this has beencoming for a long time --support is both democratic and republican--guys get and the right side of this quickly
http://360.yahoo.com/profile-xrMmGpkzdK ... 6Ag--?cq=1
A state-issued licensed to snoop?
Lawmaker wants regulation of private eyes and bounty hunters
Thursday, March 23, 2006
BY CHARLES THOMPSON
Of The Patriot-News
"Dog the Bounty Hunter" doesn't work in Pennsylvania, but if he did,
he should have a license, a midstate lawmaker said.
Rep. Stan Saylor, R-Red Lion, has introduced a bill that would create
a state licensing board for private investigators, bounty hunters and
other private security agencies.
Duane "Dog" Chapman, the star of the TV series on A&E, works in
Hawaii, so Saylor's bill wouldn't apply to him. But Saylor said
standards are needed in Pennsylvania to govern private investigators
and bounty hunters.
Private detectives are licensed through county courts, but they have
no statewide performance standards to meet. Bounty hunters, also
known as fugitive recovery agents, have no license or certification
requirements.
"We license barbers and cosmetologists, so why shouldn't we license
people who carry guns?" Saylor said.
Saylor's bill would require entrance tests, rules of conduct and
training programs for private investigators, security guards and
bounty hunters. The proposed board would investigate complaints and
discipline violators.
The lack of standards has led to some horrendous incidents, said Jim
Carino, a private investigator from Montgomery County who founded the
voluntary Pennsylvania Association of Licensed Investigators in 1997.
In one of the worst, Sherman Douglas of Philadelphia hired an
investigator last year to track down a former co-worker.
After getting the address, Douglas showed up at the Bucks County home
of William Berkeyheiser, 62, and shot him to death. Douglas pleaded
guilty but mentally ill to the killing in December and is serving a
life sentence.
Members of the licensed investigators association work under a code
that would have required Berkeyheiser to consent to the sharing of
his address, Carino said. The firm Douglas hired did not do that.
Bill supporters said the need for regulation is more pronounced for
bounty hunters, such as those who work for bail bondsmen to find
criminal defendants who have skipped out on bail requirements.
"I was amazed to learn that freelance bail bond enforcement agents
are largely unregulated in Pennsylvania," said Rep. Don Walko, D-
Allegheny, a co-sponsor of Saylor's bill.
Walko's interest was sparked by a 2004 case in Allegheny County in
which a bounty hunter shot and killed a man who failed to make a
court appearance.
Mark Smith told police he fired at Michael Robinson when the fugitive
lunged at him in a darkened room holding a shiny metal object. Police
said the object was likely an open toenail clipper.
At Smith's sentencing for involuntary manslaughter charges in
February, Allegheny County Judge Jeff Manning appealed for help from
lawmakers.
The judge said Smith's actions were "reflective of the lack of proper
training. ... If any good can come of this tragic incident, it would
be that the Legislature will finally act to address the lack of
regulation over the activities of bail agents."
Connie Miller, co-owner of Miller's Bail Bonds in Harrisburg, agreed.
"I kind of feel like there probably should be something" in the way
of training and licensing requirements, she said.
Miller said she screens agents who work for her, requiring
professional certification in the use of handguns. They must alert
local police before they apprehend a suspect.
But she said there are untrained agents who can make things
unnecessarily dangerous.
Not everyone supports Saylor's legislation.
Skip Gochenour, a Harrisburg-area private investigator, said the
number of "problem children" among the roughly 1,000 private
detectives in Pennsylvania are few and far between.
Current law requires all would-be investigators to prove their
competence and character to a county judge, he said. He doesn't want
that replaced by a state test.
"Character and integrity are the only things that tell you whether a
guy is ready to handle the awesome powers that a detective has to
investigate someone," Gochenour said.
Gochenour said there might be better ways to regulate aspects of the
industry.
Raising license fees could filter out a lot of applicants, he said.
Current fees of $100 per year have not changed since the 1950s, he
said.
But Gochenour said Saylor's bill goes in the wrong direction,
especially in placing representatives from the attorney general's
office and Pennsylvania State Police on the proposed licensing board.
Saylor said he is not trying to push anyone out of business.
"This keeps the cowboys out more than it lets them in," said Saylor,
who said he hopes the bill gets to Gov. Ed Rendell this year.
