FrostedFlake
Posts: 3084
Joined: 3/4/2009
From: Centralia, Washington
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: MasterCaneman
It wouldn't be a Constitutional question, more of a state/local statute question as to if charges are pressed. Depending on the locale and situation, security guards/officers (there is a big difference depending on the wording here) have some of the protections afforded to the police regarding public interactions. They have to, because they have to have arrest powers to detain shoplifters.
That being said, those powers don't extend as far as they would if she were a LEO. Before I started as a bouncer,I had received training in both Cat II Peach Officer (UT), and Professional Armed Security (PSO Certificate) in the same state. More than half the curriculum was in use of force and limitations. In some jurisdictions, on-site security's powers can change literally by just going through a doorway. On one side of the threshhold, the have full warranted arrest powers, one step over, and they can be charged with assault and unlawful imprisonment, even if it's technically on mall property.
LEOs are turf-conscious, and have the backing of state law. They don't like ceding that to someone who takes six hours of company training and a poorly-fitting uniform. I can't say what the laws are where this incident occured, but the ones at a mall near me aren't permitted to do anything more than report, observe, and call the local PD when something happens in the parking lot. The only time they would be permitted to intervene is if someone's life were in imminent danger, the same as anybody else. And the fact she was there by herself said a lot of things to me.
Why was she alone? Why didn't she call for assistance before stepping in? Was she jumping into the scene to score points with her company or to add to her resume? Or did her supervisor send her there to see how she handled it? Or was she sent there with the full knowledge she'd screw up and they'd have a legitimate reason to fire her?
As a caveat, I never worked as mall security-the only uniformed security I did was a short gig doing nothing more than watching the parking lot of a bar and a temp job at ParkWest for a Grateful Dead concert where all I did was direct traffic and tell people to be a little more discreet about their recreational material usage. And it doubly-sucked that I couldn't see the band and couldn't hear them that well either.
I disagree with the part I bolded. To boil it down, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons against unreasonable..." This means there must be a reason. If the lady were the cop she seemed to think she was, she still would not be empowered to manhandle folk, absent a reason. But, as a cop, she would have extra protections against being hit BACK.
To compare the Mall Cop to me personally, last December a bike was stolen. And reported stolen. It is gone, gone, gone. No illusions, there. But, if I were to see it, I would certainly chase it down and THANK the person riding for bringing it back. I fully expect the thanks to go unappreciated. The next step is to whip out my cell phone and offer to summon a policeman, to settle things. Should the policeman be declined, I either leave with the bike or call that same policeman on my own hook. Should I be assaulted in the process of negotiations, I will use just enough force to end the assault, then resume negotiations.
My point is, that this is how the Mall Cop should have handled herself in the instance. Just exactly the way I do. Everyday. Because Mall Cop is not a cop. If she needs one, she should call one.
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Frosted Flake
simul justus et peccator
Einen Liebhaber, und halten Sie die Schraube
"... evil (and hilarious) !!" Hlen5
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RE: Mall Cop Gets Taken Down - 
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