Private detective or security guard license: form PPR-136.1

It is the occupational license issued by the Puerto Rico Police Bureau to practise as a private detective or as a security guard. It is applied for with form PPR-136.1, “Application for private detective or security guard license”, which the Police publish in their document library and on their citizen services page. The same form serves for a new license and for a renewal. It is a license about the person: the license to operate a detective or security agency is a separate procedure, with its own form.

The REQUIREMENTS section of PPR-136.1 asks whether you are over 21; whether you have been convicted of a felony or of a misdemeanour involving moral turpitude; whether you passed the Private Detective exam, with an N/A option; whether you are a citizen of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, with an N/A option; whether you hold a post or employment, paid or unpaid, in the Government of Puerto Rico, its agencies, instrumentalities, public corporations and political subdivisions, with an N/A option; whether you are a habitual drunkard, mentally unbalanced, addicted to the use of drugs and narcotics, or have been convicted of any drug- or narcotics-related offence; and whether you have been expelled from the Puerto Rico Police Bureau or its successor entity, from any Municipal Guard or Police force in Puerto Rico, or as a prison guard, for acts that could have constituted a felony or a misdemeanour involving moral turpitude. The form also asks whether you are a legal resident. Who ultimately qualifies is determined by the Police; this page reproduces the form’s questions and does not interpret the law.

• Being over 21 years of age.Verified against the official source
• Not having been convicted of a felony or of a misdemeanour involving moral turpitude.Verified against the official source
• Having passed the Private Detective exam. The form carries an N/A option on this question.Verified against the official source
• Being a citizen of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The form carries an N/A option.Verified against the official source
• Declaring whether you hold a paid or unpaid post or employment in the Government of Puerto Rico, its agencies, instrumentalities, public corporations and political subdivisions. The form carries an N/A option.Verified against the official source
• Not being a habitual drunkard, mentally unbalanced or addicted to the use of drugs and narcotics, and not having been convicted of a drug- or narcotics-related offence.Verified against the official source
• Not having been expelled from the Puerto Rico Police Bureau or its successor entity, from any Municipal Guard or Police force in Puerto Rico, or as a prison guard, for acts that could have constituted a felony or a misdemeanour involving moral turpitude.Verified against the official source

• Your full personal details: surnames, first name, initial, preferred name, gender, weight, height, eye and hair colour.
• Date and place of birth, social security number and driver’s license number.
• Home phone, mobile phone and email address.
• Residential address and postal address, and whether you are a legal resident.
• If it is a renewal, the number of the license being renewed.

1. 1

   Step 1: Decide which of the two licenses you are applying for

   PPR-136.1 has four boxes at the top, in two rows. The first row: new license or renewal, and for a renewal you write the license number. The second: private detective or security guard. They are different licenses on the same form, so ticking the wrong row means submitting the wrong application.

2. 2

   Step 2: Check whether the exam applies to you

   The question “Did you pass the Private Detective exam?” is one of the seven in the requirements section, and unlike the first two it carries a third option, N/A. That option is the signal that the exam is not every applicant’s gate. If you are going for the private detective license, sort out the exam before submitting; if you are going for the security guard license, confirm with the Police what should be ticked in your case.

3. 3

   Step 3: Answer the seven requirement questions

   The section is designed to be answered in full: age, convictions, exam, citizenship, government employment, substances, and expulsion from a police or prison force. Half-answering it is the most common way for an application to come back.

4. 4

   Step 4: Download the current revision

   The revision the Police publish is the April 2024 one, identified on the form as Rev. 04/2024. Download it from policia.pr.gov or biblioteca.policia.pr.gov, not from a third party: an old revision circulating elsewhere does not carry the same questions.

5. 5

   Step 5: Confirm cost and office before going

   The form states neither the cost, the processing time nor the filing office, and this guide does not invent them. The Police switchboard is (787) 793-1234.

Before the Puerto Rico Police Bureau. Form PPR-136.1 does not state the filing office; confirm it by calling the switchboard at (787) 793-1234. Headquarters is at 601 Ave. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, San Juan, 00936, and the directory of state stations is on policia.pr.gov.

• Not finding the security guard license because the form is titled after the private detective: PPR-136.1 covers both.
• Ticking new license when it is a renewal, or not writing the number of the license being renewed.
• Assuming the Private Detective exam applies to everyone: the form gives it an N/A option.
• Confusing this personal license with the license to operate an agency, which uses a different form.
• Using an old revision of the form instead of the Rev. 04/2024 the Police publish.
• Leaving questions in the requirements section unanswered.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Policía de Puerto Rico

  Policía de PR

  www.policia.pr.gov

• Form PPR-136.1 (Rev. 04/2024) — Application for private detective or security guard license (Police document library)

  Policía de Puerto Rico

  biblioteca.policia.pr.gov

• Puerto Rico Police — contact

  Policía de Puerto Rico

  www.policia.pr.gov