Glossary of Terms: Detective Agency vs Security Company

As we receive enquiries and applications relating to security services on a weekly basis, we would like to take this opportunity to explain the difference between detective agencies and security companies.

 

In the beginning, there was the detective, the private investigator, the consulting detective in his detective office. The word “detective” derives from the Latin “detegere” – to discover, to uncover. A detective is therefore a person who clarifies unresolved matters. At some point, a clever security entrepreneur began referring to his guarding company as a “detective agency”. This blending of the sectors became established over time, and today we have even reached the point where the statutory accident insurance lists both industries within the same category, despite the fact that they obviously involve entirely different risk potentials.

 

Detectives conduct research and surveillance. They are presented with a problem, the solution to which they pursue using numerous investigative methods. Security companies ensure the orderly conduct of events, the protection of property and the maintenance of general order.

 

A few examples of enquiries received by Kurtz Investigations Hamburg in everyday business:

 

We regularly receive applications from successful graduates of the proficiency examination pursuant to Section 34a of the German Trade Regulation Act. The 34a qualification is all well and good, but as we detectives in our field say: everyone has 34a. Section 34a is responsible for the security industry. Detectives, however, only guard in the very rarest of cases. In most instances, our investigations consist of research and surveillance. Research has very little to do with 34a, and surveillance is, at best, only touched upon peripherally in the course. Unfortunately, the profession of detective and the security sector were conceptually merged many years ago. However, the competences imparted by the 34a qualification rarely prove useful in the practical work of a professional detective. Kurtz Detective Agency Hamburg does not seek security personnel, but professional detectives with an IHK certificate as a certified detective specialist and/or a prior career in investigative authorities.

 

Without exaggeration, we have already received enquiries from job-seeking security staff who, upon being informed that Kurtz Investigations Hamburg is purely an investigative service, asked what investigations actually are. A minimum degree of prior information should not be too much to expect before making the effort to submit an application.

 

The profession of private detective also appears to be only partially understood in the media landscape. We recently received an enquiry as to whether a team of journalists might accompany one of our “museum guards” for a few hours in order to publish an article based on their findings. No, museum guards are not “uncoverers” (keyword: detegere), but purely guards – therefore part of the security industry.

 

Store detectives are likewise not part of the professional group we employ.

 

Kurtz Detective Agency Hamburg, with Patrick Kurtz as a member of the German Society of Criminology, is committed to the professionalisation of the detective profession and the revival of criminology degree programmes in Germany.

 

PS: The above article is by no means intended as a devaluation of the security industry, but solely as a clarification of terminology. Both sectors – security and private investigation – have their justification and necessity in German society; however, they must be clearly distinguished from one another.