DETECTIVES SPAIN - Legislation

Currently, Spanish Law 5/2014 of Private Security is by which is regulated the detective profession in Spain. In continuation, we will detail the most important aspects of the legal framework

REQUIREMENTS
FUNCTIONS
PROHIBITIONS
DETECTIVE SOCIETIES
ESTABLISHMENT OF SUBSIDIARIES
REGISTRATION BOOK AND REPONSABILITY

REQUIREMENTS

In order to practice the detective profession, a private detective should
meet the following qualifications:

a) Be over 18 years old.

b) Have Spanish nationality.

c) Posses the physical and physiological capacity necessary to perform
the respective functions without suffering illness that impedes
performance.

d) Be Without criminal record.

e) Not having been convicted for illegal interference in the field of
protection, be it in personal or familiar intimacy, communications secrecy and other fundamental rights in the five years prior to the application.

f) Not having been sanctioned in the last two to four years respectively, for
serious or very serious infractions in security material.

g) Not having been discharged from service in the Armed Forces or from
the Forces of Law and Order.

h) Not having exercised control in organizations, services or
security positions, observation, or private investigation, not by his or her staff, or means, such as member of the Forces of Law and Order in the last two years prior to the application.

i) Pass the accrediation tests the measure the knowledge and capacity necessary for optimal performance of the respective functions.

j) Posses the baccalaureate degree, two years of vocational training, or
other equivalent or superior qualifications.

k) Be in possession of the Private Detective Diploma, drawn up by the
Institute of Criminology or in any other adequate official centres authorised by the Minister of Education and Culture and obtained after passing the established programs that consist of 180 credits, each one of them corresponding to ten hours of teaching, carried out over at least three academic courses.

l) Not being an active civil servant in any of the Public Administrations at the moment of the application, nor during the last two years prior to
application.

FUNCTION

Private detectives, by petition of individuals or legal bodies will attend to:

a)Obtaining and bringing forth information and evidence regarding conduct or private acts.
b)The investigation of indictable crimes only at the request by part order of
those rightful in the penal process.
c)The observation in fairs, hotels, expositions and similar areas.

To the effect of this present article, private acts or conducts are considered those that affect the economic, labour, mercantile, and financial fields, in general, the personal, familiar or social life, excluding that which is engaged in within the home or in intimate environments.

Regarding topic c) it is understood that "similar areas" refers to commercial centres (malls) and public places of grand assembly.

PROHIBITIONS

Private detectives cannot investigate indictable occupational crimes.
These of which should be denounced immediately before the competent
authority whenever any act of this nature reaches his or her knowledge. All of the information and the instruments that could be related to these said crimes should be placed in disposition of the said authority.

In no case should they be utilised for personal or technical investigations that breach the right to personal privacy, the right to an image or the right of communications secrecy.

DETECTIVE SOCIETIES

The mercantile, labour, or co-operative detective societies will be constituted solely by duly qualified individuals such as, referring to the National Police Headquarters, to the effects of registration in the Register, authorised copy of the deed of the constitution of the society and certificate or registration notice of the same in the corresponding registration book.

Also the societies will communicate any modification that is produced
in the administrative bodies of the society, such as; ownership of stock or
representative holdings of its capital and the increases or decreases of this.
This communication should be sent to the National Police Headquarters in the fifteen days following the date which is granted the corresponding deed, or the when modification in question is produced, corresponding to the noted management centre to be copied to the competent Autonomous Community.

The members of these societies can solely dedicate themselves to carrying out the activities of the detectives, not being able to develop an exclusive nature to security companies.

ESTABLISHMENT OF SUBSIDIARIES

Private detectives can establish representative offices or subsidiaries in
distinct locals that should be in all cases directed by a qualified detective
with the arrangement at the disposal of Private Security Regulations.

For this it should be priory communicated to the National Police
Headquarters, that will then copy the competent Autonomous Community, the opening of the delegation or subsidiary, with the decision as to its location, accompanied with the documents relative to the detectives in charge that will be working with the case.

REGISTRATION BOOK AND RESPONSIBILITY

In each office and subsidiary, the detective will carry a registration book in which consists: the number of the order of each investigative assignment, its date, the name, surnames or firm´s name, address of the client and of the person or persons investigated, case information, date of finalisation of the investigation assignment, known indictable profession crimes and the body to which they are communicated.

In the case that it be computerised, the detective abides by what is available in the prevailing legislation on personal information protection.

The private detectives will respond civilly to the actions or omissions in
which, during the execution of his or her services, incurred by those detectives or associated dependent with which they are bound.

The pages of the detective´s Registration Book, in the case that the pages are utilised, they should be numbered and stamped previous to the commencement of notetaking.

On the first page, the National Police Headquarters, the Provincial or Local Police Commissary, or the Autonomous Police corresponding to the territorial demarcation of the office of its delegations, will enter the proceedings in the Book.

The cited proceedings will consist of the following matters: The conclusion to which is drawn in the Book, name of the head detective of the office, number of the registration order in the Detective Registry, number of pages that make up the Book, and the precept that carries out the mission (its place and date). It should be signed by he or she responsible from the respective police department, or the person delegated.