What is a Competency?

We understand a competency as the set of attitudes, skills, and knowledge that the student acquires and incorporates, according to their personal characteristics and work experiences, to demonstrate in the performance of their professional activity. Competencies are acquired throughout the training process of the detective course and are broken down into learning objectives proposed in each subject.

Elements of a Competency

There are three elements that can be distinguished in every competency:

1. Attitudes: These are predispositions and behaviors in specific situations.
2. Skills: These are abilities to successfully execute tasks, use procedures, and perform work. They are developed through practice and experience.
3. Knowledge: These constitute the conceptual, theoretical scientific content, also known as academic learning.

Within this framework, the Detective Course includes Transversal Competencies, which are common performances across different occupations, meaning they can be applied to roles other than that of a Private Detective, and Specific Competencies, which relate to the technical aspects of the Private Detective profession.

Transversal Competencies

• CT-001. Information management skills: Basic handling of requests and various information sources.
• CT-002. Ability to apply basic public security and risk management knowledge to professional practice.
• CT-003. Commitment to ethical and professional conduct in service, based on confidentiality and secure handling of information.
• CT-004. Ability to analyze and synthesize for decision-making and problem-solving.
• CT-005. Communicate and transmit ideas and results efficiently in a professional environment through necessary mediums, including reports and evidence.
• CT-006. Ability to work in inter-institutional and inter-professional networks related to security and information management.
• CT-007. Teamwork, interpersonal, organizational, and leadership skills.
• CT-008. Maintain an active and adaptive attitude toward new roles and be proactive in new situations.

Specific Competencies

• CE-001. Ability to understand and comprehend the principles, institutions, norms, and basic legal concepts of information gathering and management, including their origins and practical applications.
• CE-002. Ability to plan, develop, and apply human resource management systems and strategies in security and investigation organizations; in recruitment and integration processes as well as in personnel development, effective application of information management models, analysis, and evaluation of results, and adaptation to risk situations.
• CE-003. Ability to compare methodologies and apply tools and techniques for appropriate and efficient interventions in criminal, aggressive, conflictive, risky, or emergency situations, and in citizen security demands (real and perceived).
• CE-004. Ability to plan and coordinate people, technology, and infrastructure resources in a specific project to diagnose comprehensive security situations and ensure security management by integrating all the teams that may intervene.
• CE-005. Ability to manage socioeconomic, activity, and demographic information and data.
• CE-006. Ability to interpret socioeconomic spatial data, represent it at a significant scale, and relate it to specific problems.
• CE-007. Apply work performance with maturity and emotional balance, using knowledge based on experiences of social conflicts, information source management, and personal data handling, and use the acquired skills as basic tools for security management at the preventive level and operational tactics in normal and extreme intervention situations while always adhering to the principles of legality, impartiality, and objectivity.
• CE-008. Understand, analyze, and assess risk and security as a product of spatial, cultural, and sociodemographic structures and processes that are individually and collectively perceived and interpreted, constantly developing and interrelating.
• CE-009. Ability to apply with responsibility and ethical commitment in a professional environment the knowledge and techniques acquired from new technologies, computer science, communication systems, research methods, and analysis to treat data as analytical and synthesis tools for assessing risks and solving security problems.
• CE-010. Ability to identify the structure, technology, and resources necessary in prevention and security operations.
• CE-011. Ability to identify individual and/or collective crisis situations and develop procedures for aiding and protecting people and/or property.
• CE-012. Ability to identify the psychological and contextual principles that explain individual and collective behavior; recognizing the cognitive, perceptual, learning, motivational, emotional, personality, or social influence aspects and processes that may be determinants in each situation.