NCJ Number
140285
Date Published
1989
Length
35 pages
Annotation
The Virginia State Crime Commission was authorized by the General Assembly to study the arrest authority of private security personnel, the minimum training standards for private security guards mandated by the State Department of Criminal Justice Services, and the feasibility of civil immunity for private security personnel.
Abstract
The Code of Virginia allows an armed contractual private security guard to arrest a suspect for an offense occurring in his presence while on property he was hired to protect or in the presence of a merchant with probable cause to believe the suspect has committed willful concealment of merchandise. However, the State Criminal Justice Services Board only requires private security guards to complete 16 hours of training, which includes 4 hours of instruction on legal authority. The Code denies unarmed contractual security guards any arrest authority not provided to an ordinary citizen. Unarmed private security guards undergo 12 hours of training, identical to that required of armed private security guards, less 4 hours of firearms training. The Committee recommended that the relevant sections of the Code of Virginia be retained in their current form, that the Criminal Justice Services Board reevaluate the firearms training requirement for armed guards, and that the Crime Commission continue to monitor the private security industry. 3 appendixes