The private detective: an essential component of a sound Corporate Compliance strategy.
Far from the clichés popularized by films and series, the private detective is becoming a growing and necessary profession in business environments—especially when discussing compliance.
The technological revolution and digital transformation for businesses have brought about a shortage of professionals in technological areas that will take years to address.
However, it has also highlighted traditional professions where this transformation has opened new horizons, as is the case with private detectives.
Compliance, Detectives, and Investigations
Compliance is the set of procedures and best practices adopted by organizations to identify and classify the operational and legal risks they face, and to establish internal mechanisms for prevention, management, control, and response to them.
Compliance has ceased to be a voluntary option for organizations and has become a requirement to be integrated into the strategy and internal structures of companies with two main objectives:
- to ensure compliance with legal provisions.
- to protect against risk situations that could seriously jeopardize the stability and continuity of the organization’s activities.
Why a Detective and Not Another Professional?
One of the most common mistakes in internal corporate investigations is thinking that internal investigations are unregulated, sometimes due to pure ignorance, as Spain has a law regulating private investigation: Private Security Act 5/2014.
Elisenda Villena, Private Detective, Criminologist, and Security Director, believes that “fortunately, companies and the world of Compliance are becoming increasingly aware that the Private Detective is essential in internal investigations.”
Article 48.1 of the Private Security Act 5/2014 establishes that “private investigation services, carried out by private detectives, consist of conducting the necessary inquiries to obtain and provide, on behalf of legitimate third parties, information and evidence regarding private conduct or facts, including those relating to the economic, labor, commercial, and financial spheres and, in general, to personal, family, or social life, except for those taking place in homes or reserved locations.”
And according to Article 5, activities related to private investigation correspond “exclusively and solely” to the private detective.
Ignoring private investigation in corporate compliance: an absolute mistake.
As Elisenda Villena emphasizes: “This principle is reiterated by the Supreme Court ruling (Contentious-Administrative, Third Chamber, Fifth Section, Contentious-Administrative Appeal No. 170/1995) of February 19, 2008, which recognizes private detectives as the ‘only figure authorized by the legislator to intervene in the various material fields of private information and investigation.’
Similarly, the Provincial Chief Prosecutor of Madrid, Mr. José Javier Polo, also reiterates this when speaking of internal investigations, stating: ‘An investigation is legitimate when there is founded suspicion, legal authorization for the person conducting it, it constitutes an appropriate measure, and there are no less burdensome alternative measures.'”
No, it is not necessary to inform the subject in advance if the investigator is a private detective
Another common mistake is thinking that the subject must be informed of the facts being investigated as soon as possible.
If the alleged offender is informed that they are going to be investigated, they will act with caution from then on, and only past facts can be investigated (and in a very limited way).
“Therefore, it is highly noteworthy and essential for a good investigation that the legislator and jurisprudence exempt the private detective from complying with the duty to previously inform the subjects that they may be under investigation.”
This is confirmed by AEPD resolutions E-00128/2004 and E-007/2005.
Elisenda Villena is a Private Detective, Criminologist, and Director of Investigation at onBRANDING.
