# Arizona

Arizona licenses private investigator agencies, and registers the investigators they employ, through the Department of Public Safety (DPS). Since 2023 the Legislature has moved agency licenses to four-year terms and let registered investigators fingerprint unidentified hospital patients, and DPS has changed how fingerprints and applications are filed.

Source: https://uscli.org/licensing-tracker/arizona

## At a glance

- **Authority:** [Arizona Department of Public Safety, Licensing Unit](https://www.azdps.gov/services/public-services-center/licensing). The Private Investigator and Security Guard Hearing Board recommends discipline and decides good cause exceptions ([A.R.S. 32-2404](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/02404.htm), 32-2405, 32-2412).
- **Statute:** [A.R.S. Title 32, Chapter 24 (32-2401 to 32-2462)](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/02401.htm)
- **Rules:** [A.A.C. Title 13, Chapter 2](https://apps.azsos.gov/public_services/Title_13/13-02.pdf)
- **Who is licensed:** An agency is licensed through a qualifying party; other partners or officers register as associates, and investigators register as employees who may act only for a licensed agency. There is no stand-alone individual license ([32-2411](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/02411.htm), 32-2421).
- **Qualifications:** The qualifying party must be at least 21 and have 3 years of full-time investigative experience, or the equivalent, for a private concern or a government agency ([32-2422](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/02422.htm)); associates and employees must be at least 18 (32-2441). The statute sets no exam. State and federal fingerprint checks. A felony conviction or pending felony indictment bars a license or registration, as does a conviction within the past 5 years for a listed misdemeanor (32-2422(A)(3)-(4), 32-2441(3)-(4)). After a hearing, the Hearing Board may grant a good cause exception for a misdemeanor once all terms of sentencing are complete, or for a felony once 10 or more years have passed since all terms of sentencing were completed, but not for a person convicted of or awaiting trial on any offense listed in A.R.S. 41-1758.03(B) ([32-2412](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/02412.htm)).
- **Renewal:** Agency licenses run 4 years, and employee registrations expire with the agency license ([32-2425](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/02425.htm), 32-2442). DPS fees: $250 agency application, $400 agency license, $250 renewal; $50 employee registration or renewal; $22 fingerprint processing ([DPS](https://www.azdps.gov/services/public-services-center/licensing)).
- **Continuing education:** None for private investigators.
- **Bond or insurance:** A $2,500 surety bond for an agency license, plus workers’ compensation insurance where applicable ([32-2423](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/02423.htm)).

## Changes, 2023 to 2026

- Jul 8, 2026 — **Fingerprint affidavit required; electronic filing suspended** — DPS Licensing Unit notices · Affidavit required from July 8, 2026; electronic filing suspended October 30, 2026 — DPS says fingerprints received on or after July 8, 2026 must come with a completed Fingerprint Affidavit, sealed in one envelope with the fingerprint card, or the packet is rejected. Forms signed and received after October 3, 2026 that are not the newest version will be rejected. Because of a move to a new processing system, electronic applications and fingerprint submissions are suspended from October 30, 2026; the DPS page does not give a relaunch date. — **For licensees:** From October 30, 2026, electronic applications and fingerprint submissions are suspended until DPS’s new system launches. — [DPS licensing page](https://www.azdps.gov/services/public-services-center/licensing)
- Sep 26, 2025 — **Agency licenses move to four-year terms** — Senate Bill 1618, Laws 2025, Chapter 12 · Approved March 25, 2025; effective September 26, 2025 — Amends A.R.S. 32-2425(A) so agency licenses are issued for four years instead of two; employee registrations already run with the agency license. It deleted the sentence in 32-2407(B) that barred renewing a license or registration more than 90 days after expiration, while keeping the ban on working between expiration and renewal. It also lets DPS run periodic criminal history checks rather than only state checks (32-2423, 32-2442). The DPS rules were not updated to match: R13-2-101(4) still defines “delinquent” by the deleted grace period. — **For licensees:** Agency licenses issued after the change run four years, and the statute no longer sets a 90-day limit on renewing after expiration. — [Laws 2025, Ch. 12](https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/57leg/1r/laws/0012.htm)[A.R.S. 32-2407](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/02407.htm)
- Apr 1, 2025 — **Rule on registration certificate renewals expired** — Notice of expiration, A.A.C. R13-2-303 (31 A.A.R. 1283) · Expired April 1, 2025; notice published April 18, 2025 — R13-2-303 (Renewal of Registration Certificate), which had the agency licensee submit associate and employee registration renewals up to 60 days before expiration, and allowed those renewals only as part of an agency license renewal, expired under A.R.S. 41-1056(J). It was the only change to the private investigator rules, A.A.C. Title 13, Chapter 2, from 2023 through October 2026. — **For licensees:** R13-2-204(A) still lets a qualifying party submit an agency renewal up to 60 days before expiration, but DPS’s page says it accepts renewals up to 180 days before expiration and returns earlier ones. — [A.A.C. 13-2](https://apps.azsos.gov/public_services/Title_13/13-02.pdf)
- Oct 30, 2023 — **Investigators may fingerprint unidentified hospital patients** — Senate Bill 1221, Laws 2023, Chapter 163 · Approved June 5, 2023; effective October 30, 2023 — A licensed hospital may ask a criminal justice agency to identify an incapacitated or deceased unidentified patient through fingerprints or biometrics. A private investigator registered under Chapter 24 may take the fingerprints or biometric information and give them to the agency without the patient’s consent; the agency returns only the patient’s name. Now codified at A.R.S. 41-2415. — **For licensees:** Registered investigators have express authority to do this work at a hospital’s request. — [Laws 2023, Ch. 163](https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/56leg/1r/laws/0163.htm)[A.R.S. 41-2415](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/41/02415.htm)

## Checked and unchanged

- No other 2023–2026 law amended A.R.S. 32-2401 to 32-2462; every chaptered law in those sessions was searched.
- Arizona’s universal recognition law still excludes private investigator licenses ([A.R.S. 32-4302(E)(1)](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/04302.htm)). DPS may instead enter limited agreements letting out-of-state investigators finish home-state cases in Arizona for up to 30 days per case (32-2413).
- The stalking law, [A.R.S. 13-2923](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/13/02923.htm), which covers unauthorized GPS surveillance, did not change, and no separate tracking device law was enacted.
- Apart from the expiration of R13-2-303, no proposed or final rulemaking on A.A.C. R13-2 appeared in the Arizona Administrative Register from 2023 through October 2026.