GREG KELLY, MD OF ULTIMATE SECURITY GROUP COMMENTS ON THE LICENSING OF PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS.

The Home Secretary recently announced the Governments intention to 'outlaw' Private Investigators by introducing legislation to criminalise the activities unless they are appropriately 'licensed'.

This isn't a new subject by any means and the Government have been talking about this for some years ever since the introduction of the Private Security Industry Act 2001. Recent publicity surrounding the illegal activities of some rogue PI's involved in the interception of communications on behalf of the News of the World have forced the issue back into the limelight.

The Government created the Security Industry Authority (SIA) following the introduction of the Private Security Industry Act and its initial role was to introduce the licensing of Security Officers, Door Supervisors, Cash in Transit, CCTV Operators and Close Protection Officers. All these groups had to be licensed by March 2006.This involved each and every person wishing to work in these industries undergoing specific industry training and a full Criminal Record Bureau check before a licence would be issued. All Officers and employees working for Ultimate achieved this by the required date.

The Government now want to ensure Private Investigators go through this same process. We at Ultimate fully support the idea and will seek to be one of the first to be officially licensed in this area.

How do we at Ultimate currently ensure we are operating within the confines of the Law? 

The answer is relatively simple. The main law affecting the activities of PI's are The Data Protection Act and The Human Rights Act. Data Protection affects all businesses and PI's are no different. We must ensure we do not illegally access data or information belonging to others and we must take proper care to protect any client information and evidence we gather in any investigation. The Human Rights Act has 14 Articles designed to protect the basic human rights of every individual. The main ones of interest to us are Article 6: Right to a fair trial, and Article 8: Right to Privacy. Bearing in mind that any investigation has the potential to end up in a court of law or tribunal, it's imperative that our methods and actions can undergo close cross examination. If we are found to have acted inappropriately during the investigation then any evidence we have gathered will be judged as inadmissible.

As an ex Police Detective I ensure that all investigation work here at Ultimate is carried out in accordance with RIPA guidelines and meets the criteria of the four overriding 'principles' of The Human Rights Act; Proportionality, Necessity, Justifiability and Legality. Prior to the commencement of any investigation we carry out a private and confidential consultation process with the client. First we identify what the client wants us to investigate? Then we discuss whether we can help and if so, how we can achieve the desired result? We have to ensure we are not using a sledgehammer to crack a nut (proportionality). Is there any other simpler way of achieving the result? (necessity). If not, what methods can we deploy that are the least intrusive? (justifiability). If we properly consider these issues at the start and constantly revisit them throughout any enquiry then we will likely ensure the legality of our actions.

Following the introduction of The Human Rights Act the Government introduced new legislation to ensure all Government Authorities carrying out investigations do so without breaching the Human Rights of any individual. This legislation is called The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act or RIPA. This provides guidance to investigators as to when or for what reason they may justify covert methods of intelligence or evidence gathering.

This legislation at present does not officially affect Private Investigators as we are not Government Authorities. However, this does not mean that we should not work to its guidelines.