P RIVATE D ETECTIVE A CTIVITY IN S LOVENIA

A private detective in Slovenia may perform detective activities as an independent profession or on the basis of an employment relationship for a natural or legal person with a registered private detective activity (ZDD-1, 2011). Private detectives completed a questionnaire when they attended the annual training in June 2018 – almost half of Slovenian private detectives participated in the survey. The study results show that almost half of self-employed private detectives investigate more drug abuse at work and abuse of competition clauses, while private detective agencies conduct more civil, legal, and administrative proceedings than other organisational forms. Some private detectives do not perform private detective tasks as their main activity, but as a secondary activity, and those individuals for whom private detective work is their primary/main profession mostly deliver packages, write reports and collect debtors’ data on behalf of their clients.


I. Introduction
In modern societies, the implementation of police activity is not in the exclusive domain of the public/state police organization.In fact, such a monolithic approach to the implementation of police activity can no longer be found in Europe, but public awareness of it is still weak, both from the point of view of public and political discourse on police activity.The fact is that in recent decades we have witnessed pluralization in the field of police activity, which means that some state/public, local, and private organizations, as well as individuals, have begun to perform tasks and duties related to police activity, ensuring security and implementation of social supervision (Modic, Lobnikar, Dvojmoč, 2014).These are organizations that were not established with the intention of carrying out police activity, but their tasks, nature of work, and special powers give them the character 1 University of Maribor, Kotnikova 8, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.E-mail: miha.dvojmoc@um.si. 2 University of Maribor, Kotnikova 8, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.E-mail: andrej.sotlar@um.si. 3 University of Maribor, Kotnikova 8, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.E-mail: vanja.erculj@um.si.
of "new police forces".These are mainly organisations that have the "character" of police forces due to the nature of their work and special powers and from the point of view of entitlements and competencies of policing (Modic, Lobnikar, Dvojmoč, 2014).Among them in the Republic of Slovenia are public organizations such as officers within the financial administration, state and municipal inspection services, military police, judicial police, municipal/city forces, etc.Among private security entities, from the point of view of entitlements and powers of police activity, the most closely related are private security and private detective activity (Dvojmoč and Sotlar, 2018).Private detective activity is a relatively new activity in Slovenia.Since the adoption of the first Private Detective Services Act in 1994 (ZDD, 1994), it has become well established (Gostič, 2003) and also contributes to ensuring the internal security of the Republic of Slovenia (Dvojmoč, 2017).Primarily, it is an economic activity that private detectives perform in various organisational forms (freelance, sole trader, private limited company, unlimited company, public limited company), which are also the subject of interest of our article.The article includes a theoretical and empirical section.In the theoretical section, we present the development of private detective activity, its current legal regulations, conditions and procedure for obtaining a licence, as well as organisational forms for performing private detective activity.In the empirical section, we present the study used to obtain information on the organisational forms in which private detectives most often perform their work, a comparison of private detectives' working tasks according to the organisational form, and the activity of the employment itself.The aim of the latter is to compare the work of private detectives in terms of organisational form and the degree of involvement in private detective work.The theoretical section of the article will thus be linked to the results of the study to comprehensively present this area of private detective activity in Slovenia.

II. Development of Private Detective Activity and Organised Forms of Private Detective Work in Slovenia
Private detective activity has existed in Slovenia for approximately three decades.In 1989, the first private detectives started working under the Yugoslav Companies Act (ZPod, 1988), but they did not yet have licences (Dvojmoč, 2017).The first legal regulation of this activity dates back to 1994, when the first Private Detective Services Act (ZDD) was adopted, which was amended in 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2010.In March 2011, the current Private Detective Services Act (ZDD-1) was adopted, which has not been amended in ten years.The law is otherwise based on the Strategy in the field of private security (Strategija na področju zasebnega varstva) (Ministry of the Interior, 2010).The definition of detective activity in ZDD (1994) was poor (Dvojmoč, 2017), as the third article defined it as the collection and transmission of information obtained in accordance with the rights granted to private detectives by law (ZDD, 1994).The second article stated that private detectives perform this activity as a freelance profession, either individually or in a private detective company, both in accordance with legal provisions (ZDD, 1994).
Most of the first private detectives came from police and intelligence ranks (Škrabar, Trivunović, Požru, 2011).
With the first amendments to ZDD in 2002, the gap between the actual and normative state was eliminated, as the development of private detective activity in the Republic of Slovenia already exceeded the current regulation from 1994, and also regulated the work of foreign private detectives in Slovenia.The latter, providing they met the conditions, were able to be employed in all organisational forms of work and, in accordance with the law, to perform private detective activities and services in the Republic of Slovenia (ZDD-A, 2002).
In the context of organisational work of private detectives, the Act Amending the Private Detective Services Act of 2005 (ZDD-B) additionally defined the possibility of performing activities for private detective companies, unless otherwise provided by law (ZDD-B, 2005).A private detective company was defined as a legal entity that can be established under the Companies Act as a partnership.The activity of a private detective company was limited to performing the private detective profession, where at least one partner of the private detective company had to obtain a licence from the chamber to perform the private detective activity.The Act also defined that the management of a private detective company's business can not be entrusted to a person who is not a private detective, and the activity of a private detective company could only be performed by private detectives with a licence to perform the private detective activity.To establish a private detective company, registration in the court register and the consent of the chamber was mandatory, and only when all legal conditions were met could the private detective company start operating (ZDD-B, 2005).
The Act Amending the Private Detective Services Act of 2007 (ZDD-C) extended the private detective's entitlements to obtaining information to the following: "on abuses of the right to absence due to illness or injury, abuse of the right to reimbursement of transport costs to and from work, and other disciplinary offences and violators" (Dvojmoč, 2017), while the legal changes in 2010 (ZDD-D) related primarily to European directives, performance of private detective activity and the services of foreign private detectives in the Republic of Slovenia, with the right to perform private detective activity of persons from EU Member States, the European Economic Area (EEA) or the Swiss Confederation equalised with citizens and legal entities from the Republic of Slovenia (ZDD-D, 2010).However, these legal changes ignored the organisational forms of private detective work.

III. Current Regulation and Practice of Private Detective Services in Slovenia
As already stated, the current legislation governing private detective work dates back to 2011.At that time, both the Private Detective Services Act (ZDD-1, 2011) and the Rules on the implementation of the Private Detective Services Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no.17/11) were adopted.The Act does not deviate from the goals and principles of previous regulations (Dvojmoč, 2017), but it introduced changes in the performance of activities, significantly improved the areas of private detective's entitlements, and precisely defined the conditions for performing activities (Savski et al., 2012).ZDD-1 defines private detective activity as "collection, processing and forwarding of data and information and the provision of advice on crime prevention, and performed in accordance with this Act as required by clients by a private detective licensed and qualified under ZDD-1, 2011"; adding that this is a "regulated economic activities available to the clients of such services and regulated by the Republic of Slovenia for the purpose of maintaining public order, public security, and the personal safety and dignity of clients, third parties and the private detective directly performing such services" (ZDD-1, 2011).
The new legislation has contributed to the positive development of private detective activity.Dvojmoč and Sotlar (2018) highlight the complexity of the process of obtaining a private detective licence and the importance of the new system of mandatory training of private detectives candidates.In this way, the state protects the society from inadequately trained and unprofessional personnel providing detective services.
The tasks and powers of private detectives are defined in paragraph 1 of Article 26 of ZDD-1 (2011), which defines the areas in which a private detective may perform their activity.
A private detective performs activities exclusively on the basis of a written authorisation, which shows the field for information gathering, the purpose of information gathering, and the scope of the authorisation given.In the case of a contract between a private detective and a client, the authorisation be attached to the contract.A private detective may collect information on: * "missing or hidden persons and the perpetrators of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages; A private detective may not exercise entitlements for which the police, courts and other judicial bodies are determined or authorised by law.In their work, a private detective may also not use covert investigative measures used by the police, the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency, and the Intelligence and Security Service of the ministry responsible for defence.A private detective may not perform private detective activity for domestic and foreign security or intelligence services and for political parties and institutions founded by political parties (ZDD-1, 2011).The Act defines that a basic condition for a private detective to perform private detective activity is a valid private detective licence.
The license is a public document that proves the professional competence of a private detective to independently perform private detective activity in Slovenia (Savski et al., 2012;Dvojmoč, 2017).The licence is granted by the Detective Chamber of Slovenia with a licence certificate and a private detective identification card, and the individual is entered in the records of private detective activity (ZDD-1, 2011).
If an individual wishes to obtain a licence for private detective activity, they must submit an application for a licence to the competent authority -the contents of the licence application are determined by the Minister of the Interior (ZDD-1, 2011) -with written evidence of compliance with the conditions for a licence prescribed by the Act.These are: 1) is a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia or a member state of the European Union or European Economic Area or the Swiss Confederation; 2) has completed at least education in the first-cycle professional study programme or equivalent education abroad; 3) has passed a private detective exam; 4) has undergone a security screening, during which no security concerns were established; 5) in the two years prior to lodging the application has not performed the tasks of a police officer or an authorised official in the Slovene Intelligence and Security Agency or the Intelligence and Security Service of the ministry responsible for defence (ZDD-1, 2011).A significant change introduced by ZDD-1 ( 2011) is also the definition of the forms of work of private detectives.According to ZDD-1 (2011), private detective activity can be performed by any natural and legal person who has a private detective activity entered in the business register, is employed as a private detective, has liability insurance for damage, and has a licence to perform a private detective activity, and is as such registered in records of private detectives performing this activity (ZDD-1, 2011).Thus, the option to perform private detective activity under these conditions extends to every natural and legal person who therefore has a valid licence, which was not defined in previous regulations.The Act also eliminates the option of performing private detective work in the form of private detective companies.
A private detective may perform private detective activities as an independent profession or on the basis of an employment relationship for a natural or legal person with a registered private detective activity (ZDD-1, 2011) -in the form of a sole trader, private limited company or public limited company.Based on practice, private detectives in Slovenia most often perform their activity in the form of self-employment in the forms described above, are employed in private detective agencies or are owners of such agencies, or practice the profession as employed private detectives in another company or organisation.
According to the Detective Chamber of Slovenia, there are currently 14 natural persons in Slovenia who perform the work of a private detective in the form of a freelance profession, 47 legal entities in the form of a sole trader, 30 in the form of a limited liability company, and 1 in the organisational form of a public limited company and in the form of an unlimited company.

IV. Working Tasks of Detectives by Their Organisational Structure and Detective Work Involvement
The study had two objectives.The first was to determine whether private detectives, depending on the organisational form of the company, differ in the working tasks they perform.
The second objective of the study was to determine whether private detectives differ in their working tasks according to their involvement in detective work (if they perform private detective activity as the only activity or not).

Methodology and sample description
The sample included 49 detectives, 5 of them (10.2%)terminated filling in the questionnaire after introductory questions and one did not provide answers on working tasks, therefore these detectives were omitted from the sample and statistical analysis.From others, all did not provide answers to all questions, but all answers provided per question are included in the analysis.There were 28 (71.8%)men in the sample.Mean (SD) age was 42.9 (10.9) years and length of working experience equalled 19.1 (13.2) years.

Procedures and measurements
Detectives were asked to fill in the questionnaire when participating their yearly training in June 2018.Overall, in Slovenia there are 91 detectives.All were asked to participate in the research.The response rate was 53.8%.The questionnaire included several questions about detective work, personality and skills.One part of the questionnaire included also evaluation of working tasks they perform on their typical working day.They provided answers on 5-point Likert scale to what extent they agree that each of the 24 working tasks is typical for their regular working day.The working tasks were included on the basis of 16 previous interviews on a topic with students that just finished course on the detective work and expert knowledge of head of Slovenian detective agency.

Statistical analysis
As the population of detectives in Slovenia is rather low, large sample size is not feasible.The statistical methods used had to be adjusted to the small sample and group size.Detectives working in detective agency or as detectives in other companies were combined in a single category.They were compared to self-employed detectives and detective agency owners in working tasks they perform on everyday basis.The comparison regarding working tasks was performed also on regularity of detective work.Due to small group sizes and non-normality of distribution of answers within each group (tested via Shapiro-Wilk test) the continuous variables were described with medians and ranges and non-parametric tests were used for testing whether the difference in each working task exists between studied groups.Kruskal-Wallis test was used and post-hoc Mann-Whitney U test between each pair of groups were performed.All statistical tests were performed at  = 0.05 significance level.Programme SPSS, version 26, was used for statistical analysis.

Organisational forms of work of private detectives
Almost half (46.5%) of detectives is self-employed, nine (20.9%) is working at detective agency, ten (23.3%) owns a detective agency and 4 (9.3%)work as detectives in companies for which primary area of expertise is not detective work (Table 1).

Comparison of private detectives' working tasks depending on the organisational form
The three groups of detectives differ in performing several working tasks (Table 2).Detective agency owners perform statistically significantly more investigation regarding drug abuse at work in comparison to detectives employed in other companies (p = 0.013).They investigate to higher extent whether former employees abuse competition clause in comparison to self-employed detectives (p = 0.032).They perform more labour law procedures (p = 0.002), civil law (p = 0.009) and administrative procedures (p = 0.043) in comparison to other two groups of detectives.They have more anti-eavesdropping exams in comparison to self-employed detectives (p = 0.047).In comparison to latter, they also to higher extent gather information on debtors (p = 0.002) and performance of business entities (p = 0.023).In comparison to both other groups, detective agency owners use polygraph to higher extent (p = 0.01) and gather data from databases (p = 0.001).In all other working tasks, there is no statistically significant difference between the three investigated groups.Until now, no such study has been conducted in Slovenia, so we had no practical insight into the field of organisational forms and the performance of detective tasks in each of them.As already mentioned, a private detective may perform private detective activities as an independent profession or on the basis of an employment relationship for a natural or legal person with a registered private detective activity and liability insurance for damage.Based on practice, private detectives in Slovenia most often perform their activity in the form of self-employment in the forms described above, are employed in private detective agencies or are owners of such agencies, and also practice the profession as employed private detectives in another company or organisation with a registered private detective activity.In the study, we surveyed almost half of all Slovenian detectives, which gives us a solid basis for generalising the results.The results show that 46.5% of detectives are self-employed, 20.9% are working at detective agencies, 23.3% own a detective agency and 9.3% work as detectives in companies for which primary area of expertise is not detective work.Although the intention of the legislator was to liberalise private detective activity with the new law in 2011 and to introduce the option of private detective work in companies with a registered private detective activity as their secondary activity, the relatively low share of such private detectives indicates that the solution was not really effective.According to the results, which show which working tasks are performed most often by each category of private detectives according to the organisational form, we can say -thank goodness!Specifically, the results show that the statistically significant differences between individual categories refer mainly to the performance of more demanding private detective tasks, which, as a rule, are performed to a greater extent by the owners of private detective agencies!The latter perform more labour law procedures, civil law and administrative procedures, use polygraph to higher extent and gather data from databases in comparison to other two groups of detectives.They also perform more investigations regarding drug abuse at work and investigate to higher extent whether former employees abuse competition clause in comparison to detectives employed in other companies.And finally, detective agency owners have more anti-eavesdropping exams and they to higher extent gather information on debtors and performance of business entities in comparison to self-employed detectives.Such results lead us to the conclusion that the right direction for the further development of the private detective profession and the activity itself would be to strengthen the development of private detective agencies that can combine a critical mass of knowledge, experience and, last but not least, resources.These are the conditions for the existence and development of private detective activity as a highly specialised professional activity.No less interesting are the results that show how the activity of employment of private detectives affects the frequency of working tasks of private detectives.Specifically, not all private detectives perform private detective tasks as their main activity, but also as a secondary activity or even occasional activity.Here, too, we find certain statistically significant differences, though not as numerous as in the case of the organisational forms of private detectives.Detectives that do detective work as their main business, for example, to higher extent gather data from databases in comparison to both other groups of detectives.They also to higher extent deliver packages on behalf of their clients, write reports and collect information on debtors in comparison to detectives that do detective work occasionally.However, in all other working tasks, there is no statistically significant difference between the three groups of detectives.The results are not surprising in their own right, as statistically significant differences arose precisely in tasks that would have reasonable expectations of stability and continuity of performance, and therefore also established routine and developed skills (e.g.collecting data on debtors, collecting data from records, serving letters and other items, etc.).It can be established that the frequency of tasks depends on the organisational form of the private detective agency / company / individual private detective.The professionalisation of the private detective profession, as we would like to see in the industry, is also dependant on the knowledge and skills that are the result or consequence of continuous work.A larger number of private detective agencies / companies / individuals that perform private detective work as an exclusive activity can thus contribute to greater efficiency and professionalisation of the private detective profession or private detective activity in the Republic of Slovenia.

Table 2 :
Working tasks according to type of employment (medians and ranges and results of Kruskal-Wallis test are shown)