2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FIVE - Internal Security (§§ 1 — 3356) › Subtitle 1 - Generally (§§ 1 — 1973) › PART II - Investigation Agencies (§§ 181-220 — 286e) › Chapter 27 - Private Detectives (§§ 285 — 286e) › § 285c - License requirements

(a) Private detective licensing requirements:
(1) Be of legal age.
(2) Be a citizen of the United States of America and of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(3) Not to have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude.
(4) Be a person of excellent moral reputation.
(5) To have furnished a bond or produced an insurance policy as provided by § 285f of this title.
(6) To have passed a written examination as private detective offered by the Superintendent as regulating authority.
(7) To have paid the license fee provided in § 285k of this title.
(8) Not to be a habitual drunkard, mentally unbalanced, or a drug and narcotic addict, and not to have been convicted of any offense in connection with drugs and narcotics.
(9) To supply his fingerprints to the Superintendent.
(10) Not to hold any public office or employment of any sort, with or without pay, in the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies and instrumentalities and public corporations and political subdivisions.
(11) Have successfully passed a course of study in a private detectives’ school authorized by the Superintendent of Police, with a minimum of 1,000 hours of study, and competent professional practice as determined by the Superintendent through regulation. The private detectives’ schools authorized by the Superintendent may [offer] to their students courses on matters similar to those offered by the latter, approved in other schools of credited competence within or outside Puerto Rico, including the Police Academy, the FBI Academy and any other analogous institution offering courses of investigation. Also, with the approval of the Superintendent, the private detectives’ schools authorized by the latter may be credited as hours of competent professional practice, those hours that their students have previously devoted to tasks similar to those they will perform, should they [pass] their course of studies and obtain a license under the provisions of this chapter and of the regulation approved.
(12) Not have been expelled from the Puerto Rico Police or any Corps of the Puerto Rico Municipal Guard or Police, or as penal guard, for acts that could have constituted a felony or a misdemeanor that involves moral depravity.
(b) Private security guard licensing requirements— To obtain a license as private detective for the performance of the activities referred to in subsection (a)(3) of § 285a of this title the following qualifications shall be required:
(1) The requirements listed in clauses (a), (c), (d), (e), (g), (h), (i), and (j) of subsection (a) above.
(2) Passing, at least, a four (4)-week training course offered by any agency that will hire his/her services.
(3) Training shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(A) The provisions of this chapter;
(B) Rules 11 and 12 of Criminal Procedure;
(C) Penal Code in effect;
(D) Sections 455 et seq. of this title, known as the “Puerto Rico Weapons Act”;
(E) Sections 601 et seq. of Title 8, known as the “Domestic Violence Prevention and Intervention Act”;
(F) Civil Rights;
(G) Case law of the above subjects.
History —June 29, 1965, No. 108, p. 289, § 4; June 24, 1968, No. 126, p. 292, § 3; July 12, 1979, No. 99, p. 241; Aug. 3, 2000, No. 141, § 1, eff. 180 days after Aug. 3, 2000; Aug. 26, 2014, No. 141, § 3.