Page 16 - WBG July 2025

REPORT

Mid-Term Report from Area Governors

WAD Governor Europe incl. Israel Report – April 2025 WAD Mid-Term Meeting - Australasian Report
I am deeply honored to serve the WAD as Governor for Europe, including Israel. Currently we still have 24 Australian members, and 9 New
My special thanks go to WAD President Wes Bearden for appointing me as Zealand members in the Australasian region and more
Governor. I also extend my gratitude to my predecessor, Philip Ryffel, for his are expected this year. This is an increase from the last
outstanding service. meeting and reflects the growth in the industry in these 2
countries. Based on positive comments from the various
Membership Overview investigation associations and industry bodies we do
From October 2024 to April 2025, the number of members slightly decreased. expect continuous growth in the investigation industry
The top 3 countries with the most members are: as the economy improves which will hopefully result in
• Italy: 54 members further growth in WAD membership in Australasia.
• United Kingdom: 47 members
• Germany: 42 members We are still seeing an increase in licence applications for
investigators Australia wide although there has been a
Conference Attendance Plans much slower increase in NZ applications. There has not
Many ambassadors expressed interest in attending upcoming WAD conferences: been the increase in business confidence seen in NZ that
• 2025 WAD Mid-Term: Several ambassadors confirmed their plans to attend. was expected after their recent government elections.
• 2025 WAD Centennial: A number of representatives are considering The NZ economy is expected to pick up so hopefully this
participation. will see an increase in PI activities and applications.

Legislation Updates We are still seeing that the PI industry ais reasonably
Several countries reported legislative changes affecting the investigation and healthy with the bulk of the work coming from
security industry. In Russia, new laws separating security and detective activities government-based departments, large corporations,
will take effect in 2026. Finland implemented the EU’s AI Act in February 2025, and insurance companies in Australia & New Zealand.
imposing strict obligations on law enforcement companies, while Poland’s recent
government policies have made accessing investigative information increasingly The licensing of investigators in Australia are done on
difficult since late 2024. the state-by-state basis, and that makes it difficult to
track the actual licensing numbers, although we are told
General Comments and Recommendations that the numbers of applications has increased recently.
Several ambassadors shared valuable suggestions to improve WAD operations. The main comments re the health of the industry comes
Romania proposed regular Zoom meetings to enhance communication, while the from the two local Private Investigation Organisations in
UK highlighted the benefits of WAD membership for international recognition. Australia and both advises that they have more active
Italy expressed enthusiasm for the Chicago conference and plans to involve members than they had in the past.
more colleagues, and Poland praised WAD operations while noting recent legal
victories against a former member. Having spoken to several of the W.A.D members over the
last year a number of these members confirm that they
New Ambassador Developments use their WAD membership to promote their business
Nearly all ambassadors submitted their reports on time, and a new ambassador globally and have received matters via the WAD list
for Switzerland is being proposed to the WAD president. Suggestions for serve. Some of these members have indicated they
ambassadors in Andorra, Bulgaria, Ireland, Luxembourg, Turkey, and Cyprus would be willing to attend the annual meeting if it is
have also been made, while outreach to other European countries yielded no financially viable.
responses. Further efforts to recruit ambassadors will be made by the next WAD
meeting in Chicago. I have asked the two organisations to see whether we
can promote the WAD to their membership, and both
said they will advise their membership pf the WAD and
Christian Mönch the services this organisation can provide.
WAD Area Governor – Switzerland
I wish to W.A. D, a very active and successful
mid-term conference and look forward to
reporting again later this year for the 100th
annual conference.

Yours faithfully,

Craig R Douglas
WAD Area Governor – Australasia.

14 W.A.D Beyond Global