Polish law and the rights of private detectives

Polish law and the rights of private detectives: A licensed detective conducting legal activities must limit himself to the tools offered to him by the Polish legislator. Crossing the imposed boundaries, unethical acts in the light of Polish law, and finally illegal activities, may be considered a crime, which not only exposes the detective to consequences, but may constitute the basis for questioning the credibility of any materials that have been collected unlawfully.

Before the investigation begins …

Like lawyers, detectives need the right authority to make their activities formalized. Therefore, detective services may be provided only by a person with the qualifications required by the act – currently it is a detective license, issued by provincial police commanders. In addition, it is required to register a business and pay civil liability insurance. After all these conditions are met, the detective can start working legally.

Powers of detectives

The content of the act stipulates at the very beginning that the activities of private detectives may not in any way infringe the area of activities reserved for law enforcement agencies. Moreover, which is also important from the client’s point of view, a detective has a statutory obligation to report a detected crime in the course of conducted activities. It is equally important that the detective must inform the authority dealing with the criminal case if the client concludes a contract for related services. Each manifestation of the detective’s activity must result from a clear customer order, documented with an appropriate contract. The Act defines these activities as, inter alia, keeping records of collected information about people, assets, real estate and events. In practice, this means.

The products of today’s pop culture mix the activities of private investigators with the powers of state law enforcement agencies. Between the fairy tales, stories about modern equipment used by private detectives should be inserted. The act strictly forbids the use of, among others GPS locators and wiretaps reserved for selected services. Detectives are also kept secret as to the sources of information and details of cases. Private investigators are fully responsible for their actions, and each client has the right to pursue their claims in court, when irregularities are found or when false information is invoked. The detective is finally obliged to protect personal data, so after completing each investigation.

Selected services in practice, i.e. a detective can

In the face of all these restrictions and prohibitions, it might seem that the detectives can’t really do much. Of course, it is difficult to require a private agency to conduct serious investigations, while hindering the work of the prosecution or the police, but there is a long list of situations in which it is the law enforcement agencies that are extremely sluggish. The detective’s motivation is, of course, money, and you should bear in mind that the number of cases per one private detective is relatively small. In the case of budgetary authorities that have to carry out various activities, it is unprofitable to act in trivial matters. So it means that a private detective agency is better at dealing with private conflicts, thefts or problems with debt recovery.

The most popular are services related to the so-called business intelligence. These are strictly private activities, so no public authority will carry out such expertise for a private entity. Business intelligence is nothing more than collecting information about the company’s competition, potential partner or contractor. Of course, this information will not concern the private nuances of the lives of CEOs of other companies, but e.g. the company’s financial situation or the integrity and intentions of the management board. In-company investigations could also fall into this category, for example, theft of employees, sale of confidential information to competitors, control of employees on dismissal, etc. In the search for missing persons, detectives can assist the police. It happens, however, that the police find a missing person, but the for various reasons, he does not wish to disclose his whereabouts to his family. Most often it results from a difficult financial situation and avoiding creditors. In the face of such circumstances, the actions of detectives can bring much better results.

Misconceptions about the nature of this profession are a source of frustration for many potential clients. It is always worth knowing whether the case with which we report to the agency does not fall out of the powers of private detectives.