Victim of Store Security?
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Send to a friend by YMAuthor: Patricia Woloch
With profits waning during the holiday seasons, stores are more pressed to cut down losses. They have become more vigilant against shoplifters in recent years, but this can lead to abuse of innocent shoppers, inappropriate detainment, and excessive force.
We have just come out of the Christmas shopping season when the stores are packed and shoppers and employees alike are pushed to the edge. Retailers know that some shoppers are more motivated to steal during the holiday season, and that crowded stores can create opportunities to get away with it.
During the last few years, stores have not seen the profits they expected during the holiday season and are even more pressed to cut down on losses. One way that they do this is to be more vigilant about catching shoplifters. The combination can lead to abuse of innocent shoppers, inappropriate detainment, and excessive or even deadly force.
Loss prevention
You know them as security guards, and you probably assume that they are there to protect you, but the primary role of “loss prevention associates” is to catch shoplifters. As a result these, sometimes armed, personnel will rarely be found in areas where you may be attacked or assaulted by violent criminals. Worse, in some cases, the security guard may be the one who attacks you.
The truth about “shrinkage” and how it affects you
“Shrinkage” is the inside term for loss of merchandise. Retailers try to excuse or smooth over their aggressive shoplifting policies by claiming that it benefits the customer in the long run. We have all heard the spiels about the cost of shoplifting ultimately being passed down to the consumer. In reality most states allow retailers to issue a “civil demand” letter to suspected shoplifters, requiring them to pay the store money separately from any criminal action. Typically they can force or intimidate the suspected shoplifter into paying about $200, no matter how little the item was worth, and even if it was not actually removed from the store.
False imprisonment
False imprisonment is defined as restraining or restricting a person’s movement without the legal authority to do so. It does not have to involve the use of physical restraint. Making a person believe that he or she is not free to go by using verbal threats or the intentional illusion of authority constitutes false imprisonment.
If you are suspected of shoplifting a security guard or store owner may detain you for a reasonable amount of time, but they must have probable cause. The way you look or dress is not probable cause. They must have seen you take and conceal an item, and leave the store without paying for it.
Many stores hire off duty police officers to act as security guards. It does not give them the authority to detain you without probable cause. Anyone who unlawfully holds a person against their will can be held liable for false imprisonment, including:
· Police
· Security guards
· Store owners and managers
· Individuals who make a “citizen’s arrest”
Excessive force
In some cases, “zero tolerance” shoplifting policies have resulted in violent behavior by security guards. More than somewhat excessive, many of these cases have been brutal and some have turned deadly, with shoppers being killed by security guards who don’t know, but suspect that they may have attempted to steal a few dollars worth of merchandise.
In Ohio, call or email <a href=http://www.rwklaw.com/>Robert W. Kerpsack Co., L.P.A.</a>, to schedule your free personal consultation.
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