Assaulted by security guard

[half577]

Hi All,

I was in a sports shop with my wife and my 2 children, I purchased some items and left the store.

Upon leaving your store the door alarm sounded, the security guard requested to see my receipt and I lawfully declined as at the point that my transaction was complete and I had exited the shop. He then took it upon himself to physically assault myself by first placing his hand on my chest and then pushing me back into the store, he then turn his attention to my wife as she was carrying 2 t-shirts that we had just purchased grabbing her from behind and wrestling the t-shirts from her from her grasp, in the process he cut 2 of her fingers by digging his nails into her.

The police were called and they requested the reciept and said that we had not stolen anything which was confirmed by the store manager.

The manager explained that the door alarm has a lot of false positives and while I was speaking to the police officer it's sounded twice with people walking outside the shop.


I know maybe I should have just shown my receipt but that still doesn't excuse the excessive for used on myself and my wife.

Does anyone have any advice on further steps I should take against the shop or security guard or should I just chalk this up to experience?

Thanks in advance
Half

[des8]

So you and your wife could individually take action against the security guard (and his employers if he worked for a company) and the shop.
To assist your claim a copy of the police report should be obtained, and your wife's injury noted by her GP.
However probably not worth the stress of a court claim.

Instead I would write a strong complaint to the shop's owners (or CEO if a chain store, and the security guards employers.
The security guard needs an SIA licence. You can make complaint to SIA https://www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk/Do...nts-policy.pdf

[half577]

Hi All,

I have just received this from the security company:

We have viewed the CCTV-Footage of the incident that had occurred on the date and time mentioned by our client.

We have reviewed the complaint you have raised via email to our client as well as gathered information from the statement of the guard.

It is concluded that the security guard had acted reasonably, cautiously and appropriately within his right, with all due care and following obligatory procedures. Based on the alarm going off and you failing to declare the receipt at first request had given him reasonable grounds to suspect that an unpaid item had been taken out of store.

I guess you live and you learn.

Thanks for your advice DES8.

[des8]

Thanks for the update.
Under section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 a person may ‘use as much force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large’.
What is reasonable is very much a subjective judgment

[2222]

It is not at all obvious to me that the arrest was legal. The power to arrest comes from S. 24A of PACE:

(1) A person other than a constable may arrest without a warrant—
(a) anyone who is in the act of committing an indictable offence;
(b) anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be committing an indictable offence.

We know that you were not committing an offence. So, the question arises whether the guard had "reasonable grounds for suspecting" you. I don't think he did, if he relied solely on the alarm going off**.

There's also the technical issue that low value shoplifting is not an indictable offence. It is triable summarily (in the magistrate's court).

If the arrest was unlawful, then you were assaulted, and you can make life very difficult for both the store and the guard. Of course, life is a bit short for these things.


** We all know these alarms go off all the time, as checkout operators often fail to remove security tags. Relying on it is not sufficient grounds for reasonable suspicion. The standard advice for guards that I have seen is along these lines:

• "Have you seen the person select an item/items from the store that they have then concealed or hidden about their body?
• Has the person then proceeded to leave the shop without having paid for the item(s)?
• Have you kept watching them throughout this time?"

[pt2537]

I don't know if in this situation the police will be able to help you.

This thread is months old?

[2222]

This thread is months old?

He came back the next day and posted a link to his mobile phone shop. Now, who could possibly have expected that?

Even though the shop is in another country, apparently it boosts the google ranking. Or possibly it used to, but doesn’t any longer, so he’s wasting his time? *Google are not very forthcoming about their ranking system.