(a)"Private detective business" shall mean and include the business of private detective, private detective business, the business of investigator, or the business of watch, guard, or patrol agency.(b)"Private detective business" shall also mean and include, separately or collectively, the making, for hire, reward, or for any consideration whatsoever, of any investigation or investigations for the purpose of obtaining information with reference to any of the following matters, notwithstanding the fact that other functions and services may also be performed for fee, hire, or reward:(1) Crime or wrongs done or threatened against the government of the United States of America or any state or territory of the United States of America.(2) The identity, habits, conduct, movements, whereabouts, affiliations, associations, transactions, reputation, or character, of any person, group of persons, association, organization, society, other groups of persons, partnership, or corporation.(3) The credibility of witnesses or other persons.(4) The whereabouts of missing persons.(5) The location or recovery of lost or stolen property.(6) The causes and origin of, or responsibility for, fires, or libels, or losses, or accidents, or damage, or injuries, to real or personal property.(7) The affiliation, connection, or relation, of any person, partnership, or corporation, with any union, organization, society, or association, or with any official member or representative thereof.(8) With reference to any person or persons seeking employment in the place of any person or persons who have quit work by reason of any strike.(9) With reference to the conduct, honesty, efficiency, loyalty, or activities, of employes, agents, contractors and subcontractors.(10) The securing of evidence to be used before any authorized investigating committee, board of award, board of arbitration, or in the trial of civil or criminal cases.(11) The furnishing, for hire or reward, of watchmen, or guards, or private patrolmen, or other persons, to protect persons or property, or to prevent the theft or the unlawful taking of goods, wares and merchandise, or to prevent the misappropriation or concealment of goods, wares or merchandise, money, bonds, stocks, choses in action, notes, or other valuable documents, papers, and articles of value, or to procure the return thereof, or the performing of the service of such guard or other person, or any of said purposes. The foregoing shall not be deemed to include persons engaged in the business of investigators for or adjusters for insurance companies, nor persons in the exclusive employment of common carriers subject to regulation by the interstate commerce commission or the Public Utility Commission of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, nor any telephone, telegraph or other telecommunications company subject to regulation by the Federal Communications Commission or the Public Utility Commission of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or an employe of any such company while performing any investigatory activities engaged in by his employer, or investigators in the employment of credit bureaus.
(c) The terms "the business of detective agency", the "business of investigator", the "business of watch, guard or patrol agency", and the terms "private detective" or "investigator" shall mean and include any person, partnership, association, or corporation, engaged in the private detective business, as defined in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, with or without the assistance of any employe or employes.(d) The term "commissioner" shall mean the Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police.(e) The term "patrol agency" shall mean and include any agency and/or individuals (including therein security guards, uniformed or nonuniformed) employed full time or part time, on a temporary or permanent basis, who, for any consideration whatsoever, patrols, guards, protects, monitors, regulates, secures or watches over persons and/or property, either real or personal. This term specifically includes any person employed in any capacity, for any length of time, to protect property, either real or personal, against labor strikes or against any person or persons who have become a party to any labor strike.1953, Aug. 21, P.L. 1273, §2. Amended 1987 , Dec. 3, P.L. 405, No. 83, § 1, effective in 60 days; 1988 , May 26, P.L. 405, No. 68, § 1, effective in 60 days.