1.2 Eligibility, Background Review & Continuing Duties

Statutory qualifications

The baseline qualifications for a Delaware noncommissioned security guard appear in 24 Del. C. § 1314. The statute says an applicant must be at least 18 years old and must meet and maintain all required qualifications. It does not list a high-school diploma or college degree. Do not add an education requirement that the statute and current DSP instructions do not publish.

Section 1314 lists these background conditions:

• The person must not have been convicted of a felony. The statute gives no general time limit for that provision. An applicant with a pardon, expungement, or another form of legal relief should obtain an individual determination from DSP rather than relying on a study-guide generalization.
• The person must not have been convicted within the preceding seven years of a misdemeanor involving theft, drugs, or moral turpitude. The statute also says there may be no more than two such misdemeanors in the person's lifetime and none may have occurred during or as a result of employment in a Chapter 13 occupation.
• A juvenile adjudication for conduct that would have been a felony if committed by an adult disqualifies the person until the twenty-first birthday.
• A person who served in the armed forces must not have received a dishonorable discharge.
• The person must not be a member or employee of a law-enforcement organization as defined through Delaware's police-training framework.
• The person must meet any additional qualifications approved by the Board.

These are legal screening rules, not a request for the candidate to decide their own eligibility. The application and fingerprint-based background process allow Professional Licensing to make the determination.

Additional rules in Administrative Code Section 6

24 DE Admin. Code 1300 § 6.0 supplements the statute. A conviction for Assault in the Third Degree within the last three years prevents issuance. Section 6 also identifies misdemeanor crimes of moral turpitude, including specified sexual offenses, unlawful imprisonment, shoplifting, forgery, falsifying business records, bribery, criminal impersonation, offenses involving children or vulnerable adults, falsely reporting an incident, prostitution-related offenses, and comparable crimes from other jurisdictions.

The list is expressly not limited to its examples. The Director may deny, suspend, or revoke based on a qualifying misdemeanor conviction. In addition, a pending charge for a crime listed in Section 6 prevents issuance while the charge is pending, and the Director may suspend a current license after an arrest that could result in a listed misdemeanor or felony conviction.

A useful exam distinction is charge versus conviction. Section 1314 mainly states conviction standards; Administrative Code Sections 6.3 and 6.4 separately address pending charges and arrests. The fact that a charge has not yet produced a conviction does not mean the licensing office must ignore it.

Truthful disclosure is mandatory

Administrative Code Section 7.1 allows rejection without a refund, or revocation of an existing credential, when a person knowingly omits criminal history or other material information or makes a false statement on the application. The safest rule is simple: answer every application question completely and accurately. Do not assume that an old, out-of-state, dismissed, sealed, juvenile, or military matter can be omitted. If the form's wording is unclear, ask Professional Licensing in writing.

The fingerprint and criminal-history check is required by 24 Del. C. § 1313. Current DSP instructions direct Yellow Card applicants to schedule fingerprinting and the identification-card photograph through IdentoGO using service code 27RVNN. Applicants should use the current DSP page rather than an old printed handout because vendors, service codes, and submission instructions can change.

Continuing duties after the card is issued

Eligibility must be maintained throughout the card period. Current DSP guidance says a license holder who is arrested or found in violation of a disqualifying charge must notify Professional Licensing within five business days, excluding weekends and holidays. Failure to report may itself support suspension or revocation. Reporting an arrest is not the same as admitting guilt; it gives the regulator the notice required to evaluate the event.

The employer has separate reporting and roster duties, but a guard should not assume the employer's report replaces the individual's duty. Preserve evidence of timely notice, such as the sent email and any acknowledgment, and update contact information so certified notices and licensing correspondence are received.

Apply the rule to scenarios

Never promise that a person will be approved or permanently barred based on a short description. State the published rules, insist on truthful disclosure, and leave the official licensing decision to DSP.