Who can work as a private investigator in Oklahoma?
Nothing on this site is legal advice.
Only someone who holds a license. The rules are in the Oklahoma Security Guard and Private Investigator Act, in Title 59 of the Oklahoma Statutes. The licenses come from CLEET, the Oklahoma agency that licenses private investigators.
Oklahoma requires private investigators and investigative agencies to be licensed by CLEET before they operate. 59 O.S. § 1750.4(A)
A self-employed private investigator must also hold an investigative agency license. 59 O.S. § 1750.5(G)
Fuller Investigations is licensed by CLEET as an investigative agency, and Daniel Fuller is licensed as a private investigator.
About Daniel Fuller sets out the licenses behind this practice.
Is a private investigator a police officer?
No. A license from CLEET does not make an investigator law enforcement, and the Act forbids an investigator to suggest otherwise.
A private investigator may not suggest any connection with a government or law enforcement. 59 O.S. § 1750.9(B)
Daniel Fuller is a licensed private investigator, not a law enforcement officer.
What can a licensed private investigator do?
Find facts by lawful means and report them accurately. In practice that is:
- watching and photographing what happens in public places, which is surveillance;
- reading court files and other public records, as in a background investigation;
- finding people and interviewing those who agree to talk, as in witness location and interviews;
- writing a report of what was done and what was found.
Oklahoma law adds two things to that list:
Private process servers in Oklahoma are licensed by the presiding judge of a judicial administrative district, and the license is valid statewide. Fees are agreed between the server and the client. 12 O.S. §§ 158.1, 158.2
Daniel Fuller holds an Oklahoma private process server license, so process serving is part of the practice.
A licensed private investigator may not disclose information learned on a case except as the client directs or the law requires. 59 O.S. § 1750.8(B)
Information you share is kept confidential and disclosed only as you direct or as the law requires.
Can a private investigator record conversations?
A participant may record a conversation in Oklahoma. Intercepting other people's conversations is a different matter.
In Oklahoma, a person who is part of a conversation may record it, and so may someone who has the prior consent of one participant, unless the recording is made to commit a crime. 13 O.S. § 176.4(5)
Surveillance reports from Fuller Investigations include photos and video, not audio of other people's conversations.
Intercepting other people's conversations outside those exceptions is a felony in Oklahoma. 13 O.S. § 176.3
Can a private investigator put a GPS tracker on a car?
Oklahoma deals with trackers in its stalking law. In an infidelity investigation, movements are documented by surveillance from public places instead.
Oklahoma's stalking law treats tracking a person's location with a GPS or other monitoring device, without that person's consent, as "following", with narrow exceptions. 21 O.S. § 1173
Daniel does not place trackers on vehicles.
Can a private investigator go onto private property or watch a home?
Not onto private land without permission, and not to look into a private place in secret. Two Oklahoma statutes draw the line.
Willfully entering someone's yard, garden, pasture or field after being told not to, or without the owner's permission, is an offense in Oklahoma. The statute has no exception for investigators. 21 O.S. § 1835
Fieldwork is done from public places, or from private property with permission.
Secretly watching someone at a home or another place where they expect privacy, or secretly photographing them there, can be a crime. 21 O.S. § 1171
Daniel does not watch or film into homes or other private places.
Can a private investigator get phone or bank records?
Not by deception. Getting records by lying to the company that holds them is called pretexting, and two federal statutes deal with it.
Getting someone's phone records by lying to a phone company is a federal crime. 18 U.S.C. § 1039
Daniel does not obtain another person's texts, call records or account contents.
Getting someone's bank information through false statements is a federal crime, with a narrow exception for licensed investigators collecting court-ordered child support. 15 U.S.C. § 6821
Can a private investigator run a background check for hiring or renting?
Fuller Investigations does not. Reports used to decide whether someone is hired, rented to, insured or given credit can make an investigator a consumer reporting agency under federal law.
Federal law defines a consumer report. It includes information on a person's character, reputation or mode of living that is used, or expected to be used, to decide eligibility for credit, insurance or employment. 15 U.S.C. § 1681a
Fuller Investigations does not report on anyone for employment, tenant, credit or insurance eligibility decisions.
Federal Trade Commission staff advised that an investigator hired to report on a job applicant would be a consumer reporting agency (advisory opinion, July 10, 1998).
When is it a matter for the police instead?
If someone is in danger right now, call 911. Fuller Investigations is not an emergency service.
An investigation documents facts. It does not protect anyone. If you believe someone is following, tracking or recording you, report it to the police.
Fuller Investigations declines any matter whose purpose appears to be to harass, threaten, stalk or harm someone.
If you are not sure whether a method is lawful, ask before any work is planned. The first consultation is free: call (572) 246-7839 or send a text.