NCJ Number
82846
Journal
Archiv fuer kriminologie Volume: 166 Issue: 5/6 Dated: (November/December 1980) Pages: 129-139
Date Published
1980
Length
11 pages
Annotation
West German accreditation standards should require higher criteria for private detectives because this profession can contribute significantly to the crime control effort. Increased cooperation between private detectives and police investigators should be promoted.
Abstract
Professional detective services in Germany date from 1880. Private crime investigation bureaus became numerous after both World Wars due to crime increases and the general disorganization of the times. Since the 1950's, with the stabilization of economic conditions and technical advances, detective agencies have attempted to upgrade their personnel, methods, and equipment. The need for their services continues to rise as criminality increases, particularly in the areas of industrial espionage, security offenses, and shoplifting. There are two professional organizations, but no qualification requirements or personality checks exist. The field is being discredited by persons of personality checks questionable character and unethical practices. Most private investigation assignments concern civil family matters or economic crimes. The principal investigative methods are clandestine observation and elicitation of information from unwitting informants. To be effective, detectives must remain unidentified and arouse no suspicion. Unlike the police, detectives have no recourse to special powers or authority beyond the private citizen's right to act in self-defense. Their advantages over police officials are the freedom to use trickery and ruses and access to adequate means from their clients for carrying out their projects. Police and public distrust of detectives stems from their unethical tactics regarding invasion of privacy and accession and misuse of classified information. Qualification requirements and accredited training for detectives should be instituted to professionalize the field. Contacts between private and police investigators should be formalized so that information can be mutually exchanged and cooperation achieved in the common goal of combatting crime. A total of 53 footnotes are supplied.