Connecticut General Statutes
Chapter 534 - Private Detectives and Security Services
Section 29-156a. - Employment of private investigators. Registration. Fee. Penalty.

(a) Any licensee may employ as many private investigators as such licensee deems necessary for the conduct of such licensee's business, provided such employees shall be of good moral character and at least eighteen years of age.

(b) Immediately upon hiring a private investigator, the licensee shall apply to register such employee with the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection. Such application shall be made on forms furnished by the commissioner, and, under oath of the employee, shall give the employee's name, address, date and place of birth, employment for the past five years, experience in the position applied for, any convictions for violations of the law and such other information as the commissioner may require, by regulation, to properly investigate the character, competency and integrity of the employee.
(c) The Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection shall require any applicant for registration under this section to submit to state and national criminal history records checks conducted in accordance with section 29-17a. The application for registration shall be accompanied by two sets of fingerprints of the employee and two full-face photographs of the employee, two inches wide by two inches high, taken no earlier than six months prior to the date of application for registration, and a forty-dollar registration fee payable to the state. Subject to the provisions of section 46a-80, no person shall be registered who has been convicted of a felony, any sexual offense or any crime involving moral turpitude, or who has been refused a license under the provisions of this chapter for any reason except lack of minimum experience, or whose license, having been granted, has been revoked or is under suspension. The commissioner shall register all qualified employees and so notify the licensee and place the registration form and all related material on file with the Division of State Police within the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.
(d) A licensee may employ an individual to perform the duties of a private investigator while such individual's application for registration pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) of this section is pending, provided the licensee conducts, or has a consumer reporting agency regulated under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act conduct, a state and national criminal history records check and determines the applicant meets the requirements of subsection (c) of this section for registration as a private investigator. Such individual shall cease to perform such duties pursuant to this subsection when the commissioner grants or denies the pending application for registration.
(e) The licensee shall notify the commissioner not later than five days after the termination of employment of any registered employees.
(f) Any person, firm or corporation that violates any provision of this section shall be fined seventy-five dollars for each offense. Each distinct violation of this section shall be a separate offense and, in the case of a continuing violation, each day thereof shall be deemed a separate offense.
(1969, P.A. 756, S. 12; 1972, P.A. 127, S. 56; P.A. 77-614, S. 486, 610; P.A. 80-297, S. 19, 20; P.A. 81-253, S. 3; 81-472, S. 153, 159; P.A. 83-573, S. 5; P.A. 84-546, S. 77, 173; P.A. 89-251, S. 162, 203; P.A. 01-175, S. 27, 32; P.A. 04-192, S. 11; P.A. 08-73, S. 2; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-3, S. 317; P.A. 11-51, S. 134; P.A. 22-130, S. 1.)
History: 1972 act required that employees be at least 18, rather than 21, in Subsec. (a), reflecting changed age of majority, and deleted provision which had allowed employment of persons between eighteen and twenty-one as trainees; P.A. 77-614 replaced commissioner of state police with commissioner of public safety, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 80-297 required that applications be accompanied by $5 registration fee in Subsec. (c); P.A. 81-253 amended Subsec. (a) by eliminating the citizenship requirement for employees; P.A. 81-472 made technical changes; P.A. 83-573 amended Subsec. (b), eliminating the requirement of reporting an employee's arrests in the registration application form and amended Subsec. (c), requiring photographs to be two inches high, rather than three, increasing the registration fee from $5 to $10, and providing that no person convicted of any sexual offense may be approved for employment, deleting references to persons convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude and persons who are alcoholics, drifters or vagrants, or who have a record of mental illness or those with other than an honorable discharge from the military service; P.A. 84-546 made technical change to Subsec. (b); P.A. 89-251 amended Subsec. (c) to increase the fee from $10 to $13; P.A. 01-175 made technical changes for the purposes of gender neutrality in Subsecs. (a), (b) and (c), and amended Subsecs. (c) and (e) by adding language re criminal history records checks, effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 04-192 amended Subsec. (c) to substitute registration for licensure of employees, to eliminate “with and without head covering” re photographs and to increase registration fee from $13 to $20, and eliminated former Subsec. (e) re waiver of state and national criminal history records checks and submission of fingerprints and photographs for any employee of a licensed private detective or security service or agency within previous six months; P.A. 08-73 amended Subsecs. (a) and (b) to substitute private investigator for references to agents, operators, assistants, guards, watchmen or patrolmen, made technical changes in Subsecs. (b) to (d) and added Subsec. (e) re penalty; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-3 amended Subsec. (c) to increase registration fee from $20 to $40; pursuant to P.A. 11-51, “Commissioner of Public Safety” and “Department of Public Safety” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection” and “Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection”, respectively, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 22-130 added new Subsec. (d) re performance of duties of private investigator while registration application pending and redesignated existing Subsecs. (d) and (e) as Subsecs. (e) and (f), effective May 27, 2022.

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