Court Opinion

ID: 9695887
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:30:56.881144+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:17.110007
License: Public Domain

PRICE, Judge,
dissenting:
This case raises the question of what information may be considered in a hearing on an application for renewal of a private detective’s license. The majority holds that evidence of a dereliction in filing reports on hiring practices, required by the district attorney’s office, may not be a factor in the court’s decision even though the district attorney is statutorily authorized to require such reports.1 I dissent.
The legislature has not specifically indicated that a court considering an application for renewal must ignore evidence of certain violations. The fact that the legislature authorized a specific remedy for violation of the duty to supply information to the district attorney’s office does not render such a violation irrelevant. Indeed, in a hearing to determine whether a private detective’s license should be renewed, I can conceive of no evidence more relevant than violations of the licensing statute.
The case before us would be significantly different if the lower court had refused to renew appellant’s license solely based on appellant’s failure to comply with the district attorney’s requests. However, that is not the issue before us. We must decide whether a failure to supply requested information can be one factor in a lower court’s decision to deny an application for renewal. Absent a specific prohibition, I believe that all violations of *148the statute should be considered in determining whether to renew an applicant’s license.
At the hearing below, the evidence revealed that appellant knowingly hired a convicted felon in violation of § 13(a) of the Private Detective Act of 1953. The employee, en route to his job, in uniform and carrying a handgun, stopped at his girlfriend’s home. He and his girlfriend began to argue. During the argument, the employee accidentally shot and killed his girlfriend’s mother. It is not idle speculation to wonder if this death would have been prevented had appellant complied with the law. The majority contends, however, that appellant’s failure to obey the law should have no bearing on his application for renewal.
I would hold that all violations of the Private Detective Act of 1953 and the Lethal Weapons Training Act are admissible for the court’s consideration at a license renewal hearing. Then, based on the evidence adduced at the hearing, the grant or denial of renewal is within the court’s discretion. In this case, the Commonwealth proved that appellant was derelict in supplying the district attorney with the requested reports and that appellant knowingly hired a convicted felon. Therefore, the lower court’s denial of appellant’s renewal petition was not an abuse of discretion.
Because the other contentions raised by appellant are without merit, I would affirm the order of the lower court.
JACOBS, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.

. See Section 5 of the Private Detective Act of 1953, Act of August 21, 1953, P.L. 1273 (22 P.S. § 15).