Legal Responsibilities and Liabilities
Legal Responsibilities and Liabilities
- ● A security officer who becomes involved in a criminal or civil liability situation can expect, if they were wrong, serious consequences for their actions. These sanctions can result in both fine and imprisonment if these actions were severe enough to warrant this form of punishment.
- ● The best protection from liability issues is for the officer to know and follow the agency’s Policy and Procedures Manual as well as the post regulations sanctioned and authorized by the customer.
- ● The officer has to remember, that no agency or Policy and Procedure Manual would authorize an officer to violate any state, federal or local laws. The officer who does so is acting at his own risk of punitive sanctions.
- An officer who, by his/her unauthorized actions, subjects their agency and employer to civil sanctions can expect their career within the security industry to be non-existent.
- ● The arrest of another person is a serious decision to make. The security officer needs to evaluate the situation for alternative solutions, which may get the job done, but without the need for a physical arrest. One such solution would making a private person’s arrest while the police are present, thereby avoiding a physical confrontation. The officer could also wait for the local police to take the suspect into custody.
- ● Security officers should look for alternatives before taking actions, which could result in legal lawsuits or potential liability issues.