Contrary to popular belief, having a gift for solving mysteries and the knack for disguises are not enough to make anyone into a private investigator. The government has, indeed, strict laws regarding private investigations and only the states of Wyoming, South Dakota, Missouri, and Mississippi, Idaho, and Colorado don’t currently require private investigators to have licenses to operate.

A Glimpse of California Regulations for Private Investigation Firms
Even if you’re planning to offer private investigation services in any of the aforementioned states, it would still be to your business’s advantage if you’re able to obtain a private investigation license. To give you an idea of what kind of requirements you’d need to comply with, let’s take a look with what California, one of the states with the toughest laws for PIs, asks of its private investigators.

Definition of a Private Investigator’s Work
To work as a private investigator, the services of your business must be any of the following: investigate cause of accidents (natural or man-made) and injury, location of stolen or lost property, identity, character, occupation, or business of a person, and crimes; secure evidence for court use; lastly, protect persons if it’s a minor part of the investigation.

Requirements for a Private Investigator
The state of California requires private investigators to be at least eighteen years old.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as well as the California Department of Justice (DOJ) will also subject all applicants to a criminal history background check.

Those applying for licenses for private investigation must also possess work experience in the given field for at least three years. Such work should be compensated and amounting to two thousand hours at work annually or a total of 6,000 work hours in three years.

There are alternatives offered to the aforementioned requirement. Those with degrees in police science or law may apply for a license if they’ve experience in investigative work amounting to at least two years or 4,000 work hours.

Those with AA degrees in criminal law, justice, or police science may also apply once they’ve accumulated 5,000 hours at work in at least 2 and a half years.

All work hours tallied by applicants must be certified by your employer and received while you are still in the person’s employ as arson investigator for fire suppression agencies of the government, PI firm employee or repossessor, insurance adjuster, or a law enforcement officer.

Lastly, all applicants will have to take a 2-hour multiple-choice test.

If you think you can comply with all these requirements then you have a bright future ahead of you as a private investigator.

image credits to Kecko

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Training is not only an advantage for private investigators these days. As more and more states are requiring licensing for private investigators, training is eventually turning into a necessity if you want to get paid the rates you deserve.

No Formal Requirements
A 2006 survey showed that more than a third of private detectives possessed a bachelor’s degree in their names. A slightly smaller population at 26% had received tertiary education but weren’t able to complete their degrees. Almost a fifth of private detectives at 18%, on the other hand, were high school graduates. 13% had a master’s degree, 8% had an associate’s degree while only three percent had a PhD.

In general, having a degree in police science or criminal justice would be extremely helpful to private investigators. Other degrees, however, may also be of help if a private investigator wishes to specialize in a certain field. Corporate private investigators, for instance, would do better if they had a degree in a commerce-related field. For those offering computer forensics services, a degree in accounting or computer science would be especially advantageous.

In any case, many colleges and universities these days offer certificate programs for individuals interested in pursuing a career as private investigators. Many, however, basically get their training on the job.

How to Obtain a License
Licensing is something that more and more private investigators are investing to acquire. Unfortunately for them, a license to operate in one state may not be applicable in other areas.

If you live in South Dakota, Missouri, Mississippi, Idaho, Colorado, Alaska, or Alabama, you’re in luck because licensing is not required for private investigators to operate. Other states have few requirements before a license is granted but some tend to have strict regulations as to who can rightfully operate as private investigator.

In California, for instance, the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services has posted explicit qualifications before a private investigator may obtain a license to operate. Firstly, he must be at least eighteen years old or of legal age. He must also possess a degree in either criminal justice or police science and three years or six thousand hours worth of experience. He must also pass a two-hour written examination as well as a criminal history background check conducted by the FBI and the California Department of Justice. He must also comply with additional requirements if he wishes to obtain a permit to carry firearms as well.

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