NCJ Number
146908
Date Published
1976
Length
74 pages
Annotation
The Law Enforcement Assistance Administration's Private Security Advisory Council determined that crime prevention capabilities of private security agencies can be enhanced if sources of legal authority and restraints on these organizations are identified.
Abstract
The council's report outlines laws dealing with the authority of private security personnel, examines private security legal involvement, reviews possible legal sources of privilege and immunity for both law enforcement and private security, and discusses problem areas related to the legal restraint of private security activities. The council notes that most laws delineating the scope of private security's legal authority are found in the context of private citizen rights. This legal authority is embedded in constitutional, criminal, tort, and contract law. Further, the council's report identifies major legal issues affecting private security personnel that concern arrest, detention, false imprisonment, search, investigation, interrogation, use of force, use of firearms, invasion of privacy, and defamation. Appendixes contain supplemental information on State private security legislation and regulation, private citizen arrest authority, and shoplifting detention statutes. 33 footnotes