Badging private invesigators (PIs) over six years will cost £16.7m in applying for a licence, and training.
That’s according to a Security Industry Authority (SIA) interim Impact Assessment. It details further the Government’s proposals to license ‘private investigation activities’ and (in Scotland) precognition agents. The £16.7 price-tag covers a cycle of applying for a three-year licence and a renewal, including for instance criminal record check. The SIA confirms it has already budgeted for the costs of extending licensing to PIs from within existing resources.<br><br>Briefly, the Private Security Industry Act 2001 sets out that PIs should have a licence. After publication of the assessment, the SIA did point out to Professional Security that the proposed licensable sector is those who carry out ‘private investigations’ – the wording used in Schedule 2 of the Act. As with all the designated sectors, it is, to repeat, the activity undertaken as defined in the Act which decides the need to be licensed, not an individual’s job title. Some who conduct private investigations as defined by the Act may not consider themselves private investigators, especially when most people have preconceived ideas of the typical private investigator. <br><br>As the new document says, a licence would depend on checks that an individual is ‘fit and proper’, besides competent to conduct specific activities. The document argues for a ‘twin pronged approach of regulation and competency … to increase professionalism and drive out unwanted elements’. But how to prove that a PI is ‘competent’? As reported in our August issue, the latest SIA corporate business plan – and this assessment – suggests PIs will be badged in 2010. The sector will have to get a move on, if it is to agree on qualifications, and put thousands (or tens of thousands – the SIA is standing by an estimate of 10,000) of PIs through courses, led by trainers who themselves may need training. Experienced PIs may bridle at being tested on ‘competency’ by trainers with a fraction of their know-how. Another stumbling block may be how to enforce PI standards, which has bedevilled for instance the SIA’s badging of wheel clampers. Briefly – as highlighted in a recent ITV1 current affairs programme Tonight – clampers don’t break the law, but outrage drivers by what some would allege are sharp practices. This new document suggests that the SIA ‘could promote the need for individuals … to operate in an ethical manner when conducting their activity’ – which is not the same as saying the SIA would lay down ethics that PIs would have to keep to. And as the assessment admits: “Competency based licensing cannot eliminate unlawful or unethical activity completely.” The document suggests five tests of competency: conducting investigations; interviews; searching for information and preserve evidence; surveillance; and understanding relevant laws and standards. As expressed in these pages by past Association of British Investigators president Richard Newman, a PI may have to work under dozens of laws. Also a knotty question: which if any of those five (or any) tests does any or every PI need in their daily work? An accident investigator for instance maybe never having to do covert surveillance, and a surveillance specialist never doing interviews, maybe. <br><br>The document says it expects 90 per cent compliance after the first year of licensing, though does not go into how to check on PIs, who work in small set-ups and have different work practices than, say, contract site security officers. The assessment appears to have no answer to the grumble of some PIs that veterans will see getting a badge as too much trouble and will give up. The document says: “The majority of private investigators or precognition agents enter these sectors as a second career and are concerned about the extent to which training and assessment would be required to continue to operate. There may also be concerns that inclusion of a competence component would discourage new entrants from this career path. However, on this latter point, it is equally likely that licensing will help establish a defined career entry route …” The assessment does go on to admit that licensing ‘may limit the number of suppliers’.<br><br>The regulator reports that the assessment confirms’ ministers’ intention to develop <br>competency-based licensing, subject to the agreement of the necessary Orders by Parliament. <br>&#160;<br>The 14-page document is available on the SIA website: <br>http://www.the-sia.org.uk/home/about_sia/publications/publications_ria.htm<br>&#160;<br>The Home Office will publish the final Impact Assessment at the same time as the relevant Orders are laid before Parliament. Visit;
