Comments on: Missouri Bill Seeks Licensing, Regulation of Private Investigators

By: John

John — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:37:23 +0000

I am studying to be a Private Investigator and have a deploma in Private Investigation and have been a member of three nationally known associations and sociaties dealing with security and private investigation. I am a certified process server. I would not consider myself ready to do private investigator work until I am trained by a licensed investigator, even though I have taken the courses and read books on it. One phrase should scare anyone that is not sufficiently trained or licensed to be a private investigator and is doing it anyway. that phrase would be “CIVIL LIABILITY” as well as practicing without a license. Mess up, and you may never be a PI and perhaps instead become a jail bird. I am all for more stringent rules and regulations for PI’s. You really have to be held accountable for your actiions. And, know the law. That is what it is all about. The idea is to catch the criminal, not become one yourself.

By: Tex

Tex — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:56:40 +0000

I believe that Texas and California have the most stringent private security regulation in the nation. Texas has a specifically assigned bureau that oversees and enforces the Texas Private Security Act. In addition, there is also a section of Troopers that investigate all complaints and unlicensed activity. These Troopers regularly apprehend unlicensed operators through criminal enforcement efforts. The program is outstanding in that the highest level of consumer protection is being provided to all citizens in Texas. See thier website at

By: Toby

Toby — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:51:06 +0000

State Licensing is not proposed by states so much as they are concerned about Private Investigators being unlicensed. The primary reason is state revenue. In the end, its always about money and MO state is no different than anyone else. They see this as a way to generate more revenue for the state.

Just be honest and call it what it is and not hide it behind some caring issue or concern for the quality of PI’s. Its about state revenue being generated

By: H Lunde

H Lunde — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:25:03 +0000

PI firms and individual investigators should be licensed, I can’t believe they are not already. Recently my family was harrassed by a firm that represented themselves as private investigators and even had a web site advertising such, but were unlicensed in the city as required by their municipality. To top that off after some research I found the owner of the company was a convicted federal felon!

By: Douglas Calderbank

Douglas Calderbank — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 12:55:11 +0000

The information listed above regarding the number of Maine licensed investigators is incorrect. We have approximately 250 licensed investigators (not 800) and 20 investigative assistants. Investigative assistants need to complete a minimum of 1700 training hours as an employee of a sponsored fully licensed Maine private investigator to obtain full license status. Maine has no reciprocity agreements with other states and so to conduct investigations in the State of Maine, you will need a Maine private investigator license. The State of Maine public safety, Augusta, Maine provides licensing.

Douglas Calderbank
http://www.MainePI.com
207-773-8715

By: Danny Smith

Danny Smith — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:05:06 +0000

Paul, you are absolutely correct. I am a PI in Idaho, one of the few states without licensing, and having come from California law enforcement I am shocked and dismayed by several of those whom I now must call “peers.” As much as I hate fees and mandated training hours, I would appreciate some legitimacy to the industry here–not to mention a background checks for some of these guys.