FL Private Investigator cheat sheet

Chapter 493, Florida Statutes, governs private investigation, private security, recovery agents, and related training schools; it is administered by the Division of Licensing within the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).

License classes under Chapter 493: Class A (agency), Class AA (branch office), Class M (agency manager), Class MA (branch manager), Class C (private investigator), Class CC (investigator intern), and Class G (statewide firearm).

Class C minimum qualifications: at least 18 years of age, U.S. citizen or legal resident, and two years (4,000 hours) of lawfully gained, verifiable, full-time investigative experience or training; a bachelor's degree substitutes for one year of the experience requirement.

A Class CC intern must be sponsored and supervised by a Class C licensee and complete 40 hours of professional training; intern status does not authorize unsupervised investigative work.

A Class G statewide firearm license requires firearms training (28 hours) and an affiliation with a licensed agency; an investigator may carry a firearm on duty only while holding a valid Class G.

Section 493.6102 lists persons exempt from licensure, including an employee who conducts investigations solely for his or her own employer and government employees acting in their official capacity.

Section 493.6118 sets grounds for denial, suspension, or revocation of a license, including fraud or deceit, false statements to the Division, and willful disclosure of information obtained through the professional relationship.

Section 934.03 requires the consent of all parties before intercepting an oral communication made with a reasonable expectation of privacy; Florida is an all-party-consent state, not a one-party-consent state.

Chapter 493 licenses run on a two-year renewal cycle; a licensee must carry the license while performing regulated duties and present it on request of a law enforcement officer or the Division.

Florida's public records law (Chapter 119) gives broad access to state and local agency records; active criminal investigative information and specified personal identifiers are exempt.

The federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act (18 U.S.C. 2721) permits motor vehicle record access only for enumerated purposes, including use by a licensed investigator acting in connection with litigation.

Obtaining a consumer's financial information from a financial institution by false pretenses violates 15 U.S.C. 6821, the pretexting provision of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

When an investigative report is used for employment purposes, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires disclosure to the consumer, written authorization, and pre-adverse-action notice.

Pretext contacts may not include claiming to be a law enforcement officer or an attorney; false personation of an officer is a felony under s. 843.08.

Miranda warnings are required only for custodial interrogation by government agents; a private investigator is not a state actor and has no Miranda duty, though coerced statements may still be excluded.

Skip tracing confirms a subject's address only after corroboration by at least two independent sources; a single database hit is reported as unverified.

Every item of physical evidence collected is logged with date, time, location, collector, and each subsequent transfer, forming an unbroken chain of custody.

Audio interception of an oral communication requires consent of all participants under s. 934.03; violations are third-degree felonies and the recordings are generally inadmissible.

Still photography and video taken from a public vantage point of matters exposed to public view generally require no consent because no reasonable expectation of privacy attaches.

Capturing images of a person in a private area such as a dwelling, restroom, or changing room is prohibited by s. 810.145 (video voyeurism).

Section 934.50 limits drone surveillance of privately owned property where the owner has a reasonable expectation of privacy and provides a civil cause of action for violations.

A surveillance log records 24-hour time, location, weather, vehicle description and tag, persons present, activity observed, and equipment settings, with entries made contemporaneously.

Rolling or leapfrog surveillance uses hand-offs among investigators or vehicles; a subject who detects the surveillance ('burns' it) forces a break-off to protect the case.

Photographs and video are authenticated under s. 90.901 either by a witness with knowledge or by a silent-witness showing of a reliable, tamper-resistant process.

Pre-surveillance planning fixes the objective, subject identifiers (photo, vehicle, address), legal limits, and a documented break-off criterion.

Investigation reports state who, what, when, where, how, and who was present; observed facts are separated from opinions and every hearsay statement is attributed to its source.

Times are recorded in 24-hour format with the time source noted (synced watch, camera timestamp) so the record withstands cross-examination.

Field notes, original recordings, and unedited image files are preserved; once litigation is reasonably anticipated, a litigation hold bars destruction of any related material.

Materials prepared by an investigator at an attorney's direction in anticipation of litigation may be protected as work product under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.280(b)(4).

An investigator's report is hearsay if offered to prove its contents; the investigator ordinarily testifies to firsthand observations, while routine records may be admitted under s. 90.803(6).

An evidence log records each exhibit's chain of custody with date, time, handler, and purpose of every transfer.

Time and expense entries are itemized contemporaneously and tied to the engagement agreement so they support the invoice and any later billing dispute.

Case files are stored with access limited to assigned personnel; client identity, case details, and collected data are treated as confidential.

Section 90.702 (Daubert) governs expert testimony: the opinion must be based on sufficient facts, reliable principles and methods, and a reliable application of those methods to the facts.

Section 90.701 permits lay opinion testimony limited to perceptions, helpful to the trier of fact, and not based on scientific or technical knowledge.

Section 90.901 requires authentication - evidence sufficient to support a finding that the item is what the proponent claims - before admission.

Testimony must be truthful; perjury under s. 837.02 and false official statements carry criminal penalties in addition to license discipline under s. 493.6118.

An investigator working at an attorney's direction may be covered by the attorney-client privilege and work-product protection for communications with counsel.

A subpoena for testimony or records must be obeyed or challenged by a motion to quash; noncompliance is punishable as contempt of court.

Section 90.608 permits impeachment by a prior inconsistent statement; preserved field notes may be used to refresh recollection or to impeach.

Paying a witness for testimony rather than for time, expenses, or lost wages is improper and may constitute bribery under Florida law.