Can someone clarify the legal rights of security guards?

[beastie]

just to add, the Police can be called if you are aggressive towards anyone in the shop. You must remember that if you are restrained, then it is for the safety of others and yourself. Reasonable force can be used if and only if the person has been using abusive or threatening behaviour. The power of search lies solely with the Police, again you don't want to be finding yourself with a knife at your throat and having to dis-arm the accused. Try to find the policies of the store and next time you'll be prepared for the question that they ask.

[J-4]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakaria_2000 Every security guard have the right to search within their compound but that is however not the right given under the law but rather the policy of the management i.e. the right only operate within the supermarket. Under the law, anyone have a right to detain another for suspicion of a crime committed as such when he really is detaining or searching u is under the law given to anyone. As such he will not be consider an assault unless he use unnecessary force or threat against you. However your right as a individual could give you the power to reject his search and demand justification. Challenge him or his management for the unauthorized search or detain. Best is to ask him to call for police but you are not going to let him search you, in this way it show you are innocent or challenge a legal suit against them if nothing is to be found on you. Both way work perfectly fine under the law but the poor security was just doing his job, so it up to your call as what to do.

Not saying you wrong here but this is my experience hope this helps anyone who reads

Acording to the courts to touch without permmission is an assault not unnecessary force. Sharing my experience with you while working as a DS responded to a shout & found a male who had been punched by another male, i took the accused & 2 friend to the security office but upon reaching the office they tried running I grabbed the accused's wrist & 5 minutes later after punching me 5 times in the jaw on seperate occassions while trying to escape including while being on the street he was arrested. CPS pressed charges for me as my case stood better than the original case & the judge chucked it as I assaulted him first by grabbing his wrist!! What BULL!! (being polite )

The justice system doesn't show enough respect to the industry & what we do & the risks we endure. For the record the guy was a wuss because I was ill & he didn't even mark me & I felt no pain even after 5 punches in the same place!!

Good luck to all in the industry & I might be wrong & just got unlucky with the judge but most importantly BE SAFE

[littlewoman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aimhigh Namely its title is 'citizen's arrest' and to do a citizen's arrest you should be a British citizen this of course was a major problem in the security guarding world due to the large amount of non citizens in the guarding game. Is this still an issue or has there been changes to allow it or ways adopted to get around the issue. AD

Its now called an 'any person' arrest, so I'm guessing that has got around that problem. Although most people will still refer to it as a citizens arrest as that's the term most people understand.

There is a lot of conflicting information on this post, most of it comes from a lack of distinction between legal rights and company policy or good practice. I will try to clarify some of it. Bearing in mind that I do not have a law degree.

Legally you can search anyone if they give consent, as they are consenting, but you would be on dodgy grounds if you put pressure on them. ie. "consent to a search or you'll be here for hours".
It is virtually unheard of for people to search people of the opposite gender but males often search bags of females. Companies might have their own policies about how searching may be carried out such as asking people to empty pockets rather than actually search them yourself. If you don't abide by your own company's policies then you could have problems.
Anyone on company premises (unless they happen to be police, customs etc.) are there by permission of the company so the company can make searching a condition of entry, or a condition of remaining on the premises but that policy must be clearly displayed. You can refuse entry to people if they refuse to be searched or you can ask them to leave if on the premises and they refuse a search (within the the stated policy) but you can not force someone to submit to a search just becasue its policy.
Security staff do no have a right to search anyone.

You can ask someone to stay where they are or accompany you back into the shop but to force them you have to know that an indictable offence has been committed. In the case of the alarm going off then a security guard could ask someone if they've bought something that might have an alarm on and ask them to come back in to the shop so the tag can be removed. Honest customers will if approached the right way. The guard should not treat the person like a criminal and if they grab hold of the person then that is assault if they can not be sure that an indictable offence has been committed.

If you suspect taht someone has committed an offence you can ask them to wait until the police turn up but you can not force them to.

You can however use reasonable force to prevent crime. So if someone is pushing someone else or has hold of them and shouting abuse at them, you could take hold of that person to stop the offence, but you can not detain or arrest them as it would only be a summary offence. Once they have stopped the crime and seem like they will not keep offending then you have to let them go. If they were threatening to kill the victim that would be an indictable offence so you can arrest them.

If a police officer tells you to detain someone you have to. The officer is taking the responsibility in that case. You still have to use reasonable force.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr-Ice-Man If you have a Door Supervisor licence then you do have the right to search this came in at the start of the year.

Can you tell me what legislation that is because I have never heard of it.

[leauk]

Lets clarify a few things, firstly Security Guards only have the same powers of arrest as a citizen, and have to be very careful when enforcing this act so as not to end up with a charge of assault and/or wrongful Imprisonment. Searching, a security Guard can only search you with your permission and must not do a search inside your clothing, again this could lead to a charge of assault, and same sex search must be conducted. If you set of alarms when leaving the store, a few things have to be done prior to you been arrested (unless you are seen to deliberatly remove goods from a store without any attempt to purchase.)
1) A check of your goods against a till receipt
2) Security tags Removed
3) Security lables not deactivated properly at check out.

If you are approached because the alarm has been activated and you know that you have paid for all your items, i do not see why anyone would not co-operate, it shows the public that the store and you are doing right.

With restraint, a security guard can use minimum force as necessary to arrest should they feel that there is or has been a threat of violence or they fear for themseves or members of the public to a threat of violence. (what is minimum force, well theres another discussion as it is widely interpreted in law).

[Fred2882]

Interesting thread, a much disussed one. I can only speak from 9 years experience as a policeman, not in the UK, however in a country that adopted the Westminster system.

In so far as a 'citizen's arrest', I don't think there really is such a thing. As a security guard you might try your luck detaining a suspect and handing them to the police if you are certain they have comitted a crime, but you better be sure, otherwise you might end up the one in the watchhouse facing charges of assault and deprivation of liberty.

Even if they have, you still have to take into consideration the amount of evidence available, and whether a conviction can be secured. If not, they could turn the tables on you. Best move is to bluff without force, and gain co-operation. If they won't co-operate and decamp, best move would be to follow, keep them in sight, use your mobile phone and contact the police.

Police Officers arrest people when they have the evidence, interviews, incriminating statements, witnesses etc. After arresting there are set proceedures for police, a 'citizen' making an 'arrest' would have no idea of what to do.

In so far as searching someone in a retail store, where I come from a security has no power to do such, unless there is consent, and even then I would be very reluctant to search their person. Even touching someone is an assault, and if they consented to the search under duress they may have a civil case against the person carrying out the search.

I had an interesting experience at one point doing P.I. work, using a hidden camera in a retail store to film a subject who'd entered the store. Somehow one of the staff had realised what was happening, and I was confronted by the manager.

I left the store immediately, and was followed by the manager, who demanded I hand over my footage. What right did she have to it...nil. I'd left the store because it was clear I wasn't welcome there anymore, however I owned the film, just because it was taken in her store gave her no rights to it, as she felt she had.

She called a security, and they both went very close to crossing the line. Had they done, I would have taken action. So be careful with these types of things, the person you may be lining up to forcibly search may be a solicitor, policeman, judge or any bush lawyer, and they'll do something about it if you overstep the mark.

[Basha72]

From the Training Material for English Security Staff

Any person can arrest a person who is in the act of committing an indictable offence

or Anyone whom he reasonably suspects to be committing such an offence, if

it is not reasonably practicable for a constable to make the arrest instead and

it is necessary to arrest the person for one of the below reasons:

To prevent the person in question

•

causing physical injury to himself or any other person;

•

suffering physical injury;

•

causing loss of or damage to property; or

•

making off before a constable can assume responsibility for him

What is an indictable offence?

•Theft,
•Robbery,
•Burglary,
•Aggravated burglary,
•Deception
•Assault – ABH & GBH / Wounding only
•Possession of an offensive weapon,
Sexual offences,
•Making off without payment
•Criminal damage,
•Being on enclosed premises for an unlawful purpose
•Possession of drugs
•Public Order Act 1986 Section 38 - Contamination or Interference with Goods
•Breach of the Peace

There are about 290 + offences

Individuals have the power to arrest without warrant anyone who is in the act of committing an indictable offence or suspected of having done so.

There is an objective test to determine ‘reasonable grounds’ that is:

Would a normal and reasonable person have been suspicious in the circumstances? Most people do have a concept of ‘normal’ and ‘reasonable’ and particularly, what is unreasonable behavior in the circumstances. However, reasonable grounds for suspicion does not include hunches or gut feelings. It must be based on circumstantial evidence, evidence of other facts that indicate with some certainty that the fact of the matter is true.


“A person is seen acting furtively in a store by a retail security officer. The person hides behind a display counter and is seen to put his hand inside his coat. He does this two more times and leaves the store having made no purchases. He is arrested outside the store. The arrest is justified under S24 (4)(b) if, as is likely, the observed conduct is accepted as reasonable grounds for suspecting that he is in the act of committing an indictable offence, even if he was not in fact committing an indictableoffence”. [Lidstone and Palmer;1995]






Normally, you will not be involved with suspicious incidents and are more concerned with events that you have witnessed happening. That is to say, the indictable offence has been committed. However, you must understand the concept of reasonable grounds for suspicion, if you are to avoid making unlawful arrests.

Hope this is of use to some of you


Basha72

[Fred2882]

Thanks Basha72...interesting to see how much scope and what powers are available over there...in black and white. That pretty well settles the issue for the UK.

Lot more restricted here (in the state of Australia where I was a policeman)...both for police officers and security guards. You really need an ironclad case to arrest and secure a conviction.

[Fred2882]

Basha72, a question for you. What power does security have to search people in retail stores in the UK?

Over here no power to do so unless consented to. They make it a condition of entry to provide the contents of bags etc on leaving, however they don't really have any way of enforcing this, other than refusing entry the next time round.

Even for police their powers of search prior to arrest are very limited, with some powers to detain and search under drugs legislation and a few other pieces of legislation. For security no power to do so when someone is leaving a retail store.

This question goes right back to the start of the thread, and as a trainer in this area in the UK, how does it work over there?