To become a Private Investigator in Illinois is different from most other places. The difference is that Illinois does not require much for you to work as a PI for an Illinois Private Investigator agency.
You simply need to be registered as support staff for an Illinois PI agency. You will get a type of license for this:
"Permanent Employee Registration Card."
PRIVATE DETECTIVE APTITUDE TEST
You will need a PI sponsor/ employer before applying for the PERC license but you will not need to take a Private Investigator course or official state Private Investigator training. However, you won’t have an Illinois Private Investigator's license but you can work as one. This can be viewed as you being a Private Investigator under supervision.
Illinois PI Sponsor
To become a Private Investigator in Illinois, you need to be hired by a local Private Investigator agency as well as meet the basic requirements. Getting hired as a PI in Illinois requires experience. If you do not have investigative experience, you should take a PI course that focuses on practical skills: Intro to a Career as a PI 100.
Full Illinois PI License
A full PI license allows you to work for yourself (your own business). This requires you to have previous investigative experience or education. Other than investigative experience/ education, to become a Private Investigator in Illinois, you need to meet basic Private Investigator requirements such as age, language proficiency, and other usual PI requirements of this nature. Furthermore, you need to take a government approved PI exam/ test (most places you do). After you apply for a PI license, you will be contacted regarding taking the PI exam.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation: PI Licensing
In Illinois, the government body that controls licensed Private Investigators is "The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation." Once you submit the proof of your ability to meet the requirements and experience/ education to the IDFPR, you will be able to take the Illinois PI exam. After successful completion of the PI exam, you will get your Illinois full PI license. Within 30 days of getting this license, you will need to take an approved PI training course. Most jurisdiction will have a PI beginner’s license. In Illinois, it is the PERC license. Getting this license is when your struggle will begin.
Illinois Private Investigator License Requirements
Permanent Employee Registration Card REQUIREMENTS
You need to be 18yo or older.
You need to be legally allowed to work in Illinois
You cannot have a history of mental illness.
You must have a clean criminal/ personal record.
You will have to pay a small licensing fee.
You must be sponsored by an Illinois PI agency.
You will need to be fingerprinted in Illinois and obtain a 16 digit fingerprint confirmation number by the service provider.
To get hired in Illinois you need PI experience. If you don't have experience, you should take a PI SKILLS COURSE.
Private Detective Aptitude Test
Illinois Private Investigator Application
Private Investigator Salary Illinois
Private Investigator Beginner’s License in Illinois
Your Private Investigator beginner’s license in Illinois is just being support staff to an Illinois PI agency.
This license is called, PERC. It will allow you to work for a PI agency, but you will not be able to work for yourself (your own PI company).
This means you must work under the supervision of a fully licensed Illinois PI agency. However, the term “under supervision” will be in namesake only. You will not be supervised or guided by an experienced Illinois Private Investigator. In fact, PI agencies are not economically structured to have mentor/ student surveillance teams. Furthermore, a background in non-PI investigations will give you some transferable knowledge but it will not set you up to become a successful Private Investigator. New Private Investigators still need to know how to be successful working surveillance operations. This is why practical Private Investigator education and training specifically for Private Investigators is necessary.
This lack of guidance is why so many rookie Illinois Private Investigators burn out and quit and why many experienced Illinois Private Investigators are jaded. On top of this, PI clients with small budgets typically get the new unqualified Private Investigators, nobody wins in this situation. It is also not fair to small PI clients to use their files to haphazardly train new Private Investigators.
So, the time comes for you to work investigations in Illinois with no Private Investigator experience or education. If you took a PI course or PI training, it most likely focused on legal matters with no real practical Private Investigator training or topics. You will always be told by Illinois PI employers that “soon you will get some PI training,” which never happens. It took me over five years to figure out the industry and get good at a few specialized fields. During that time, I struggled and probably lost several hundred thousand dollars due to losing work opportunities from a lack of skill and education. What is sad is that this is a common story in the industry. If you make it through this meat grinder of an industry with three years of experience (full time average) and get an Illinois PI license, you be qualified to work for yourself with your own PI agency. Hopefully, when you are hiring new Private Investigators, you will appreciate the importance of proper PI education.
Full Illinois Private Investigator License REQUIREMENTS
1. You need to be 21yo or older.
2. You need three years (full time average) of PI experience.
or
You need education degrees in a criminal justice type field equal to three years. If your degree does not equal three years, it can be used as partial experience on top of PI experience.
3. After you apply, you will be contacted regarding taking the PI exam.
4. After obtaining your PI license, you will need to take an approved PI course within 30 days.
Thinking of Becoming an Illinois Private Investigator?
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