How do I get a private investigators licence in New South Wales?    

Private Investigators in the Sate of NSW are called Private Inquiry Agents. The activities of Private Inquiry Agents is licenced and governed by The Commercial Agents & Private Inquiry Agents (CAPI) Act 2004 and Regulation. Completed licence applications are processed centrally by the Security Industry Registry, NSW Police.

Private Inquiry Agent activities includes Investigation of persons (IP) and Surveillance of persons (SP). Therefore, if you undertake any activity involving the investigation of persons and surveillance of persons then you must hold a CAPI licence. This licence also applies for Commercial Agent Activities which cover activities such as repossession of goods, debt collection and process serving. However, for this purpose we need only concentrate only on the Private Inquiry Agents activities which includes investigation of persons and surveillance of persons.

Licences are placed into two groups

1. Operator licences for Agents (employees) and

2. Master licences for Businesses (employers).

Any individual or business conducting CAPI activities must hold a CAPI licence for those activities.

Holders of Operator licences must be employed by a Master licence holder unless the Operator themselves hold an individual Master licence.

Training requirements and restrictions.

All newly licenced Agenct / Operators will be restricted for the first 12 months and will only be eligible for a Provisional CAPI (P-CAPI) licence.

P-CAPI Agents must be employed by a CAPI Master licence holder (not subcontracting but casual employee status is acceptable) for the first 12 months.

P-CAPI Agents must complete training and educational requirements Certificate III in Investigative Services within 12 or receiving their restricted licence and before their licence can 'mature’ to fill unrestricted licence. 

Certificate III in Investigative Services is the training and educational requirement. 

Certificate III in Investigative Services is the training requirement for the private investigations industry throughout Australia. This course will teach you and develope your skills in planning and conducting an investigation. You will also learn how to coordinate work teams in an investigation industry context. It can generally be completed in 12 weeks on a part time study basis. It can also be undertaken on a full time capacity.

Training of Certificate III in Investigative Services and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

There are a number of training organisations in Australia that deliver this training. You may also be eligible to obtain this certificate through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) as recognition of your previous employment and learning. e.g. Policing, security or enforcement. Therefore, you wont have to re-learn what you already know. 

Speak to us at Investigator Recruitment for more information about Registered Training Organisations and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

Click   to visit the Security Industry Registry, NSW Police for more information and application forms.

Or, speak to us at Investigator Recruitment to get a market perspective. We are not legal experts in licencing legislation and we will ultimately direct you to the Security Industry Registry of the NSW Police. However, we can provide you with information about licencing and training from an employment perspective. We will try to guide you in the right direction regarding the Australian Commercial and Private Investigation employment sector.