is $ 1,200. The renewal fee is $ 500. The fee for an initial agency license (issued to corporations or associations) is $ 1,500. The renewal fee is $ 800. The licenses are valid for two years (CGS § 29-155c). The applicant must post a $ 10,000 surety bond with the commissioner and proof of at least $ 300,000 general liability insurance coverage.

The DPS unit responsible for investigating applicants and issuing the licenses is the State Licensing and Firearms Unit. Applicants must complete and submit a notarized DPS application (DPS-366-C) to the unit. They must also submit other documentation, including fingerprint cards, character references, a credit bureau report (not more than six months old), and proof of citizenship or the right to work in the United States (see copy of regulations attached for the complete list). The contact information for the unit is:

Connecticut State Police
Special Licensing and Firearms
1111 Country Club Road
Middletown, CT 06457

Telephone (860) 685-8290
Email: Special Licensing and Firearms

The law contains no reciprocity provisions. With regard to waivers, it allows the commissioner to reduce the prior experience requirement by one year upon satisfactory proof that the applicant has participated in a course of instruction pertinent to the license. Neither the law nor DPS regulations define what courses are considered pertinent. In practice, DPS considers requests for course substitution on a case-by-case basis.

Application forms and more details on licensing procedures and eligibility criteria are available at: http: //www. ct. gov/dps/cwp/view. asp?a=2158&Q=294504&dpsNav=|

The information on DPS licensing practices was provided by Jill Karanda, processing technician, State Licensing and Firearms Unit.

LICENSE REQUIREMENT

The law prohibits unlicensed people from (1) engaging in the private detective business or (2) soliciting business, representing themselves, or advertising as private detectives or as furnishing detective or investigative services (CGS § 29-153).

It defines a “private detective” as anyone engaged, or advertising as engaged, in the business of:

1. investigating crimes or civil wrongs;

2. investigating property location, disposition, or recovery;

3. investigating the cause of accidents, fire damage, or injuries to property or people, except people performing bona fide engineering services;

4. protecting people;

5. conducting surveillance activities or background investigations; or

6. securing evidence for use before a court, board, officer, or investigation committee (CGS § 29-152u).

The law defines a “private detective agency” as any person, firm, company, partnership, or corporation that, for consideration, advertises as providing, or is engaged in the business of providing, private detective services.

In practice, DPS requires anyone operating a private detective business to be licensed either as a private detective, if an individual, or a private detective agency, if a corporation, association, or partnership. But people employed by these licensees to provide detective services do not have to be licensed, under DPS practice. By law, the licensees must register these employees with DPS (CGS § 29-156a).

License Eligibility Criteria

License applicants must (1) undergo state and national criminal history record checks; (2) be at least age 25 and of good moral character; and (3) have at least (a) 10 years experience as a state or local police officer or (b) five years full-time investigator experience, as determined by the commissioner in regulations. The regulations require five years full-time employment as a licensed private detective or investigator; an operator of a detective agency; a detective or investigator with a federal, state or local law enforcement agency; or as a municipal fire investigator. By law, employment as a security officer does not count as employment as an investigator (CGS §§ 29-154a, 29-155, and Conn. Agency Reg. § 29-161-2).

When issuing the license, the commissioner must also consider the competence, suitability (which the law does not define), and integrity of the applicant (or in the case of an association or partnership, the individual members and in the case of a corporation, the officers and directors). A license issued on the basis of an applicant's experience as a municipal fire department investigator restricts the licensee to performing the same type of investigations he or she performed for the fire department.

The commissioner may reduce the work experience requirement by one year upon proof of satisfactory participation in a course of instruction pertinent to the license (CGS § 29-154a(b).

People Ineligible for Licensure

The commissioner cannot license anyone (1) discharged from the military under conditions that demonstrate questionable moral character; (2) ever convicted of any felony or act of moral turpitude; or (3) convicted within the past seven years of any of the following misdemeanors, or equivalent convictions in another jurisdiction:

1. illegal possession of certain drugs;

2. criminally negligent homicide;

3. 3^rd degree assault;

4. 3^rd degree assault of an elderly, blind, disabled, pregnant, or mentally retarded person;

5. 2^nd degree threatening;

6. 1^st degree reckless endangerment;

7. 2^nd degree unlawful restraint;

8. 1^st or 2^nd degree riot;

9. inciting to riot; or

10. 2^nd degree stalking.

Anyone vested with police powers and any corporation, association, or partnership that includes anyone vested with police powers is ineligible for licensure (CGS § 29-154c).

An applicant denied a license may appeal to the commissioner within 30 days after being so informed (CGS § 29-154a).

LICENSE PROCEDURES

The license application must be made in writing, under oath, on a DPS form. It must include the applicant's full name, age, date and place of birth, residence, and employment within the past five years; present occupation and employer's name and address; the date and place of conviction of any crime; and any other information the commissioner requires to investigate the applicant's qualification, character, competency, and integrity (CGS § 29-155 and Conn. Agency Reg. § 29-161-2).

The applicant must state the trade name or proposed trade name on the application and the location of the principal place of business and each office and branch office (CGS § 29-155). He or she must also submit (1) two sets of fingerprints and (2) two photographs, two inches wide by three inches high, taken no more than six months before the application.

The applicant must undergo and pay for state and national criminal history record checks. The state record check costs $ 25; the national check costs $ 24.

BOND REQUIREMENTS

The law requires that, as a condition of being licensed, an applicant for a private detective or detective agency license (1) post a $ 10,000 surety bond with the commissioner and (2) provide the commissioner with a copy of a certificate of general liability insurance coverage for at least $ 300,000. It requires licensees to notify DPS within 30 days of any change in the status of the insurance or the performance bond (CGS § 29-155a).

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