PRINTER'S NO. 186
No. 163 Session of 1973
INTRODUCED BY BRUNNER, DeMEDIO AND STOUT, JANUARY 24, 1973
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LAW AND JUSTICE, JANUARY 24, 1973
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of August 21, 1953 (P.L.1273, No.361), entitled
2 "An act to regulate the business of private detectives,
3 investigators and watch, guard, or patrol agencies, and the
4 licensing thereof in each county; providing penalties,"
5 further regulating the business of watch, guard, or patrol
6 agency.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Subsection (a), clause (11) of subsection (b) and
10 subsection (c) of section 2, act of August 21, 1953 (P.L.1273,
11 No.361), known as "The Private Detective Act of 1953," are
12 amended and the section is amended by adding clauses to read:
13 Section 2. Definitions.--(a) "Private detective business"
14 shall mean and include the business of private detective,
15 private detective business, or the business of investigator [,
16 or the business of watch, guard, or patrol agency].
17 (b) "Private detective business" shall also mean and
18 include, separately or collectively, the making, for hire,
19 reward, or for any consideration whatsoever, of any
20 investigation or investigations for the purpose of obtaining
1 information with reference to any of the following matters,
2 notwithstanding the fact that other functions and services may
3 also be performed for fee, hire, or reward;
4 * * *
5 [(11) The furnishing, for hire or reward, of watchmen, or
6 guards, or private patrolmen, or other persons, to protect
7 persons or property, or to prevent the theft or the unlawful
8 taking of goods, wares and merchandise, or to prevent the
9 misappropriation or concealment of goods, wares or merchandise,
10 money, bonds, stocks, choses in action, notes, or other valuable
11 documents, papers, and articles of value, or to procure the
12 return thereof, or the performing of the service of such guard
13 or other person, or any of said purposes.]
14 * * *
15 (c) The terms "the business of detective agency," the
16 "business of investigator," the "business of watch, guard or
17 patrol agency," and the terms "private detective" or
18 "investigator" shall mean and include any person, partnership,
19 association, or corporation, engaged in [the private detective]
20 business, as defined in subsections (a), [and] (b) and (e) of
21 this section, with or without the assistance of any employe or
22 employes.
23 * * *
24 (e) "Business of watch, guard or patrol agency" shall mean
25 and include the furnishing, for hire or reward, of watchmen, or
26 guards, or private patrolmen, or other persons, to protect
27 persons or property, or to prevent the theft or the unlawful
28 taking of goods, wares and merchandise, or to prevent the
29 misappropriation or concealment of goods, wares or merchandise,
30 money, bonds, stocks, choses in action, notes, or other valuable
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1 documents, papers, and articles of value, or to procure the
2 return thereof, or the performing of the service of such guard
3 or other person, or any of said purposes.
4 (f) "License" or "license certificate" shall mean and
5 include a license or license certificate to engage in the
6 business of private detective, business of investigator or
7 business of watch, guard or patrol agency.
8 (g) "Licensee" shall mean the holder of a license or license
9 certificate as defined in subsection (f) of this section.
10 Section 2. Section 3 of the act is amended to read:
11 Section 3. Licenses.--(a) No person, partnership,
12 association or corporation, shall engage in the business of
13 private detective or the business of investigator, or the
14 business of watch, guard or patrol agency, [for the purpose of
15 furnishing guards or patrolmen or other persons to protect
16 persons or property, or to prevent the theft or the unlawful
17 taking of goods, wares and merchandise, or to prevent the
18 misappropriation or concealment of goods, wares, merchandise,
19 money, bonds, stocks, documents, and other articles of value,
20 for hire or reward,] or advertise his or their business to be
21 that of detective, or of a detective agency, or investigator, or
22 watch, guard or patrol agency, notwithstanding the name or title
23 used in describing such agency, or notwithstanding the fact that
24 other functions and services may also be performed for fee, hire
25 or reward, without having first obtained a license so to do as
26 hereinafter provided.
27 (b) No person, partnership, association, or corporation,
28 shall engage in the business of furnishing or supplying for fee,
29 hire, or any consideration or reward, information as to the
30 personal character or activities of any person, partnership,
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1 corporation, society, or association, or any person or group of
2 persons, or as to the character or kind of the business and
3 occupation of any person, partnership, association, or
4 corporation, or own or conduct or maintain a bureau or agency
5 for the above mentioned purposes, except exclusively as to the
6 financial rating, standing, and credit responsibility of
7 persons, partnerships, associations, or corporations, or as to
8 the personal habits and financial responsibility of applicants
9 for insurance, indemnity bonds, or commercial credit, or of
10 claimants under insurance policies: Provided, That the business
11 so exempted does not embrace other activities described in
12 subsections (a), (b), [and] (c) and (e) of section two of this
13 act, without having first obtained, as hereafter provided, a
14 license so to do, for each such bureau or agency, and for each
15 and every sub-agency, office and branch office to be owned,
16 conducted, managed, or maintained by such persons, partnership,
17 association, or corporation, for the conduct of such business.
18 Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to include the
19 business of investigators for or adjusters for insurance
20 companies, nor persons in the exclusive employment of common
21 carriers subject to regulation by the interstate commerce
22 commission or the Public Utility Commission of the Commonwealth
23 of Pennsylvania, or investigators in the employment of credit
24 bureaus.
25 (c) No person, partnership, association or corporation
26 licensed solely to engage in the business of watch, guard or
27 patrol agency shall make any investigation or investigations
28 except those that are incidental to the business of watch, guard
29 or patrol agency and no such person, partnership, association or
30 corporation shall engage in the business of private detective or
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1 investigator.
2 Section 3. The introductory paragraph and subsection (a) of
3 section 4 of the act, subsection (a) amended April 30, 1957
4 (P.L.98, No.40), are amended to read:
5 Section 4. Application for Licenses.--Any person,
6 partnership, association, or corporation, intending to conduct a
7 private detective business, the business of investigator, or the
8 business of watch, guard or patrol agency, or the business of a
9 detective agency, and any person, partnership, association, or
10 corporation, intending to conduct the business of furnishing or
11 supplying information as to the personal character of any
12 person, or as to the character or kind of the business and
13 occupation of any person, partnership, corporation, society, or
14 association, or any person or group of persons, or intending to
15 own, conduct, manage or maintain a bureau or agency for the
16 above mentioned purposes, or, while engaged in other lawful
17 business activities, also intending to engage in any one or more
18 of the activities set forth in subsections (a), (b), [and] (c)
19 and (e) of section two of this act, except exclusively as to the
20 financial rating, standing and credit responsibility of persons,
21 partnerships, associations, or corporations, shall, for each
22 such bureau or agency, and for each and every sub-agency, office
23 and branch office to be owned, conducted, managed or maintained
24 by such person, partnership, association or corporation for the
25 conduct of such business, file, in the office of the clerk of
26 the court of [quarter sessions] common pleas of the county
27 wherein the principal office of such business is located, a
28 written application, duly signed and verified, as follows:
29 (a) If the applicant is a person, the application shall be
30 signed and verified by such person, and if the applicant is a
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1 partnership or association, the application shall be signed and
2 verified by each individual composing or intending to compose
3 such partnership or association. The application shall state the
4 full name, age, residence, present and previous occupations, of
5 each person or individual so signing the same, that he is a
6 citizen of the United States, and shall also specify the name of
7 the city, borough, township, or incorporated town, stating the
8 street and number if the premises have a street and number, and
9 otherwise such apt description as will reasonably indicate the
10 location thereof, where is to be located the principal place of
11 business, and the bureau, agency, sub-agency, office or branch
12 office for which the license is desired, and such further facts
13 as may be required by the court of [quarter sessions] common
14 pleas to show the good character, competency and integrity of
15 each person or individual so signing such application. Each
16 person or individual signing such application shall, together
17 with such application, submit to the court of [quarter sessions]
18 common pleas his photograph, in duplicate, in passport size, and
19 also figerprints of his two hands, recorded in such manner as
20 may be specified by the court of [quarter sessions] common
21 pleas. Before approving such application, it shall be the duty
22 of the court of [quarter sessions] common pleas to compare such
23 fingerprints with fingerprints of criminals now or hereafter
24 filed in the records of the Pennsylvania State Police. Every
25 such applicant, except an applicant for a license solely to
26 conduct the business of watch, guard or patrol agency, shall
27 establish, to the satisfaction of the court of [quarter
28 sessions] common pleas and by at least two duly acknowledged
29 certificates, that such applicant, if he be a person, or, in the
30 case of a partnership, association, or corporation, at least one
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1 member of such partnership, association, or corporation, has
2 been regularly employed as a detective, or shall have been a
3 member of the United States government investigative service, a
4 sheriff, a member of the Pennsylvania State Police or a member
5 of a city police department of a rank or grade higher than that
6 of patrolman, for a period of not less than three years. Such
7 application shall be approved as to each person or individual so
8 signing the same by not less than five reputable citizens of the
9 community in which such applicant resides or transacts business,
10 or in which it is proposed to own, conduct, manage or maintain
11 the bureau, agency, sub-agency, office or branch office for
12 which the license is desired, each of whom shall certify that he
13 has personally known the said person or individual for a period
14 of at least five years prior to the filing of such application,
15 that he has read such application and believes each of the
16 statements made therein to be true, that such person is honest,
17 of good character, and competent, and not related or connected
18 to the person so certifying by blood or marriage. The
19 certificate of approval shall be signed by such reputable
20 citizens and duly verified and acknowledged by them before an
21 officer authorized to take oaths and acknowledgment of deeds.
22 * * *
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