2020 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 12 - Professions And Occupations
Article 160. Private Investigators
Section 12-160-107. Private investigator licenses - qualifications - fees - renewal - rules.

[Editor's note: This article 160 is in a one-year wind-up period. For further explanation regarding the wind-up period, see the editor's note following the article heading.] (1) A private investigator applying for a license pursuant to this section must satisfy the requirements of the particular license for which application is made. The director may issue the following types of licenses to applicants who, upon application in the form and manner determined by the director, payment of the required fee, and satisfaction of the requirements of subsection (2) of this section, provide evidence satisfactory to the director that the applicant satisfies the qualifications for the particular license as follows:

(a) Level I private investigator license. An applicant for a level I private investigator license must:

1. Be at least twenty-one years of age;

2. Be lawfully present in the United States; and

3. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the laws and rules affecting the ethicsand activities of private investigators in this state by passing a jurisprudence examination developed and approved by the director.

(b) Level II private investigator license. An applicant for a level II private investigator license must:

1. Satisfy the requirements for a level I private investigator license; and

2. Have an amount of verifiable, applicable experience as a private investigator or equivalent experience with a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency, military police, the federal bureau of investigation, or other equivalent experience. The director shall determine, by rule, the amount and type of experience, which may include postsecondary education, completion of approved certificate programs, or such other experience the director deems appropriate, an applicant must have to satisfy the requirements of this section.

(2) (a) In addition to the requirements of subsection (1) of this section, each applicant for a level I or level II private investigator license must have his or her fingerprints taken by a local law enforcement agency or any third party approved by the Colorado bureau of investigation for the purpose of obtaining a fingerprint-based criminal history record check. If an approved third party takes the person's fingerprints, the fingerprints may be electronically captured using Colorado bureau of investigation-approved livescan equipment. Third-party vendors shall not keep the applicant information for more than thirty days unless requested to do so by the applicant. The applicant shall submit payment by certified check or money order for the fingerprints and for the actual costs of the record check at the time the fingerprints are submitted to the Colorado bureau of investigation. Upon receipt of fingerprints and receipt of the payment for costs, the Colorado bureau of investigation shall conduct a state and national fingerprintbased criminal history record check utilizing records of the Colorado bureau of investigation and the federal bureau of investigation and shall forward the results of the criminal history record check to the director.

(b) When the results of a fingerprint-based criminal history record check of an applicant performed pursuant to this subsection (2) reveal a record of arrest without a disposition, the director shall require that applicant to submit to a name-based criminal history record check, as defined in section 22-2-119.3 (6)(d). The applicant shall pay the actual costs of the name-based criminal history record check.

(3) Licenses issued pursuant to this article 160 are subject to the renewal, expiration, reinstatement, and delinquency fee provisions specified in section 12-20-202 (1) and (2). A person whose license expires and who continues to do business as a private investigator is subject to the penalties provided in this article 160 and section 12-20-202 (1).

Source: L. 2019: Entire title R&RE with relocations, (HB 19-1172), ch. 136, p. 1014, § 1, effective October 1; (2) amended, (HB 19-1166), ch. 125, p. 567, § 74, effective October 1.

Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 12-58.5-106 as it existed prior to 2019.

2. Before its relocation in 2019, this section was amended in HB 19-1166. Those amendments were superseded by the repeal and reenactment of this title 12, effective October 1, 2019. For those amendments to the former section in effect from April 18, 2019, to October 1, 2019, see HB 19-1166, chapter 125, Session Laws of Colorado 2019.

3. Section 78 of chapter 125 (HB 19-1166), Session Laws of Colorado 2019, providesthat the act changing this section takes effect October 1, 2019, only if HB 19-1172 becomes law. HB 19-1172 became law and took effect October 1, 2019.