Effective October 1, 2024, the Private Detective Unit of the New Jersey State Police will discontinue the 30-day temporary certificate of registration. Applicants will have a 30-day period to complete the necessary requirements, including fingerprinting and completion of the security officer training course. However, it is important to note that applicants are not permitted to be employed as security officers until the entire process has been completed and officially approved by the Private Detective Unit.
Advisory Notification:
Effective November 1, 2023, the New Jersey State Police - Private Detective Unit will be eliminating the Security Officer Registration Act (SORA) hard plastic identification card and will be replacing it with an Electronic SORA ID (E-SORA). Please see the attached memo and instructions for additional information.
Advisory Notification:
Due to the recent rollout of E-SORA, we are experiencing a high volume of calls. For assistance, please contact us at (609) 341-3426 / (609) 633-9352
or email: PDU@njsp.gov for general inquiries and PDUPrints@njsp.gov for fingerprint inquiries and someone will respond in a timely matter.
Office Hours of Operation
M-F/ 8A-4P
News / Updates 09/23/2021: Please be advised that we are aware that the office phones are not working properly. Please contact us by email at: PDU@NJSP.GOV
Marijuana Decriminalization Information: The Security Officer Registration Act (PDF) and SORA Rules & Regs (PDF) have NOT been updated and/or amended to reflect the current marijuana laws in NJ as it relates to disqualifying drug offenses, specifically, marijuana. Please review the Attorney General’s Directive 2021-1: Directive Governing Dismissals of Certain Pending Marijuana Charges (PDF) and Interim Guidance Regarding Marijuana Decriminalization. (PDF) *It should be noted that the NJSP - Private Detective Unit does NOT provide legal advice and further inquiry regarding specific drug offenses should be directed to a legal representative. For additional information, please contact PDU at pdu@njsp.org.
*The Temporary Certification to stand post for INITIAL Security Officer (Armed/Unarmed) applicant’s will revert back to the original 30 day time period immediately following this posting.
New Jersey State Police
Private Detective Unit
P.O. Box 7068
West Trenton, New Jersey 08628-0068
Please Note: The forms on this web page are the most current SORA related forms. If upon doing a web search on a specific form the link brings you to a blank web page, that means that the form is outdated & has been removed.
News / Updates (01/02/2024)
2024 SORA Instructor Information: The NJSP – Private Detective Unit will be opening and accepting applications for the SORA Instructor certification starting January 2, 2024 – February 16, 2024. Please review the requirements before applying Requirements for SORA Instructor Certification. Once successfully completing the application process and background investigation, applicants will be invited to a 4 day / 40-hour SORA Instructor course tentatively scheduled for March 25, 2024, to March 28, 2024, in Hamilton, NJ. For additional information, please contact Det. II Dean Sauchelli at dean.sauchelli@njsp.gov.
SORA Applications will be unavailable on Tues, 14-June-2022 due to planned maintenance. This downtime will last from 08:00 am - 02:00 pm EDT. Thanks for your patience.
As a matter of information, the New Jersey State Police Private Detective Unit, on behalf of the Superintendent of the State Police, is the regulating authority for the private security industry in this state.