Shopkeeper's privilege

Shopkeeper's privilege is a common law recognized in some parts of the United States under which a shopkeeper is allowed to detain a suspected shoplifter on store property for a reasonable period of time, so long as the shopkeeper has cause to believe that the person detained in fact committed, or attempted to commit, theft of store property.

The privilege to detain, although recognized in many jurisdictions, is not as broad as a police officer's privilege to arrest. If the shopkeeper exceeds the bounds of this privilege and makes an arrest, the lawfulness of his action will be determined by the jurisdiction's rules governing arrest by a private citizen. The shopkeeper's privilege is for the purpose of investigation only; if, after reasonable detention and investigation, the shopkeeper mistakenly concludes that the suspect is guilty and has him arrested, he presumably becomes liable for these acts just as he would have been had he committed them without undertaking a prior detention and investigation. Statutes in many states have broadened the common law privilege by expressly permitting detention of the suspect until the police arrive. In other cases, case precedent has provided shopkeepers with similar tools. The practical effect of these extensions is to give the shopkeeper the same privilege as a police officer to make an arrest on reasonable grounds.

This privilege has been justified by the practical need for some degree of protection for shopkeepers in their dealings with suspected shoplifters. Absent such privilege, a shopkeeper would be faced with the dilemma of either allowing suspects to leave without challenge or acting upon his suspicion and risking a false arrest.

The privilege for the most part is to be able to return the stolen goods by determining ownership. The shopkeeper may not force a confession. The shopkeeper's privilege does not include the power of search. Some courts, however, have expanded this original common law privilege to also include the detention of criminal trespassers: "[t]he detention and removal of a criminal trespasser is an essential power of any shopkeeper or other property owner[.]"

In seeking to avail themself of the shopkeeper's privilege, the proprietor or agent thereof must ensure:

In cases where a shopkeeper fails to satisfy the aforementioned requisite conditions, he or she loses the privilege and may be held liable under local criminal statutes and civil torts. However, so long as these conditions are established, the shopkeeper is immune from liability for false arrest, battery, etc., even when it is discovered after the investigation that the person detained was innocent of any wrongdoing.

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Wikipedia