Maryland
Maryland licenses private detective agencies, and certifies the individual detectives they sponsor, through the Department of State Police. In January 2025 licensing moved to the State Police electronic Licensing Portal, and since 2023 laws on online privacy, judges’ personal information, residential surveillance, stalking, and motor vehicle records have changed how investigators work.
At a glance
- Authority
- Secretary of State Police, through the Maryland State Police Licensing Division
- Statute
- Business Occupations and Professions Article, Title 13 (Maryland Private Detectives Act)
- Rules
- COMAR 29.04.08
- Who is licensed
- A business providing private detective services holds an agency license (13-301). Each individual who provides the services must be certified, through and for a sponsoring agency (13-401).
- Qualifications
- An agency applicant must be at least 25 (13-302) and have one of the experience routes in 13-303(b), such as 5 years as a certified or licensed private detective, or 3 years as a police detective. Individuals seeking certification must be at least 18 (State Police). State and FBI criminal history checks. No exam.
- Renewal
- Agency: $200 (individual) or $375 (firm) to apply; renewal every 3 years, $200 or $400 (13-304, 13-308). Certification: $15 to apply; renewal every 3 years, $10 plus fingerprint fees (13-403, 13-404.1).
- Continuing education
- None
- Bond or insurance
- An agency employing 5 or more private detectives must carry commercial general liability insurance, including errors and omissions, of at least $1,000,000 aggregate (13-604). No bond.
Changes, 2023 to 2026
Stalking becomes a felony in aggravated cases
Stalking under Criminal Law 3-802, which includes tracking another person by a device without their knowledge or consent, remains a misdemeanor but becomes a felony, punishable by up to 10 years, when the offender is subject to a protective order or court order involving the victim or has a prior stalking conviction (3-802(d)). The definition and the existing exceptions in 3-802(b) did not change.
For licensees: The stalking law’s device-tracking language and its exceptions are unchanged; only the penalties rose.
Military and Foreign Service families may practice on out-of-state licenses
Both laws add State Government subtitles and amend Business Occupations and Professions 13-401(a) so that an active service member, a Foreign Service member, or a spouse who relocates to Maryland and holds another state’s license may provide private detective services without a Maryland certification while the conditions in the new subtitles are met. Practice is limited to the scope of the out-of-state license. The agency license requirement in 13-301 was not changed.
For licensees: The exception covers individual certification only; an agency license is still required.
Motor vehicle records and immigration enforcement; privacy law exemptions narrowed
General Provisions 4-320(g)(2) now bars any recipient of Motor Vehicle Administration personal information, which includes licensed private detective agencies under 4-320(f)(3), from disclosing it to any person or government agency for immigration enforcement without a valid warrant. Before, the bar reached only disclosures to federal agents and agencies. Records custodians must also take reasonable steps to determine whether a requester seeks records for immigration enforcement (4-320.1). The chapter also amends the Online Data Privacy Act: the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act exemption now covers data handled “as required by” that Act rather than “in compliance with” it (Com. Law 14-4703(b)(8)); data from government records counts as publicly available only if the person follows each restriction or term of use the agency imposes (14-4701(cc)); precise geolocation data includes the location of a mobile device or vehicle (14-4701(x)); sensitive data includes inferred data; and a controller may not knowingly sell personal data to a government unit that engaged in or supported civil immigration enforcement in the prior 6 months (14-4707(a)(6)).
For licensees: Motor vehicle records received as a licensed agency may not be passed to anyone for immigration enforcement without a valid warrant, and the privacy law’s exemptions for driver records and government-sourced public data are narrower.
Residential visual surveillance added to harassment and peace orders
Criminal Law 3-803(b) now prohibits visual surveillance of an area of another person’s residence where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, when done with intent to harass, alarm, or annoy, after a reasonable warning or request to stop, and without a legal purpose. All three conditions must be met. A peace order may require the surveillance device to be removed or repositioned.
For licensees: Surveillance of private areas of a residence that continues after a request to stop, with intent to harass and without a legal purpose, can support a harassment charge or a peace order.
Visual surveillance law covers residences; licensed detective exception unchanged
Amends the visual surveillance with prurient intent law, Criminal Law 3-902, so that a residence, and any other place of private or public use, is now one of the listed places where a “private place” (a room in which a person can reasonably be expected to fully or partially disrobe and has a reasonable expectation of privacy) can be. The existing exception for a person who holds a Title 13 license and acts within the scope of the occupation without prurient intent was not changed.
For licensees: The exception for licensed private detectives acting within the scope of their work without prurient intent still applies.
Maryland Online Data Privacy Act takes effect
Applies to businesses that controlled or processed the personal data of at least 35,000 Maryland consumers in the prior year, or at least 10,000 while getting more than 20 percent of gross revenue from selling personal data. Publicly available information is not personal data, and the Act exempts activity regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, data handled in compliance with the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, and processing to investigate or defend legal claims. It has no exemption naming private detectives.
For licensees: Whether the Act reaches an agency depends on its thresholds and general exemptions.
Licensing moves to the State Police electronic portal
The State Police say that in January 2025 all professional licensing applications and fees moved from paper to its electronic Licensing Portal. Agency applicants upload a fingerprint receipt, a photo, and, if they will employ 5 or more detectives, proof of liability insurance.
For licensees: Agency and certification applications and fees are submitted through the Licensing Portal.
Judicial Security Act: 72-hour removal of judges’ personal information
Adds Courts and Judicial Proceedings 3-2301 to 3-2304. A covered judicial officer or household member, or the Judiciary’s Office of Information Privacy, may send a written request to anyone who has published the officer’s personal information online, who must remove it within 72 hours. Personal information includes home address, phone numbers, personal email, and similar identifiers. Knowingly publishing it, when the person knows or should know it poses an imminent and serious threat and the publication results in assault, harassment, trespass, or property destruction, is a misdemeanor. The Act also creates a Judicial Address Confidentiality Program (3-2401 to 3-2407), under which a person may not knowingly disclose a program participant’s actual address (3-2407).
For licensees: Online publication of a covered judicial officer’s listed personal information must be removed within 72 hours of a qualifying request, and an address confidentiality program participant’s actual address may not be knowingly disclosed.
Ten-year limitations period for stalking
Sets a 10-year statute of limitations for prosecuting stalking under Criminal Law 3-802, which covers tracking a person by a device without their knowledge or consent. The usual misdemeanor limitations period is 1 year.
For licensees: Stalking charges, including for covert device tracking, can be brought up to 10 years after the conduct.
Applications and fees in the format the Secretary sets
Amends 13-304, 13-308, 13-403, and 13-404.1 so agency and certification applications and renewals are submitted in the manner and format the Secretary designates, fees are paid by an approved method, and renewal notices are sent electronically. Fee amounts and qualifications did not change.
For licensees: Renewal notices now arrive electronically.
Checked and unchanged
- COMAR 29.04.08 has not been amended since 2007.
- No other 2023–2026 law changed Title 13 licensing qualifications or fees.
Last updated October 18, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & InvestigationCite as: United States Council for Law & Investigation, “Maryland private detective licensing: Licensing Law Tracker,” uscli.org/licensing-tracker/maryland (last updated October 18, 2026). Text licensed CC BY 4.0.