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THE PROFESSION
· BEING A DETECTIVE
- To be of age.
- To bear the nationality of a country in the European Union or of a State forming part of the European Economic Area Agreement.
- To not have a criminal record.
- To not have been sentenced for illegitimate interference in the ambit of protection of the right to honour, to personal and family privacy and one's own image, of the right to confidentiality of communications and other fundamental rights within the five years prior to the application.
- To not have been sanctioned within the previous two or four years, respectively, due to a serious or very serious infringement in matters of security.
- To not have been suspended from service in the Armed Forces or in the Law Enforcement Forces and Agencies.
- To be in possession of a High School Diploma, second degree vocational training, or whatever qualifications are specified, or other equivalent or superior ones.
- To be in possession of a private detective diploma (3 academic years), issued by Criminology Institutes or other official centres approved by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
- To not be an active civil servant in any Public Administration at the time of the application, nor during the two years immediately prior to same.
· DUTIES: "New Private Security Act 5/2014": [+] download file
Law 23/1992, of 30th of July, in relation to Private Security.
· Art. 19.1 Private detectives, at the request of people or legal entities, will take charge of:
A. Obtaining and providing information and evidence in relation to private conduct or events.
B. The investigation of prosecutable offences solely at the request of legitimate parties in the criminal process.
C. Surveillance at trade shows, hotels, exhibitions or similar ambits.
Royal Decree 2364/1994, of 9th of December, Private Security Regulation.
· "Art.101.2. For the purposes of this article, private events are considered to be those that affect the economic, occupational, commercial, financial ambit and, in general the personal, family or social life, except for those which take place in private addresses or venues."
· "Art.101.3. Large shopping centres and public premises with large audiences are deemed to fall within the scope of section 1.C."
· "Art.103. Private nature of the investigations. Private detectives are obliged to maintain rigorous confidentiality in relation to the investigations they undertake and may not facilitate details on same to anyone other than to the parties who commissioned the investigation and the competent legal and police bodies for the exercising of their duties."
Royal Decree 1123/2001, of 19th of October.
Civil Procedure Act.
· "Art. 265. All complaints or responses thereto must be accompanied by reports prepared by legally certified private investigation professionals (Private detectives) on the relevant events which support their allegations."
Validity of Evidence.
Supreme Court, Ruling 6th of November 1990.
"Testimony given by private detectives has, in relation to its veracity, not only the required and acceptable guarantee of professionalism, within a legally regulated profession, but also undeniably provides precise and on-going dedication for the purposes of subsequent testimony to be given, together with the complementary graphic or auditory accreditations with which it tends to be accompanied."
· JURISPRUDENCE
· Supreme Court, Ruling 6th of November of 1990.
"Detectives will be deemed to be a "means of proof, now of habitual use, and, on occasion, an exclusive tool for the effective monitoring by the business person of the duties required of the employee."
(...)
"Testimony given by private detectives has, in relation to its veracity, not only the required and acceptable guarantee of professionalism, within a legally regulated profession, but also undeniably provides precise and on-going dedication for the purposes of subsequent testimony to be given, together with the complementary graphic or auditory accreditations with which it tends to be accompanied."
· Superior Court of Justice of Cataluña. Ruling of 5th of May of 1993.
"Procedural Law authorises the parties to make use of whatever means of proof may be regulated by Law, with mechanical means of reproduction of word, image and sound being admitted as such, unless it were to have been obtained by any procedure which involves the violation of fundamental public and private rights."
· Supreme Court. Ruling of 12th of May of 1998.
"The Contentious-Administrative Courtroom of the Supreme Court, deems it legal for a public body to hire Private Detectives to investigate its employees during working hours, as this does not infringe on privacy rights."
