To operate a security business in Indiana, you need a security guard agency license from the Private Investigator and Security Guard Licensing Board, which sits under the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (IPLA). The state’s security guard license requirements apply to the company, not to individual guards: Indiana does not license guards themselves, but the agency that employs them must be licensed and is civilly responsible for their conduct on the job.1Justia. Indiana Code Title 25, Article 30 – Private Investigator Firms, Security Guards, and Polygraph Examiners2Justia. Indiana Code 25-30-1.3 – Security Guard Agency Licensing
Who Has to Be Licensed
Anyone who provides guards for hire to protect people or property needs the agency license. So does anyone who advertises or holds themselves out as a security guard agency.2Justia. Indiana Code 25-30-1.3 – Security Guard Agency Licensing
A few categories of security work sit outside the requirement. Railroad police licensed under a separate statute, in-house security hired directly by an industrial plant owner for that plant, retail merchants who hire their own guards for their own stores, and law enforcement officers doing official duties do not need an agency license.2Justia. Indiana Code 25-30-1.3 – Security Guard Agency Licensing The dividing line is whether you are selling security services to other businesses or hiring guards for your own.
Personal Qualifications to Hold the License
You must be at least 21 years old and able to show the board the knowledge and skill to run a security guard agency competently. If the applicant is a business entity, at least one officer or partner has to meet these personal qualifications.3Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-30-1.3-9 – Qualifications for License
Competence is proved one of two ways:4Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Private Investigator and Security Guard Licensing Information
- Two years of verifiable work in the security guard or investigative field, totaling at least 4,000 hours, documented on the IPLA’s Verification of Experience Form and confirmed by the employer. Only W-2 employment counts; 1099 contractor work does not.
- A bachelor’s degree or higher in criminal justice or a related field from an accredited institution, backed by an official transcript.
Several things will get your application denied. A felony conviction is disqualifying. So is a misdemeanor that bears directly on your ability to run a security agency competently. Current probation or parole, an active warrant, a prior license revocation, or past operation of an unlicensed agency will also stop the application.3Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-30-1.3-9 – Qualifications for License
What the Application Includes and What It Costs
Applications are filed through the IPLA’s MyLicense portal. The fee is $300, dropping to $150 if you file within one year of the next quadrennial renewal date, and it is non-refundable.4Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Private Investigator and Security Guard Licensing Information
Alongside the fee, you’ll need to submit:
- Criminal background check reports from every city, county, and state where you have lived in the past seven years, plus a fingerprint-based check through the Indiana State Police.
- A certificate of general liability insurance showing at least $100,000 in coverage, with the State of Indiana listed as an additional insured.
- Either the completed employer verification form for your 4,000 hours of experience or an official transcript showing a qualifying degree.
- A DD-214 if you were on active military duty during any part of the seven-year background window.
- Corporate filings if the applicant is a business entity.
- Verifications of any professional license you hold or have held in another state.
The application has four disclosure questions covering arrests, convictions, diversion agreements, and disciplinary actions. A “yes” answer to any of them requires a sworn affidavit explaining what happened, including dates, locations, and dispositions, along with the supporting legal documents.4Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Private Investigator and Security Guard Licensing Information
The Insurance Requirement Deserves a Closer Look
The board will not issue or renew a license without proof of at least $100,000 in general liability coverage. The policy has to come from an insurer authorized to do business in Indiana and must give the board at least ten days’ written notice before any cancellation or nonrenewal takes effect.5Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-30-1.3-16 – Insurance
The coverage goes further than a standard general liability policy. It must cover bodily injury and property damage from your operations, and it must specifically include false arrest or detention, malicious prosecution, and wrongful entry or eviction. The policy also cannot exclude intentional acts involving reasonable force used to protect people or property.5Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-30-1.3-16 – Insurance When you shop for a policy, confirm those endorsements are in writing.
If the policy lapses, your license is automatically suspended. No hearing, no notice period beyond the insurer’s own notification. The license stays suspended until you file a reinstatement application with fresh proof of coverage.7Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-30-1.3-16 – Insurance
Records You Have to Keep on Every Guard
Once you’re licensed, you can hire as many unlicensed guards as the business needs, but you own the risk of what they do. For each employee, keep a file that includes a photograph taken within 30 days of the start date and a full set of fingerprints. The board can ask for a roster of all unlicensed employees at any time.6Justia. Indiana Code 25-30-1.3 – Security Guard Agency Licensing
Renewal Every Four Years
The license runs on a four-year cycle, not the two-year cycle common in other professions. The renewal fee is $300.8Indiana General Assembly. 874 IAC Article 2 – Private Investigator Firms and Security Guard Agencies You can renew online or by mail, though mail processing takes about four weeks.
Renewal requires a fresh state-level criminal background check covering the preceding four years, or the full license period. Third-party background check services are not accepted. You’ll also need an updated certificate of insurance showing continued coverage at the $100,000 minimum, and if your policy expires before the renewal date, a certificate for the next policy period as well.9Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Private Investigator Firm and Security Guard Agency Renewal Form
Renewal also asks about any arrests, convictions, diversion agreements, or guilty pleas since the last renewal, excluding minor traffic violations and expunged records. Failing to disclose a relevant event is itself grounds for discipline.
Does the License Let Your Guards Carry Firearms?
No. The security guard licensing statute does not authorize any licensee to carry a weapon.4Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Private Investigator and Security Guard Licensing Information Armed security runs under Indiana’s general firearms laws, which you handle separately from the agency licensing process.
What Can Cost You the License
The board can discipline a licensed agency for entering a building by force without consent, impersonating a law enforcement officer or government employee (or letting employees do so), and committing acts during a lapsed license period that would have warranted discipline.2Justia. Indiana Code 25-30-1.3 – Security Guard Agency Licensing
Indiana’s general professional licensing law adds broader grounds, including fraud in obtaining the license, fraud in the course of business, false or misleading advertising, conviction of a crime that bears on competence or harms the public, and continued operation after becoming unfit to practice. Sanctions range from probation and suspension to full revocation. Licensees facing discipline have the right to a hearing under Indiana’s Administrative Orders and Procedures Act.
Running an agency without the license is a Class A misdemeanor, Indiana’s most serious misdemeanor classification, and each separate transaction counts as its own offense. Beyond the standard criminal penalties, the court must fine the convicted person an amount equal to what they earned from the unlicensed activity, which can run above $10,000. Refusing to surrender a revoked license is also a Class A misdemeanor.10Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-30-1.3-23 – Violations, Fines, Separate Offenses, Complaints
If You’re Licensed in Another State
Indiana does not have reciprocity with other states for security guard agency licenses. If you’re already licensed elsewhere and want to operate in Indiana, you’ll apply from scratch and meet every Indiana requirement. The same goes in reverse: an Indiana license does not travel across state lines.