Antonio Labrador (APDPE): "Cybersecurity has ushered in a new era in private investigation"

What are the main tools that private detectives currently have for their activity?

The main tools are documentary research and databases, including public registers such as the Companies Register, the Cadastre and the Land Registry. Official gazettes, the DGT (Traffic Authority), private databases (legal access under the General Data Protection Regulation), commercial and financial information services, company histories, social media and open source intelligence tools (OSINT).

We also have technical resources for image and sound capture, only if permitted by law; mobile tracking and surveillance; digital analysis and OSINT, social media and forum research, and OSINT tools; human interviewing and intelligence gathering (HUMINT); and mobile applications and digital tracking tools.

What strategies for anticipation and prevention do detectives use?

Private detectives are experts in the investigation and analysis of information and, by applying intelligence techniques, they are able to prevent malicious acts in certain sectors that could otherwise destabilise normality.

What is the role of new technologies in this aim?

Technological development in the field of private research is important, and today, classic research is inconceivable without the participation of applied technology in this sector.

What challenges and threats are faced in relation to cybersecurity?

The future of private investigation and its combination with the field of cyber security is an exciting one. Our professionals need to adapt to the social reality, and the field of cybersecurity has opened a new era in private investigation. This will transform the way we investigate as private detectives today.

What other demands remain pending in the sector?

It would be important for private detectives to achieve a project that we at the APDPE have been promoting, which is none other than having their own statute within the framework of the current Private Security Law, the first draft of which was presented in February to the Congress of Deputies for processing.

It is no less important to offer new generations a quality education, since in the last decade sectoral training has unfortunately been devalued. We are looking to ensure that the degree currently awarded by certain universities will become a recognised university degree in the future.