Talk:Shoplifting/Archives/2014

Legality of detention/search etc by property owners
I asked a question at Talk:Shopkeeper's privilege that probably would have been at least as relevant here. You can go to that page to see my exact wording, but essentially I am interested in what legal powers shopkeepers and their employees have to forcibly detain and/or search people they suspect of stealing goods from them. This is something that ought to be in this article. I am aware that this is likely to differ considerably between jurisdictions, so if you add anything to the article, please be sure to make explicit its geographic scope! Credulity (talk) 21:32, 12 September 2012 (UTC)


 * It does of course depend on the laws of the place you talk about but in general, common law allows a member of the public to detain another person for certain common law offences. Theft is one of those. The statutory power of any member of the public in England and Wales to detain someone they consider to be involved in criminal activity is to be found in section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1974. A person "other than a constable" may arrest without a warrant anyone:


 * Who is in the act of committing an indictable offence; or whom the person has reasonable grounds to suspect is committing an indictable offence. WendigoUK (talk) 16:26, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

A store detective is not another word for Loss Prevention personnel
A store detective is not another word for Loss Prevention personnel. Loss Prevention personnel does include store detectives but they also include uniformed security officers and loss prevention management as well as other lesser known roles.WendigoUK (talk) 16:31, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

Security Officers
Although security guard is a common term, the correct title is Security Officer. WendigoUK (talk) 16:33, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

Retail establishment?
So if you steal from a factory store, is it shoplifting? Yangosplat222 (talk) 20:56, 14 July 2010 (UTC)


 * You may want to try the Reference desk for general questions. -- &oelig; &trade; 09:35, 28 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Theft by a member of the public in a retail store open to the public is shoplifting aka theft. WendigoUK (talk) 17:53, 17 September 2014 (UTC)

Re-writing the whole article
This whole article should be re-written. It's badly written and inaccurate in parts and does itself no service. WendigoUK (talk) 17:57, 17 September 2014 (UTC)

Shoplifting and the law.
The intro to the article claims that shoplifting is not defined under the law; I don't know if other jurisdictions have specific statutes for shoplifting, but California's Prop 47, passed as of 11/5/14, created Penal Code Section 459.5, which reads "Notwithstanding Section 459 [burglary], shoplifting is defined as entering a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny while that establishment is open during regular business hours, where the value of the property that is taken or intended to be taken does not exceed nine hundred fifty dollars ($950)." So at least one state has defined it under law :)

JubileeJones (talk) 23:27, 15 November 2014 (UTC)