Florida Private Security and Private Investigation Licensing Guide

Florida regulates private security and private investigation under a single statutory framework administered by FDACS. The state uses a class-based licensing model: each license class maps to a defined role and scope of authority, and both companies and individuals must hold the correct active class for the work performed.

For private security, companies operating as security agencies must be licensed, and security officers generally must hold an individual license. Armed authority is not inherent in the base security officer license; it requires a separate firearm license class. Florida also uses branch office and manager classes that apply to operational structure and supervision. Notably, the statute contemplates that certain manager-class requirements may be satisfied by designating specific existing licensees as managers in some cases.

For private investigation, Florida similarly licenses both investigative agencies and individual investigators, and it includes branch office and intern classes. Operationally, Florida is a “license class mapping” state: compliance depends on correctly matching entity class, individual class, and (where applicable) armed authority for the assignment.

Florida generally requires both entity-level licensing and role-specific individual licensing, with armed authority tracked separately via Class G. Firms should treat Florida as a class-driven regime and ensure branch office and manager-class requirements are addressed where the operating structure triggers them.