The Private Investigators Law: who needs a license, illegal acts and penalties 11
A Louisiana agency gives an unlicensed worker the title "research assistant" so the worker can do investigations without a card. What does R.S. 37:3520 say?R.S. 37:3520(A)
A Louisiana corporation employs investigators who look only into that corporation's own affairs. Must they be licensed by the board?R.S. 37:3503(8)
A Louisiana investigator carries a registration card that the board issued to a coworker. Under R.S. 37:3520 this is:R.S. 37:3520(B)
In the Louisiana Private Investigators Law, what is a "registration card"?R.S. 37:3503(10)
The Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners serves a cease and desist order by certified mail on an unlicensed firm, which keeps taking cases. R.S. 37:3522 lets the board go to court for an injunction after how long?R.S. 37:3522(B)
R.S. 37:3503(8)(b) lists ten kinds of persons the term "private investigator" does not include. Which of these is on the list?R.S. 37:3503(8)
To whom may a Louisiana investigator divulge information gained on an assignment that may compromise the employer?R.S. 37:3520(B)
What is the penalty for willfully violating the Louisiana Private Investigators Law?R.S. 37:3521(B)
When is a person licensed by the Louisiana State Board of Private Security Examiners outside the private investigator definition?R.S. 37:3503(8)
Which statement may a Louisiana private investigator not knowingly make?R.S. 37:3520(B)
Which work makes a person a "private investigator" under Louisiana's Private Investigators Law?R.S. 37:3503(8)
Show all 76 questions (65 more)
Licenses, the examination, registration cards, fees and renewal 27
A Louisiana agency renews late: after the expiration date, but before the license has lapsed. What fine does R.S. 37:3517 set?R.S. 37:3517(A)
A Louisiana applicant fails the examination. Under R.S. 37:3510, when may the applicant be reexamined?R.S. 37:3510(C)
A Louisiana cardholder leaves one agency and is hired by another four days later. What must the new employer do?R.S. 37:3514(G)
A Louisiana license is not renewed and thirty days pass after the expiration date. What is its status?R.S. 37:3517(A)
A Louisiana licensee deducts a registrant's board fees from the registrant's wages. What limit does R.S. 37:3516 set?R.S. 37:3516(C)
A new Louisiana agency's license certificate arrives in the mail on Monday. By what deadline does R.S. 37:3512 require it to hang in a conspicuous place in the principal office?R.S. 37:3512(A)
A person holds a private investigator license from a state whose requirements are comparable to Louisiana's. What does R.S. 37:3518 allow?R.S. 37:3518(A)
A registrant leaves a Louisiana agency. How soon must the licensee notify the board?R.S. 37:3514(F)
An applicant gets a written denial from the Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners. R.S. 37:3510 allows a hearing if it is requested within what time?R.S. 37:3510(A)
An apprentice investigator in Baton Rouge signs up for the board's written test. What examination fee does R.S. 37:3516(A)(2) assess?R.S. 37:3516(A)
Before whom must an individual subscribe and swear to a Louisiana license application?R.S. 37:3507(C)
How many apprentice investigators may one Louisiana agency sponsor at any one time?LAC 46:LVII.512
How much investigative experience does Louisiana require for a private investigation agency license?R.S. 37:3507.2(A)
The president and treasurer of a Louisiana investigations company are replaced. R.S. 37:3513 sets what deadline for telling the board?R.S. 37:3513
R.S. 37:3508(B) puts the Louisiana investigator board on a clock once it has a complete application. Within how many days must it issue the license or send a denial?R.S. 37:3508(B)
R.S. 37:3514(B) says when a Louisiana registrant must have the registration card on his person and exhibit it on request. When is that?R.S. 37:3514(B)
To whom may the holder of a Louisiana journeyman license provide investigative services?LAC 46:LVII.510
Under LAC 46:LVII.512(B), an apprentice works only under the sponsoring agency's immediate direction. For how long does the apprentice license last?LAC 46:LVII.512
Under the board's rule on licensure examinations, how many times may a Louisiana applicant who failed reapply within a 12-month period?LAC 46:LVII.507
Under the current text of R.S. 37:3507, which felony conviction disqualifies a Louisiana applicant?R.S. 37:3507(A)
What grade passes the on-line continuing education course Louisiana investigators complete every two years?LAC 46:LVII.518
What is the annual renewal license fee for a Louisiana private investigator agency under R.S. 37:3516?R.S. 37:3516(A)
What must a Louisiana applicant complete before sitting for the licensing examination?R.S. 37:3509(C)
When may the holder of an individual Louisiana "private investigator license" operate as a private investigator?R.S. 37:3507.2(C)
Which is a minimum qualification for a Louisiana private investigator license under R.S. 37:3507?R.S. 37:3507(A)
Which subject area does R.S. 37:3509 put on the Louisiana licensing examination?R.S. 37:3509(B)
Which words are printed on the face of a Louisiana journeyman's identification card?LAC 46:LVII.510
The board, complaints and discipline 10
After leaving the job, for how long is the Louisiana board's executive director barred from financial or business interests in the private investigator industry?R.S. 37:3506(B)
Another state revokes the license a Louisiana investigator holds there. What may the Louisiana board do?R.S. 37:3519(A)
How often, at the least, must the Louisiana board give its written examination, and where?R.S. 37:3505(A)
The Louisiana investigator board agrees to reinstate a suspended license on a condition allowed by R.S. 37:3519(B). Which cost may it shift to the holder?R.S. 37:3519(B)
May a Louisiana licensee put a reproduction of the state seal on a badge or identification card?LAC 46:LVII.107
R.S. 37:3504(A) makes the Louisiana investigator board a body corporate that may sue and be sued. Inside which department of state government does it sit?R.S. 37:3504(A)
R.S. 37:3504(B) fixes the size of the Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners and names the appointing authority. Which answer has both right?R.S. 37:3504(B)
Under R.S. 37:3505(E), how many of the seven members of the Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners must be present to issue licenses or adopt rules?R.S. 37:3505(E)
What does the board's rule require of a complaint made to the Louisiana board?LAC 46:LVII.111
Which is good cause for the Louisiana board to suspend or revoke a license under R.S. 37:3519?R.S. 37:3519(A)
Board rules on clients, contracts, badges and advertising 12
A Louisiana agency's ad says "40 years of experience". What must the ad make clear under the board's rule?LAC 46:LVII.731
A Louisiana client asks the investigator what the legal consequences of a planned course of conduct would be. What does the board's rule direct?LAC 46:LVII.703
A Louisiana investigator chooses to carry a badge and displays it. What does the board's rule oblige the investigator to do?LAC 46:LVII.719
A Louisiana investigator tells the board by mail, voluntarily, of a substance abuse problem. What does the board's rule provide?LAC 46:LVII.729
A Louisiana investigator wants to take a case directly adverse to another current client. What does the board's conflict rule require?LAC 46:LVII.711
Before a Louisiana investigator enters a business transaction with a client, what must the client be given?LAC 46:LVII.713
In the course of a case, what may a Louisiana investigator not knowingly do when speaking to a third person?LAC 46:LVII.723
LAC 46:LVII.717 has Louisiana investigation contracts made in duplicate. One copy goes to the client; for how long does the other stay in the investigative case file?LAC 46:LVII.717
LAC 46:LVII.725 lists what counts as professional misconduct for a Louisiana investigator. Which of these is on its list?LAC 46:LVII.725
Under the Louisiana board's rules, who has ultimate authority to determine the purposes an investigation serves?LAC 46:LVII.703
When may a Louisiana investigator reveal client information without the client's consent?LAC 46:LVII.709
Whose signatures does the board's rule require on a Louisiana investigation contract?LAC 46:LVII.717
Privacy, search and seizure, criminal law and weapons 16
A client hires a Louisiana investigator to put a tracker on a spouse's car, which the spouse alone owns and has not consented to. What does R.S. 14:323 say?R.S. 14:323(A)
A Louisiana investigator flies a drone in the air space over a subject's land, without authorization and outside federal aviation rules, to conduct surveillance of people there. Under R.S. 14:63 this is:R.S. 14:63(B)
A Louisiana investigator has no police powers. In which case does Code of Criminal Procedure article 214 still let him, as a private person, make an arrest?C.Cr.P. art. 214
A Louisiana investigator stands on the public sidewalk and peeps through a subject's window to spy on the people inside, without their consent. Is being off the premises a defense to a "Peeping Tom" charge?R.S. 14:284(B)
A Louisiana investigator, not acting under color of law, records a phone call he is a party to. Is that lawful under R.S. 15:1303?R.S. 15:1303(C)
A person carrying a concealed handgun in Louisiana is approached by a police officer in an official manner. What does R.S. 40:1379.3 require?R.S. 40:1379.3(I)
An investigator taps a Baton Rouge telephone line with no party's consent and no exception. What punishment does R.S. 15:1303(B) set?R.S. 15:1303(B)
At what blood alcohol reading is a person carrying a concealed handgun in Louisiana considered under the influence?R.S. 40:1379.3(I)
Into which place may no concealed handgun be carried under Louisiana's R.S. 40:1379.3(N)?R.S. 40:1379.3(N)
R.S. 14:63(J) does not require a landowner to give notice, but names two ways notice that entry is prohibited may be shown. Besides posted signs, what is the other?R.S. 14:63(J)
Under R.S. 14:95(M), to whom does Louisiana's ban on intentionally concealing a firearm on one's person not apply?R.S. 14:95(M)
What does Article I, Section 5 of the Louisiana Constitution secure every person against?La. Const. art. I, sec. 5
What is the greatest penalty on a first conviction as a "Peeping Tom" in Louisiana?R.S. 14:284(C)
What is the penalty for a first offense of unlawful use of a tracking device in Louisiana?R.S. 14:323(B)
What is the penalty on a first conviction for video voyeurism in Louisiana, apart from the aggravated cases?R.S. 14:283(B)
Who has standing under the Louisiana Constitution to challenge an illegal search or seizure?La. Const. art. I, sec. 5
How this list was compiled: Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:3501 to 37:3522 (the Private Investigators Law), 14:63, 14:95, 14:283, 14:284, 14:323, 15:1303 and 40:1379.3, Code of Criminal Procedure article 214 and Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution of Louisiana, each read on October 16, 2026 on the Louisiana State Legislature's site (https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=94176), and Louisiana Administrative Code Title 46, Part LVII, Private Investigator Examiners, read the same day in the Office of the State Register's copy (https://www.doa.la.gov/doa/osr/louisiana-administrative-code/). The topics follow R.S. 37:3509, which names the subject areas of the licensing examination. Each question names its section and links to it. Licence: Own work. Every question, wrong choice and explanation was written for this site from the text of the statutes and rules. Nothing comes from the board's examination, its training manual, the 40-hour training class or a prep publisher.
How it works
This unofficial Louisiana private investigator license practice test asks the law behind the board's examination: 76 of our own questions on the Private Investigators Law, the board's rules and privacy, trespass and weapons statutes. Not affiliated with the Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners.
Read the full guide
What the Louisiana examination covers
R.S. 37:3509 names the subject areas: constitutional principles and court decisions on invasion of privacy, search and seizure, state criminal laws and procedures, and weapons and concealed weapons laws. A forty-hour training class on the same subjects comes first.
How the questions are split
Sixteen questions ask the subject areas R.S. 37:3509 names, from Louisiana's constitution and statutes. Sixty ask the Private Investigators Law and the board's rules in the Louisiana Administrative Code, Title 46, Part LVII.
What is left out
Court decisions, federal law and the training manual the board sells. The board publishes no question count or time limit.
No tracking device on another person without consent; the statute lists no exception for investigators (R.S. 14:323).
Carry the registration card whenever you work, and show it on request (R.S. 37:3514).
Client contracts carry the signatures of the client and two witnesses and are kept three years (LAC 46:LVII.717).
Questions and answers
What score do you need to pass the Louisiana private investigator exam?
75%, according to the board's License Information page, read on October 16, 2026. The board's rule leaves the passing grade to the board (LAC 46:LVII.507).
How much is the Louisiana private investigator exam?
$100, and $50 for a reexamination, under R.S. 37:3516 as amended in 2024. A failed applicant may be reexamined after at least thirty days, on a new application (R.S. 37:3510).
Do you need a class before the Louisiana private investigator exam?
Yes. R.S. 37:3509 requires a board-approved forty-hour training class before the examination. Some applicants who were commissioned law enforcement officers in or before 1993 may take the examination without the class (R.S. 37:3510).
How old do you have to be to be a private investigator in Louisiana?
Of legal age, which the board's License Information page gives as 18, and a United States citizen or a resident alien with proper work documents (R.S. 37:3507).
How long is a Louisiana private investigator license good for?
One year. A license expires annually on its date of issuance; one not renewed within thirty days after expiration lapses, and the holder applies again for initial licensure (R.S. 37:3517).