Search and Seizure

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3 The Law of Arrest, Search,

and Seizure Applications in the Private Sector

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 69

Constitutional Framework of American Criminal Justice............................................................. 71

Arrest and Private Sector Justice ................................................................................................... 72

The Law of Citizen’s Arrest: The Private Security Standard .....................................................73

Time of the Arrest.....................................................................................................................80

Presence and Commission.........................................................................................................80

The Law of Search and Seizure: Public Police............................................................................... 83

The Law of Search and Seizure: Private Police............................................................................. 86

Challenges to the Safe Harbor of Private Security....................................................................... 89

The Platinum Platter Doctrine....................................................................................................91

Private Action as State Action....................................................................................................92

The Public Function of Private Security .....................................................................................98

Color of State Law: A Legislative Remedy................................................................................103

Constitutional Prognosis for Private Security............................................................................. 106

Summary........................................................................................................................................ 108

Discussion Questions.................................................................................................................... 109

Notes.............................................................................................................................................. 110

Introduction Private policing, as noted in The Hallcrest Report II, plays an integral role in the detec-

tion, protection, and apprehension of criminals in modern society. Many interested

sources deem it as the more responsive, efficient, and productive player in the admini-

stration of justice.1 The advantages of private sector justice are many and diverse.

n n n

To search WorldCat and find out where the Hallcrest Report II is in your area, go to http://

www.worldcat.org/title/private-security-trends-1970-to-2000-the-hallcrest-report-ii/oclc/

22892639.

n n n

Aside from its efficiencies and customer service orientation, private policing retains a

strong procedural advantage in matters of constitutional oversight. As noted already, the

Private Security and the Law 69 Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' target='_blank' style='cursor: pointer;'>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a> Created from apus on 2020-09-21 12:48:56.

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typical constitutional protections that emanate in public policing matters, do not apply

to private sector police. Naturally, business and industry prefer to deal with private

sector justice since their own private police forces are not constrained by constitutional

dimensions. As Professor William J. O’Donnell eloquently notes:

The growth of the private security industry is having an increasingly controversial

impact on individual privacy rights. Unlike public policing, which is uniformly and

comprehensively controlled by applied constitutional principles, private policing is

not. Across the various jurisdictions, both statutes and case law have been used to curb

some intrusion into privacy rights but this protective coverage is neither standardized

nationally nor anywhere near complete. The net result is that some rather debatable

private police practices are left to the discretion of security personnel.2

Constitutionally, the private sector has the upper hand because the extension of tradi-

tional police protections have never materialized. As the role of private security and

private police develops, criminal defendants and litigants will clamor for increased pro-

tection. Already, defense advocates argue that Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth

Amendment–standards regarding arrest, search and seizure, and general criminal due

process are applicable to private security, though most appeals courts reject these claims.3

The primary aims of this chapter are to provide a broad overview of the legal princi-

ples of arrest, search, and seizure in the private sector; to analyze the theoretical nexus

between the private and public sector in the analysis of constitutional claims; and to

review specific case law decisions, particularly at the appellate level. In addition, the

chapter reviews the theory of citizens’ arrest, both in common and statutory terms.

Finally, the research will assess the novel and even radical theories that seek to make

applicable constitutional protections in the private sector including the following:

• The Significant Involvement Test

• The Private Police Nexus Test

• The State Action Theory

• Common Law and Statutory Review of Private Security Rights and Liabilities

• The Parameters of Private Search Rights

The precise limits of the authority of private security personnel are not clearly spelled out

in any one set of legal materials. Rather, one must look at a number of sources in order to

define, even in a rough way, the dividing line between proper and improper private security

behavior in arrest, search, and seizure. Even traditional constitutional inquiry in the public

sector can be complicated. So when these same obtuse principles are applied to private secu-

rity, confusion can result. The Private Security Advisory Council recognizes this complexity:

In order to perform effectively, private security personnel must, in many instances,

walk a tightrope between permissible protective activities and unlawful inter-

ferences with the rights of private citizens.4

70 PRIVATE SECURITY AND THE LAW

Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' target='_blank' style='cursor: pointer;'>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a> Created from apus on 2020-09-21 12:48:56.

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Given that the criminal justice system is already administratively and legally belea-

guered, it is natural for both the general public and criminal justice professionals to seek

alternative ways for stemming the tide of criminality and carrying out the tasks of arrest,

search, and seizure. Privatization is a phenomenon that surely will not dissipate.5 Private

security has played an increasingly critical role in the resolution of crime in modern

society.

Profound questions arise in the brave new world of private policing. Should private

sector justice adhere to constitutional demands imposed on the public sector when

detecting criminality or apprehending criminals? Should the Fourth Amendment apply

in private sector cases? Are citizens who are arrested and have their persons and prop-

erty searched and seized by private security personnel entitled to the same protections

as individuals apprehended by the public police? Have public and private police essen-

tially merged, or become so entangled as to prompt constitutional protections? Does

public policy and constitutional fairness call for an expansive interpretation of the

Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth amendments regarding private security actions?

Clarification of these constitutional dilemmas is the prime aim of this chapter.

n n n

The ACLU has longed for an application of constitutional principles to private sector

justice. See http://acluva.org/4178/aclu-legal-filing-says-private-security-guards-bound-by-

constitution-when-detaining-suspects.

n n n

Constitutional Framework of American Criminal Justice Considerable protections are provided against governmental action that violates the

Bills of Rights. Most applicable is the Fourth Amendment, which provides:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,

against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no warrants

shall issue upon their probable cause supported by oath, affirmation and parti-

cularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.6

Responding to the clamor for individual rights, calls for a reduction in arbitrary

police behavior, and a general recognition that the rights of the individual are some-

times more important than the rights of the whole, judicial reasoning, public opinion,

and academic theory for since the early 1990s have suggested and formulated

an expansive interpretation of the Fourth Amendment.7 When and where police can

be constrained and criminal defendants liberated appears to be the trend.

On its face, and in its express text, the Fourth Amendment is geared toward public

functions.8 The concepts of a “warrant,” an “oath,” or “affirmation” are definitions that

expressly relate to public officialdom and governmental action. Courts have historically been

reticent to extend those protections to private sector activities. In Burdeau v. McDowell,9

Chapter 3 • The Law of Arrest, Search, and Seizure 71

Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' target='_blank' style='cursor: pointer;'>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a> Created from apus on 2020-09-21 12:48:56.

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the Supreme Court held unequivocally that Fourth Amendment protection was not

available to litigants and claimants arrested, searched, or seized by private parties.

The Court explicitly remarked:

The Fourth Amendment gives protection against unlawful searches and seizures. . . .

Its protection applies to governmental actions. Its origin and history clearly shows

that it was intended as a restraint upon the activity of sovereign authority and

was not intended to be a limitation upon other than governmental agencies.10

The Court’s ruling is certainly not surprising, given the historical tug-of-war between

federal and states’ rights in the application of constitutional law. Over the long history of

constitutional interpretation, courts have been hesitant to expand constitutional protec-

tions to cover the actions of private individuals rather than governmental actions.

The Burdeau decision has been continuously upheld in a long sequence of cases and

is considered an extremely formidable precedent.11 The Burdeau decision and its

progeny enforce the general principle that the Fourth Amendment is applicable only

to arrests, searches, and seizures conducted by governmental authorities. The private

police and private security system have historically been able to avoid the constrictions

placed on the public police in the detection and apprehension of criminals.12

If constitutional protections do not inure to defendants and litigants processed by

private sector justice, then what protections do exist? Could it be argued that the line

between private and public justice has become indistinguishable or at least so muddled

that the roles blur? Are private citizens, subjected to arrest, search, and seizure actions

by private police, entitled to some level of criminal due process that is fundamentally

fair and not overly intrusive? Does the Fourth Amendment’s strict adherence to the

protection of rights solely in the public and governmental realm blindly disregard the

reality of public policing? Is this an accurate assessment of what the general citizenry

experiences? Or should the constitution be more generously applied to encompass

the actions of private police and security operatives? All of these dilemmas are, at first

glance, easy to answer, when assessing case law. Even despite the continuous resistance

to said applications, the advocates for such arguments are perpetually persistent.

Arrest and Private Sector Justice As a general proposition, private security officers, private police, and other private enforce-

ment officials may exercise arrest rights at the same level of authority as any private citizen:

While many private security personnel perform functions similar to public law

enforcement officers, they generally have no more formal authority than an average

citizen. Basically, because the security officer acts on behalf of the person, business,

corporation, or other entity that hires him, that entity’s basic right to protect

persons and property is transferred to the security officer.13

72 PRIVATE SECURITY AND THE LAW

Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' target='_blank' style='cursor: pointer;'>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a> Created from apus on 2020-09-21 12:48:56.

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When one considers the amazing similarity of service and operation between public and

private police functions, the general assertion that security officers and other responsi-

ble personnel are guided only by the rights of the general citizenry seems extraordinary.

Private police serve a multiplicity of purposes, including the protection of property and

persons from criminal activity, calamity, and destructive events; the surveillance and

investigation of internal and external criminal activity in business and industry; and

the general maintenance of public order.14 Therefore, it would seem prudent that private

police be guided by some level of constitutional and statutory scrutiny. However, “unless

deputized, commissioned, or provided for by ordinance or state statute, private security

personnel possess no greater legal powers than any private citizen.”15

For the most part, the lack of express language in guiding constitutional documents

that exclusively tend to matters of “state action,” or governmental action, the private

agent is left out of the mix. This is the stark reality when reading and interpreting

constitutional texts.

Because private police do not derive their authority from a constitutional framework, the

foundation for the arrest action rests in the common and statutory law—those codifications

that simultaneously give the power of arrest to a private person. “The security officer has the

same rights both as a citizen and as an extension of an employee’s right to protect his

employer’s property. Similarly, this common law recognition of the right of defense of self

and property is the legal underpinning for the right of every citizen to employ the services

of others to protect his property against any kind of incursion by others.”16

The Law of Citizen’s Arrest: The Private Security Standard

The scope of permissible citizen’s arrest has remained fairly constant in American

jurisprudence. At common law, the private citizenry could make a permissible arrest for

the commission of any felony in order to protect the safety of the public.17 An arrest could

also be effected for misdemeanors that constituted a breach of the peace or public order,

but only when immediate apprehension and a presence of an arresting officer was

demonstrated. Much of our contemporary analysis of reasonable suspicion and probable

cause also relates to the citizen’s right to subject another individual to the arrest process.

“A citizen could perform a valid and lawful arrest on his own authority, if the person

arrested committed a misdemeanor in his presence or if there were reasonable grounds

to believe that a felony was being or had been committed by the arrestee although not

in the presence of the arresting citizen.”18 Private citizens are also permitted to search

individuals that they have arrested or detained for safety reasons, and this right is compa-

rable to the incident to arrest or stop and frisk standard applicable in the public jurisdic-

tion. “When an articulable suspicion of danger exists, granting a private policeman or

citizen the authority to search for the purpose of finding or seizing weapons of an arrestee

is at least equivalent to a pat down approved by Terry v. Ohio, and seems to be a necessary

concomitant of the power to arrest.” [Discussing Terry v. Ohio]19

Chapter 3 • The Law of Arrest, Search, and Seizure 73

Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' target='_blank' style='cursor: pointer;'>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a> Created from apus on 2020-09-21 12:48:56.

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n n n

A review of the opinion of the Wisconsin attorney general on the power of private security guards

to make arrests is presented at http://www.doj.state.wi.us/ag/opinions/2008_09_03Mohr.pdf.

n n n

When compared to public officials’ arrest rights, the private citizen has a heavier

burden of demonstrating actual knowledge, presence at the events, or other firsthand

experience that justifies the apprehension. These added requirements of citizen’s arrest

reflect caution. In some states, a private citizen can arrest under any of the following

scenarios:

1. For the public offense (misdemeanor) committed or attempted in his presence

2. When the person arrested has committed a felony and the private citizen has

probable cause to believe so, although not in his presence

3. When the felony has been in fact committed and the private citizen has reasonable

cause for believing the person arrested has committed that offense

Statutorily, the scope of citizen’s arrest varies according to jurisdiction. A list of statutory

enactments, from Alaska to Florida, can be found in the Appendix 1. Two legislative

examples are as follows:

Alaska:

(a) A private person or a peace officer without a warrant may arrest a person

(1) for a crime committed or attempted in the presence of the person making the

arrest;

(2) when the person has committed a felony, although not in the presence of the

person making the arrest;

(3) when a felony has in fact been committed, and the person making the arrest has

reasonable cause for believing the person to have committed it.20

New York:

}140.30. Arrest without a warrant; by any person; when and where authorized 1. Subject to the provisions of subdivision two, any person may arrest another

person (a) for a felony when the latter has in fact committed such felony, and

(b) for any offense when the latter has in fact committed such offense in his

presence.

2. Such an arrest, if for a felony, may be made anywhere in the state. If the arrest is

for an offense other than a felony, it may be made only in the county in which

such offense was committed.21

In Illinois, a police officer “can make an extraterritorial warrantless arrest in the same

situation that any citizen can make an arrest.”22

To thwart and effectively defend against citizen-based challenges to the regularity

of the citizen arrest, the security officer conducting any arrest should complete docu-

mentation that justifies the decision making. First, an incident report, which details

74 PRIVATE SECURITY AND THE LAW

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the events comprising the criminal conduct, should be completed (Figure 3.1).23

Second, an arrest report (Figure 3.2)24 records the officer’s actions. An arrest warrant is

shown in Figure 3.3.

FIGURE 3.1 Building Security Inspection Report.

Chapter 3 • The Law of Arrest, Search, and Seizure 75

Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' target='_blank' style='cursor: pointer;'>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a> Created from apus on 2020-09-21 12:48:56.

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FIGURE 3.2 Arrest Report.

76 PRIVATE SECURITY AND THE LAW

Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' target='_blank' style='cursor: pointer;'>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a> Created from apus on 2020-09-21 12:48:56.

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FIGURE 3.2—Cont’d

Chapter 3 • The Law of Arrest, Search, and Seizure 77

Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' target='_blank' style='cursor: pointer;'>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a> Created from apus on 2020-09-21 12:48:56.

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FIGURE 3.3 U.S. District Court Arrest Warrant.

78 PRIVATE SECURITY AND THE LAW

Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' target='_blank' style='cursor: pointer;'>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a> Created from apus on 2020-09-21 12:48:56.

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Generally, legislation concerning citizen’s arrest needs to attend to diverse variables

and criteria, which determine its legality. Types and category of crimes, standards of

action, time of day, and alternative retreat potential are but a few of these. Critics have

charged that the codification appears to be “more a product of legislation in discrimina-

tion than a logical adaptation of a common law principle to the conditions of modern

FIGURE 3.3—Cont’d

Chapter 3 • The Law of Arrest, Search, and Seizure 79

Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' target='_blank' style='cursor: pointer;'>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a> Created from apus on 2020-09-21 12:48:56.

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society.”25 While legislators hope and wish for skilled, trained, and educated individuals

to effect as many arrests as possible, the statutes have essentially sought a middle

ground permitting arrests only when needed and emphasizing the system of citizen

referral to public authority when at all possible. However, the process of citizen’s arrest

is “filled with legal pitfalls,” which “may depend on a number of legal distinctions, such

as the nature of the crime being committed and proof of actual presence at the time and

place of the incident.”26 Some analyses of these variables and factors follow.

Time of the Arrest Both common law and statutory rationales for the privilege or right of citizen’s arrest

impose time restrictions on the arresting party. In the case of felonies, the felon’s contin-

uous evasion of authorities was considered a substantial and continuing threat against

the public order and police. Therefore, an arresting party could complete the process

regarding a felon at any time. Persons committing misdemeanors, however, were

afforded greater protection from private citizen arrest actions. Some states require that

the person committing a misdemeanor be arrested by a private citizen only when actu-

ally engaging in conduct that undermines the public order. However, other states have

dramatically expanded the misdemeanor defense category beyond the breach of the

public peace typology. More specifically, states have expanded the arrest power to

include petty larceny and shoplifting,27 and they have provided a rational barometer

of when citizens’ arrests are appropriate.

Also relevant to time limitation analysis is “freshness” of the pursuit. A delay or defer-

ral of the arrest process will result in a loss of the arrest privilege. Predictably, freshness

in the pursuit may be difficult to measure in precise terms. Timing restrictions “serve to

compel reliance on police once the danger of immediate public harm from criminal

activity has ceased.” 28

Presence and Commission Presence during commission of the offense is a clear requirement in a case involving

misdemeanors where firsthand, actual knowledge corroborates the arresting party’s

decision making. “The purpose of the requirement is presumably to prevent the danger

and imposition involved in mistaken arrests based upon uncorroborated or second hand

information. Its principal impact is in cases where the citizen learns the commission of a

crime and assumes the responsibility of preventing the escape of an offender.” 29

If first-

hand observation is called for, the arrest is properly based on an eyewitness view.

In other cases, especially the full range of felonies, a citizen can arrest another person

based on the standard of reasonable grounds, a close companion to the probable cause

test. To find probable cause, one must demonstrate that someone has committed, is

likely committing, or is about to commit a crime. Being present during an offense

plainly meets this standard. But numerous other cases are just as probative despite a

lack of immediate presence. Critics have charged that requiring presence as a basis for

80 PRIVATE SECURITY AND THE LAW

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the privilege to arrest is nonsensical. A note in the Columbia Law Review gives an exam-

ple by analogy:

It is here that the requirement produces incongruous results. If a citizen hears a

scream and turns around to see a bleeding victim on the ground and a fleeing

figure, he can arrest the assailant with impunity. Yet if he comes upon the scene

but a moment later under identical circumstances, his apprehension of the fugitive

would be illegal.30

A few jurisdictions have attempted to reconcile this dilemma by allowing felony

arrests to occur without a presence requirement. Presence is simply replaced with

a reasonable grounds or reasonable cause criteria. The Report of the Task Force on

Private Security from the National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards

and Goals addresses this qualification:

Under the statutes that authorize an arrest based on “reasonable cause” or “reason-

able grounds” it has been held in most jurisdictions that these terms generally mean

sufficient cause to warrant suspicion in the arrester’s mind at the time of the arrest.

Some jurisdictions have expanded the rule of suspicion to require a higher stan-

dard; yet, there are no uniform criteria emerging from the numerous decisions on

the questions.31

A review of citizen’s arrest standards on a state-by-state basis is provided in Table 3.1.

Note that Table 3.1 makes a distinction between minor and major offenses, namely

between felonies and misdemeanors. It also outlines the general grounds leading to a

finding of probable or reasonable grounds required to affect an arrest. Some general

statutory conclusions can be made:

1. Probable cause, the standard utilized for arrest, search, and seizure by public

officials, is not commonly employed in the citizen’s arrest realm.

2. Reasonable grounds is the standard generally employed by statutes outlining a

citizen’s right to arrest.

3. Presence is generally required in all minor offenses commonly known as

misdemeanors.

4. Presence is required in a minority of jurisdictions in felony cases.

5. Before an arrest can be effected in a felony case, the private citizen must have some

definitive knowledge that a felony has been committed.

In sum, hunches, guesses, or general surmises are not a satisfactory framework

in which to conduct citizens’ arrests. Just as the public police system must adhere

to some fundamental standards of fairness regarding the arrest, search, and seizure

process, so too must private sector justice. Arrest based on reasonable grounds is the

benchmark.

Chapter 3 • The Law of Arrest, Search, and Seizure 81

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Table 3.1 Summary of Citizen’s Arrest Standards by State

82 PRIVATE SECURITY AND THE LAW

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The Restatement of the Law of Torts cogently justifies a citizen’s arrest in these

circumstances:

a. If the other person has committed a felony for which he is arrested;

b. If a felony has been committed and the arrestor reasonably suspects the arrestee has

committed it;

c. If the arrestee in the arrestor’s presence is committing a breach of the peace or is

about to renew it;

d. If the arrestee has attempted to commit a felony in the arrestor’s presence and the

arrest is made at once or in fresh pursuit.32

Depending on jurisdiction, another factor to be considered by security personnel in

the arrest process is notice, an announcement advising a suspect of one’s intention to

arrest. The level of force utilized and the detention techniques for a person awaiting for-

mal processing may also be significant factors in any resolution of the propriety of a citi-

zen’s arrest.

The Law of Search and Seizure: Public Police There are two fundamental ways in which a public peace officer can conduct a search

and seizure: with or without a warrant. Warrants are expressly referenced in the Fourth

Amendment and their probable cause determination is explicitly mentioned. Searches

with warrants are mandated unless one of the various exceptional circumstances exists

to justify a warrantless action. There are numerous exceptions to the warrant require-

ment from consent of the arrested party to exigency and safety. The exceptions have

been shaped and crafted, not as an affront to the fundamental protection, but in full rec-

ognition of the practical reality and criminal activity and law enforcement policy. When

public police search without justification or legal right, the evidence so taken is excluded

due to the constitutional infringement. This restrictive policy is labeled the exclusionary

rule.33 In Mapp v. Ohio34 the U.S. Supreme Court rendered inadmissible evidence

obtained by public law enforcement officials in violation of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth

amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment has selectively

incorporated these three amendments as they apply to state police action. For an exam-

ple of a federal search warrant see Figure 3.4.

As part of routine procedure, a police officer who makes a lawful and valid arrest,

with or without an arrest warrant or at arm’s length, is entitled to search the suspect

and the area within his immediate control. At other times, the search and eventual sei-

zure may arise from a plain view observation. Plain view permits any law enforcement

official who sees contraband, weaponry, or other evidence of criminality within direct

sight or observation to seize the evidence without warrants or other legal requirements.

Police may search and seize contraband in any open space environment, such as agri-

cultural centers for narcotics. This warrantless exception is often referred to as the

Chapter 3 • The Law of Arrest, Search, and Seizure 83

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FIGURE 3.4 U.S. District Court, Search & Seizure Warrant.

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FIGURE 3.4—Cont’d

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open field rule.35 Police can search and seize evidence in any abandoned property or

place. Warrant requirements for police are waived in cases of extreme emergency

known as exigent situations, as when there is a high likelihood of lost evidence. Natu-

rally, police have also been given leeway to conduct warrantless searches when their

personal safety is at risk. Auto searches and consent searches generally bypass the

more restrictive warrant requirements. Stop and frisk, as outlined in Terry v. Ohio,36

allows police to “pat down” a suspect if it’s reasonable to suspect weaponry or other

potential harm.37

n n n

A review the Handout summary prepared by Stanford University on the Terry doctrine and its

inapplicability to private security guards can be found at http://streetlaw.stanford.edu/

Curriculum/Short_Lesson3.pdf.

n n n

One other factor is worth mentioning as well—namely, immunity. Historically, public

officers operated under some level of “immunity,” whether whole or qualified in design.

That immunity insulated government agents from liability as long as his or her “actions

[are] taken in good faith pursuant to their discretionary authority.” 38

Determining

whether a public official is entitled to qualified immunity, then, “requires a two-part

inquiry: (1) Was the law governing the state official’s conduct clearly established? (2)

Under that law could a reasonable state official have believed his conduct was lawful?”39

This standard “gives ample room for mistaken judgments by protecting ‘all but the

plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.’”40,41

The Law of Search and Seizure: Private Police The rationale behind the exclusionary rule is to deter police misconduct and to halt

illegal and unjustified investigative processes. As noted previously, in Burdeau

v. McDowell, 42

the Supreme Court of the United States was unwilling to extend the

exclusionary rule to private sector searches. Burdeau held exclusionary rule inappli-

cable, as it was clear that there was “no invasion of the security afforded by the Fourth

Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure as whatever wrong was done by

the act of individuals in taking the property of another.”43 Trial attorney John Wesley

Hall, Jr., writes in Inapplicability of the Fourth Amendment:

One of the oldest principles in the law of search and seizure holds that searches

by private or non-law enforcement personnel are not protected by the Fourth

Amendment regardless of the unlawful manner in which the search may have been

conducted. The Fourth Amendment historically only applies to direct governmental

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action and not the passive act of using relevant evidence obtained by a private

party’s conduct.44

Others disagree with these lines of legal explanation, especially when one considers

how extensive the inroads of private sector justice are in the war on crime. The regularity

of arrest, search, and seizure processes in private security settings are now amply

documented. In retail establishments, security personnel regularly search individuals

suspected of shoplifting. Security firms have now taken over entire neighborhoods,

housing projects and planned communities, and even cities and towns.

Searches are also seen in business and industrial applications. “These could include

search of a car or dwelling for pilfered goods or the use of electronic surveillance devices

to obtain information for use in making legal, business or personal decisions.”45 Addi-

tionally, surveillance by private security companies utilizing various forms of electronic

eavesdropping, emerging technologies, and other interception devices, while still regu-

lated to some extent in the public sector, is more readily utilized and commonly

employed in the private sector.

The Private Security Advisory Council ponders a noticeable lack of either common

law or statutory authority governing private search parameters.46 Yet even with the

industry’s practices, this lack of restrictions in the private sector is inexcusable. However,

the council does list these instances as legitimate private search actions:

1. Actual consent by a person

2. Implied consent as a condition of employment or part of an employment contract

3. Incidental to valid arrest

4. Incidental to valid conditions47

In some respects, these four categories parallel the very conditions under which

public law enforcement may permissibly conduct warrantless searches. “As a general

consideration since the public police are intended to be society’s primary law enfor-

cers, the limitations on public police search should set the upper boundaries of allow-

able search by private police.”48 Of course, it is also critical to note that while

constitutional restrictions may not yet apply in the private security realm without a

more demonstrable showing, other remedies are available to those who have been ille-

gally arrested, searched, or had personal effects or property unjustly seized. These tort

actions and corresponding civil and criminal remedies include, but are not limited to

the following:

• Battery

• Theft

• Trespass

• False imprisonment

• Invasion of privacy or being placed in a false or humiliating light

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• An action for false imprisonment or malicious prosecution as well as potential civil

rights violations

To track a private sector search of the person, review the checklist at Figure 3.5.49

In summary, the constitutional guidelines and case law interpreting standards of

public police practice have yet to make a remarkable dent in private security activity.

FIGURE 3.5 Checklist for Search and Seizure.

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Relying on strong precedent, statutory noninvolvement, and a general hesitancy on the

part of the courts and the legislatures to expand constitutional doctrines like the exclu-

sionary rule, private security practitioners are still provided a safe haven in the law of

arrest, search, and seizure.

Challenges to the Safe Harbor of Private Security Despite this general resistance to expanding the constitutional dynamic to private sector

police, legal advocates push hard for such reforms, and a variety and steady stream of

case law reach appellate courts across the country every year. Some case law is more

significant than others. Few cases have had much success in altering this legal land-

scape. An appeals decision from California carved out a noticeable precedent for those

arguing for the expansion of these constitutional rights.

In People v. Zelinski,50 the California Supreme Court ruled that security officers were

thoroughly empowered to institute a search to recover goods that were in plain view,

but that any intrusion into the defendant’s person or effects was not authorized as inci-

dent to a citizen’s arrest or protected under the Merchant’s Privilege Statute. The court

concluded that the evidence seized was “obtained by unlawful search and that the con-

stitutional prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure affords protection

against the unlawful intrusive conduct of these private security personnel.”51 The

decision temporarily shook the status quo. The court fully recognized its own disregard

of previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings, stating:

Although past cases have not applied the constitutional restriction to purely

private searches, we have recognized that some minimal official participation or

encouragement may bring private action within the constitutional restraints on

state action. 52

Mindful of the facts of this case, the Supreme Court of California could not recite any

cases including a connection or legal nexus between private and public police activity.

Instead, the court simply dismissed previous decisions based upon a variety of ratio-

nales, including the security industry’s new and dynamic involvement in the administra-

tion of justice.53 The court cited that the “increasing reliance placed upon private

security personnel by local enforcement of criminal law”54 particularly as it relates to

privacy rights and procedural rights of defendants. In the end, the California Supreme

Court relied on its own Constitution, Article 2, Section 13, which ironically is a mirror

image of the federal provision.

Upon closer reading, the decision is a startling departure, at least at the state level.

Stephen Euller, in his article “Private Security in the Courtroom: The Exclusionary Rule

Applies,”55 made a bold prediction:

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Like it or not the Zelinski rule is coming. There are good reasons why professionals

should welcome it. The Zelinski court recognized that private security personnel

play an important role in law enforcement and often act on the public’s behalf. Part

of the reason some people are concerned about abuse is simply because security

professionals have at times demonstrated rather impressive investigative skills

and sophistication. The new rules will encourage the private security industry to

upgrade itself, its level of professionalism, to discipline itself, to erase the image of

the lawless private eye.56

Just when the private act transforms into a public one is difficult to tell. The level of

public inducement, solicitation, oversight, and joint effect manifest a transformation.

In State of Minnesota v. Beswell,57 the court claims to have witnessed the transformation

of private security personnel at a racetrack, who conducted searches on patrons, into

a public persona. When cocaine was discovered, defendants assert that the private

security agents had sufficient public connections to trigger a series of constitutional

protections. The court qualified its public finding by corroborating the private/public

interplay. It stated:

In the instant case, a meeting occurred where public officials and private personnel

reached an understanding regarding arrest procedures to be utilized upon the dis-

covery of contraband by the private guards. Although this meeting dealt with the

aftermath of searches, and not the manner of searching, the meeting produced a

standing arrangement for contacts by the supervising security agent with police

during the hours of operation, and a police officer was designated on call to assist

with arrests.58

Add to this reasoning the adoption of the “public function” test, that imputes consti-

tutional remedies when the nature and scope of private police conduct exhibits all the

qualities and characteristics of a “public” act.59 Regardless of direct police involvement,

systematic use of random contraband searches serves the general public interest and

may reflect pursuit of criminal convictions as well as protection of private interests.

Marsh v. Alabama60 supplies the basis for concluding that private investigators and

police may be subject to the Fourth Amendment where they are with some regularity

engaged in the “public function” of law enforcement.61,62

Courts in the mold of Beswell look to corroborate the advocate’s assertions. In short,

does the private security officer act like a public police officer?63

Wearing police uniforms and using police restraint processes “(handcuffing appel-

lants to fences, conducting body searches), indicates the similarity of function and

role.”64 Function infers a similarity of approaches and thereby awards an identical series

of protections—at least in a theoretical sense. Finally, the court weighed the security

agency hiring a full-time public police officer as further evidence of the transformation.

Such officers are formally affiliated with the government and are usually given authority

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beyond that of an ordinary citizen. Thus, they may be treated as state agents and subject

to the constraints of the Fourth Amendment.65

Zelinski and Beswell manifest a voice of discontent and a resulting intellectual

demand for change in traditional constitutional applications for the private security

industry.66 In this sense, Zelinski and Beswell signify a slow and very ineffective evo-

lution. A quick glance at the precedential power of these cases attests to the firmness

of the present legal foundation.

The Platinum Platter Doctrine

Challenges to the applicability of the exclusionary rule, whereby evidence is excluded

for errant search, seizure, or arrest processes, are continuously witnessed in higher

courts. It is not a popular legal principle in more conservative quarters. Initially, the

exclusionary rule was held applicable to federal action alone and was not applicable

in state cases. 67

Federal agents realized this early on and clandestinely employed the

services of state agents who delivered up evidence or other treasure while avoiding

the constitutional challenges. For state police officers, the delivery of the evidence,

despite its procedural impropriety, was figuratively handed over on a “silver platter.”68

These types of abuses, while inevitable, have long been minimized by the selective

incorporation of the Bill of Rights by and through the Fourteenth Amendment. By this

interpretation, state action becomes the type of governmental action that triggers con-

stitutional demands. Consequently, state law enforcement and federal law enforcement

play under identical rules. But private security is still exempt from these constitutional

mandates, and the silver platter is irrelevant. Even so, there are some advocates who

claim that public law enforcement uses private sector justice operatives as conduits or

feeders. As a result, private security gives life to another version of the platter—the

platinum variety. Hence, the use by state and federal officials of private security opera-

tives to arrest, search, or seize, without the usual constitutional oversight, has been

labeled the Platinum Platter Doctrine. In arguing that the entanglement of private

sector/state involvement creates a relationship substantial enough to justify expansion

of the Fourth Amendment, B.C. Petroziello calls for a reexamination of the Burdeau

doctrine. Referring to special police officers in the state of Ohio as quasi-public figures,

he argues that special police should no longer be permitted to hand over elicit evidence

on a “platinum platter.”69 His comments provide food for thought:

The confusion caused by the current state of the law could be obviated by the use of

a much simpler and more preferable standard. The substance of this standard

encompasses a different view of what is meant by private individual: no one should

be considered private under Burdeau if he is employed or paid to detect evidence of

crime or has delegated any more power possessed by the average citizen. Whenever

a person meeting either of these qualifications tramples a defendant’s rights the

evidence so gathered is to be excluded at trial.70

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For critics of unbridled private sector power, the more the private sector cooperates

with public authority, the more its occupational role metamorphoses from private to

public function. In essence, the entanglement and entwining is so complex and compli-

cated that distinct roles have evaporated. As attractive as the theory is, it suffers concep-

tually. The principles of Burdeau should not be inapplicable simply because a person is

employed or paid to detect criminality or because that person is chartered by the state

or other governmental authority. If such reasoning were followed, then any attorney or

licensed individual, including truck drivers, polygraph examiners, forest rangers, or park

attendants, who are subject to governmental review, would fall within this scheme.

Despite the difficulties of merging public and private functions to the extent they are

one and the same, it is equally undeniable that the private security industry is increasingly

engaged in public activity, public protection and safety, and public function. The question

of whether this “public” dimension is substantial enough to apply the constitutional

regimen is still debatable. What is certain is that in the age of escalating privatization,

adoption of a public function theory may be plausible in a host of contexts.

Private Action as State Action

A second strategy that attempts to apply the Fourth Amendment in private sector

arrests, searches, and seizures is to manifest the public nature of the alleged private

conduct or action. The traditional method of conducting this analysis is to determine

the extent of the government’s involvement. If the government’s role in the search and

seizure is significant enough, as it is in traditional public police settings, the Fourth

Amendment applies.71 State action—that is, the involvement of state and local officials,

including police and law enforcement officials—with, by, and through private security

operatives makes the once clear line of demarcation muddled. “It has been argued that

despite the Burdeau doctrine, private conduct or actions may be subject to some level

of constitutional scrutiny if they are sufficiently impregnated with state actions.”72

Expansive judicial reasoning like this was used to justify a plethora of civil rights

decisions during the mid-1960s and early 1970s.73

n n n

The principles of private action/state action have largely been argued in discrimination cases.

Assess the historical underpinnings of this theory at http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/

projects/ftrials/conlaw/stateaction.htm.

n n n

Few functions, systems, enterprises, endeavors, or institutions are completely free

from some level of governmental involvement or oversight. The tentacles of governmen-

tal influence weave their way into literally every facet of modern life. Whether it be

business operation or licensing, environment or workplace safety, unions and work

rules, the heavy hand of government is discoverable just about everywhere. The security

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industry, like any other commercial concern, is subject to an endless series of oversights

including these:

1. State licensing requirements

2. State and federal taxes

3. State inspections

4. Reporting requirements

5. Statutory grant of authority to merchants, business, or industries to protect its

property and interests

6. Immunities and privileges granted by legislatures for certain conducts and behaviors

7. Subcontractor and delegation rules

8. Bonding requirements

9. Regulatory compliance

Some legal advocates and their plaintiffs think any interaction is sufficient to meet

the public function theory. In Copeland v. City of Topeka,74 the court threw out the

allegation of public involvement, commenting:

Nothing in plaintiff’s complaint sufficiently alleges that defendants, or either of them,

engaged in acts under color of state law. Instead, the seizure and subsequent treat-

ment of plaintiff at Dillons cannot be fairly attributed to the City of Topeka under

any of the tests for state action. For a merchant or its security officers to call the police

when they suspect shoplifting or destruction of property is insufficient to constitute

state action. No acts allegedly taken by officers of the City of Topeka at the scene reveal

prior collusion with defendants, or compliance with any requests by the defendants,

or either of them, let alone the requisite joint action. Plaintiff’s assertion that

defendants “directed and controlled” the City police department is conclusory and

unsupported by the facts alleged in the complaint.75

Licensure and the state’s grant to incorporate or operate as a business form is

a favorite of those hoping to prove the interplay of the public and the private. The theory

concludes that the mere erection of the business form, which in turn seeks the appro-

val of a governmental entity, is sufficient to change the private into the public.

In turn, this “public” quality of the act justifies the imposition of new constitutional

requirements.

Consider the case of United States v. Francoeur.76 Defendants sought to reverse a con-

viction by asserting a constitutional violation by private employees. While in a Disney-

land amusement park, security personnel detained and emptied the pockets of

multiple suspects. Subsequently, counterfeit bills were retrieved, and these suspects

were eventually found guilty of various offenses. To challenge the admission of the

evidence, defendants claimed that since Disneyland was a public place, freely accessible

and open to the world, the security officials working within its borders were government

officials. To uphold this appellate argument would have had far-reaching ramifications,

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and the Court reminded the defendants that any possible remedy was civil in nature

rather than constitutional. It stated:

The exclusionary rule itself was adopted by the courts because it was recognized

that it was only by preventing the use of evidence illegally obtained by public

officials that a curb should be put on overzealous activities of such officials. The

Supreme Court has in no instance indicated that it would apply the exclusionary

rule to cases in which evidence was obtained by private individuals in a matter

not countenanced if they were acting for state or federal government. 77

While most, if not all, security entities have some level of state involvement due to

approval mechanisms, this is not the stuff of “institutional character, derived at least

in part from grants of state authority and reflect[ing] governmental functions from

which one may infer state action.”78 Although this argument may be partially meritori-

ous, it lacks the substantiality, the depth, and the breadth to be equated with state

action. While modern constitutional jurisprudence has been comfortable elasticizing

principles of state action in a variety of settings, especially in race and sex discrimina-

tion cases, these principles are a harder sell in the occupational marketplace. Even so,

arguments regarding state action in the security environment do have a following.

Arguably, a case of state action exists if there is direct participation and assistance by

public police officers in the seizure of evidence by private security officers. John Wesley

Hall comments:

In view of the long-standing rule permitting private searches it will be incumbent

on defense counsel to demonstrate some form of law enforcement participation in

the search. Mere acceptance of the benefits of a private search by the prosecution

authorities is not participation in the private search and seizure.79

Direct involvement or participation is not proven by inference, but instead by a

defendant’s demonstration of direct involvement. In United States v. Lima,80 the D.C.

Appellate Court articulately espoused that private individuals can become agents or

instruments of the state if the government is sufficiently involved in the development

of actual plans or actions carried out by private persons. The Lima decision mandates

“a significant relationship . . . between the state and private security employees to find

state action; something whereby the state intrudes itself into private entity.”81 The Lima

case contends that mere licensing is not a sufficient basis for state action and that the

D.C. licensing statute vested no particular state authority to license security personnel.82

A second rationale for finding state action, outside of direct assistance or participa-

tion, is when private security personnel are found not to have acted alone but at the

direct suggestion, supervision, or employment of the public police system.83 In short,

the private security officers act as fronts for the public police. This form of supervision,

control, or direction would include instigation, encouragement, direct suggestions as to

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an operation, or any other strategy illustrating law enforcement involvement.84

“Whether there has been enough police contact for an agency, the relationship to have

existed is a question of fact to be answered by the court.”85

In Snyder v. State of Alaska,86 a defendant appealed his conviction, asserting that his

Fourth Amendment rights were violated. An airline baggage employee had called police

on at least 12 previous occasions to report the discovery of drugs and illegal goods.

Police informed airline employees that they themselves were not permitted to open

packages without a warrant, but that under Civil Aeronautics Board rules, airline

employees had a right to open packages if they believed there was something wrong

or that the items listed on the bill of lading did not accurately reflect what was in the

parcels. The airline employee opened the package, on direction of the Alaskan Police

authorities, and the defendant contended that this level of active involvement, encour-

agement, and investigation transformed private conduct into state action. The court

denied that there was a sufficient level of conduct to find state action, holding that

the airline employee was

[p]erforming his duties as private employee of a private company in opening the

package received under circumstances reasonably arousing. . . . The prior contact,

of a general nature, between the State police and airline employees did not cause

the employees to become agents of the police. A zealous citizen does not subject

his activities to the requirements of the Fourth Amendment in Article 1, Section

14 of the Alaskan Constitution.87

A synonymous result was reached in a Georgia case, Lester v. State.88 The appellant

moved to suppress as evidence pieces of copper tubing, which a fire investigator had

taken from the ruins of the appellant’s house. Claiming that the investigator engaged

in governmental activity, the defendant sought to have his conviction overturned on

Fourth Amendment principles. The court ruled with little trepidation that:

Even assuming arguendo that the appellant had standing to object to his search of

these premises it was not error to overrule the motion. The investigator was

dispatched by a private firm at the behest of the fire insurance company. He was

not connected with any law enforcement agency nor did he communicate with

one prior to conducting his investigation. Therefore the search could not have

violated his Fourth Amendment rights.89

Governmental action arising in a private policing context requires a substantial cor-

relation between public and private behavior. The case of Gilette v. the State of Texas, 90

in which the defendant asserted that security officers, spying on prospective customers

in a fitting room, violated constitutional protection, is a failed but instructive argument.

The court cited Burdeau v. McDowell as doctrine, maintaining not only its precedential

power, but resisting attempts to expand this constitutional territory. Similar denials of

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the state action theory regarding private conduct were also found in New York91 and

New Hampshire.92 What is striking about these judicial decisions is their simplicity

and firm renunciation of legal novelty. The tone could be described as abrupt and impa-

tient over the attempts to unseat well-settled law. The majority of appellate-based deci-

sions treat the argument of state action similarly.

The third and final situation where state action is arguable in the private security

industry is when security personnel act in a quasi-police status as when commissioned

as special police officers.93 Professor Stephen Euller, in his article, “Private Security and

the Exclusionary Rule,” notes:

In such cases state action has been recognized when private officers have been for-

mally designated “special police officers.” States often commission “special police

officers” to patrol retail stores or to perform occasional public law enforcement ser-

vices such as traffic or crowd control at parties or sports events.94

Ponder the hiring of the uniformed private security guard at a Job Corps Program, a

federally funded retraining facility, and program for disadvantaged youth. Job Corps is

funded totally by the public in tax dollars and the uniformed security guards that work

on the premises are there to ensure proper behavior of oftentimes some extremely

difficult young adults.

In State of Tennessee v. Hudson,95 the trial court held that the conduct of the security

guard was sufficiently tied to government to make it a state action. Since the security

guard wore a badge, was in uniform, was referred to as “officer,” and worked on a pro-

gram set up and funded by federal government money being funneled through from

the Department of Labor, the trial judge concluded that the security guard’s conduct

was sufficient to constitute state action. The appellate court reversed the decision,

finding that the private security company contracted at this Job Corps facility was no

more a government agency “than any other company or individual with whom the

government contracts to supply a product or service of whatever nature.” The court

further remarked:

It is common knowledge that both federal and state governments engage in thou-

sand of contracts daily with many organizations of many types whose employees

have absolutely no connection with the government whatsoever other than being

an employee of a government contractor.96

Another case, which manifests the delicate line between public and private function,

is State of Ohio v. McDaniel. 97

The defendants/appellants sought to demonstrate that

the security staff, consisting of about 45 full-time employees at a department store in

Franklin County, Ohio, were governmental agents by their commission as special deputy

sheriffs. Searches made by security employees resulted in the seizure of various incrimi-

nating goods. Defendants sought to overturn the seizures based on Fourth Amendment

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protections and argued emphatically the state action theory. The court, recognizing that

privacy was important to the defendant appellants, attempted to balance the interest of

both parties. It found:

The right to privacy is not absolute and the Constitution prohibits only unreasonable

searches. Shoplifting is a serious problem for merchants. Merchants may utilize reason-

able means to detect and prevent shoplifting. Where the merchant or his employee has

probable or reasonable cause to believe that an apparent customer is in reality a thief

planning to shoplift merchandise, the merchant or his employee may utilize reasonable

means of surveillance and observation in order to detect and prevent the crime.98

The court further rejected the argument that simply being commissioned as special

deputies is a sufficient basis for a finding of state action. It concluded:

From the evidence herein it could only be concluded that Lazarus Security employ-

ees at the times in question were engaged in activity within the scope of their

employment with Lazarus solely for the benefit of their employer, Lazarus, to detect

and prevent thievery of Lazarus merchandise. They were acting outside of any pub-

lic duty they might be authorized to perform as a commissioned special deputy

sheriff and only one of the employees could have acted in that respect in any event.

To hold in this case that the actions of the Lazarus Security employees constituted

state action on their part would not only be contrary to the realities of the situation

but would constitute an unwarranted extension of constitutional provisions to

apply to the activities of corporations conducted through its employees.99

Deputization, a special commission, or other status, in and of itself, appears an insuffi-

cient basis for finding state action. State action requires meaningful participation, signifi-

cant involvement, and intentional instigation, a series of conducts rarely witnessed.100

“The exclusionary rule should apply then in cases where government officials directly insti-

gate or supervise searches and seizures committed by private parties for the purpose of

acquiring evidence for a criminal prosecution. If courts do not apply the rule of exclusion

in these cases, government officials will be permitted to conduct improper searches by

employing a private party to commit the physical search.”101 A more provocative argument

emerges in Austin v. Paramount Parks,102 where plaintiffs alleged that Kings Dominion

Park Police where answerable, in a supervisory sense, to the public office of the local county

sheriff. The case is further complicated by an employee manual that designates the

necessary interaction of the private force with public authority. The manual listed a chain

of command that undeniably integrates public policing into this private security context.

The chain of command and authority for all Kings Dominion Park Police shall be as

follows involving official law enforcement:

a. Sheriff of Hanover County

b. Lieutenant of Kings Dominion Park Police

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c. Kings Dominion Park Police Sergeant

d. Kings Dominion Park Police Corporal

e. Kings Dominion Park Police Officer103

Despite this clear entanglement of private/public law enforcement, the Austin majority

rejected the plaintiff’s allegation of sufficient public assumption to trigger constitutional

protections. The court further held that the park’s manager of loss prevention lacked all

authority over the operations of the public force and dismissed the argument with scant

reservation.

Put simply, there was no evidence that Hester, despite his title of Manager of Loss

Prevention, in practice exercised any control over the decisions of the special

police officer regarding detention and/or arrests of park guests suspected of crim-

inal offenses in this case. . . . [T]he uncontradicted testimony was to the contrary.

In fact, we find no support in the record for any specific policy-making authority

given to or exercised by Hester regarding matters of law enforcement. . . . [W]e

have no basis upon which to conclude that Hester exercised final policy-making

authority concerning arrests effected by the special police officers of the Park

Police Department. Because Austin’s position on Paramount’s liability . . . rests

entirely upon her theory that Hester was a “policymaker,” we are satisfied that

she failed to establish that any deprivation of her federal right was caused

by . . . Paramount.104

As a practical matter, security operatives should not conduct any search until

the detained party has granted consent. See the examples of consent documents in

Figures 3.6 and 3.7.

n n n

Assess how fixed and dependable the conclusion that the exclusionary rule does not apply to

the private sector is in a recent New Mexico Supreme Court case at http://www

.nmcompcomm.us/nmcases/NMSC/2009/09sc-045.pdf.

n n n

The Public Function of Private Security

Proponents of the public function theory would expand and extend the protections

of the Fourth Amendment and other aligned constitutional provisions by alleging the

public nature of tasks performed by private security. See Figure 3.8 for a portrayal of

the many public functions performed by private security.105 Not only is the occupation

alleged to be “public,” its multiple tasks and competencies are “public” in design

and scope.

The theory of public function was first advocated in Marsh v. Alabama.106 The case

involved a company town, which was privately owned, though its services and functions

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mirrored a typical municipality or city. Services undertaken primarily for the benefit of

the general public and exercising functions traditionally associated with a form of

sovereignty can lead to a public function charge. Advocates of the public function doctrine

assertively point out that all police functions are inherently public in nature and design.

“Policing is one of the most basic functions of the sovereign when security personnel

are hired to protect business premises, arrest, question and search for evidence against

criminal suspects. They perform public police functions.”107 In the eyes of Professor

William J. O’Donnell, in his article “Private Security, Privacy in the Fourth Amendment,”108

courts give far too much credence to the legal status of the party performing the public

function rather than the function itself. He notes persuasively:

On the other hand where status does not correspond with function courts have been

too quick to rule out state action. Security guards who have not been deputized,

FIGURE 3.6 Consent to Search.

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specially commissioned, or otherwise formally charged to protect public interest

are routinely equated with private persons by courts despite the fact they are hired

to survey, apprehend, detain, and interrogate criminal suspects.109

Professor O’Donnell proposes a reorientation to function in place of occupational

status. State action, therefore, is evaluated in light of what is done rather than who is

doing it:

This kind of problem exists, of course, largely because legal authorities continue to

define state action principally on the basis of status rather than function—a de jure

as opposed to a de facto orientation. As long as this remains the approach, however,

the threats to individual privacy rights will increase in proportion to the privatiza-

tion of policing. A functional approach . . . subject[s] the greater portion of private

security industry to Fourth Amendment coverage.110

FIGURE 3.7 Consent to Search, Alternate Form.

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FIGURE 3.8 Functions of Private Security Personnel.

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That security performs an enormous array of public functions, which include, but are

not limited to, arresting shoplifters, controlling crowds, keeping peace in educational

institutions, correctional institutions, providing secure environments in banks, hospi-

tals, and other institutions open to the general public, is not a debatable contention. If

this is so, does participation in public functions naturally lead to public status? Did

the framers of the Constitution intend constitutional coverage to be tied to questions

of occupational functionalism? Using police function as a rationale for employing con-

stitutional protections in the private realm may open a Pandora’s box. Are toll collectors

and maintenance workers next in line for this constitutional scrutiny because they do

public things? If this reasoning is adopted, the public function theory could be applied

in numerous other environments, including all governmental agencies, social service

centers, and welfare offices. While the comparison is not strictly valid, it does shed some

light on the complexity of the public function doctrine. The intellectual and legal

obstacles to the public function doctrine compel the “apparent hostility of the Supreme

Court to expansion of any state action doctrines.”111 Despite this, some commentators

are optimistic regarding the public function theory. The public function analysis is

particularly persuasive when applied to cases involving private security protection.

The demands of modern commerce have created a need for large numbers of private

security forces to assist in the protection of persons and property. Private security com-

panies and their personnel engage in activities that are normally reserved for the police.

They often have authority to detain suspects, conduct investigations, and make arrests.

Their actions can be as intrusive to individual privacy rights as those carried out by the

police. Whether these activities can be construed or defined strictly as governmental

functions and thereby as state action subject to the Fourth Amendment may be a breach

too difficult to fill.112

On top of these considerations, the argument disregards the rights of citizens, busi-

nesses, and industries who purposely employ a chosen method or technique of private

law enforcement to protect their property interests. Certainly state action doctrines

provide a vehicle for extending the Fourth Amendment to some private search cases,

but to propose that the function controls legal application constitutes questionable legal

logic. If function becomes the dominating factor, then status becomes irrelevant.

In People v. Holloway,113 a Michigan court emphatically stressed the Fourth Amend-

ment’s limits. The facts of the case involve a private security guard surveying a consumer

acting in a suspicious manner and, according to the guard, about to shoplift. The guard

noticed the bulge in the defendant’s pocket and subsequent pat down revealed a .32 cal-

iber pistol and knife. The defendant argued a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which

the court denied:

Thus an individual has the right to address any wrongs which may have been com-

mitted by private citizens be they security guards or not. They can bring civil actions

or file defenders. It is because the cloak of sovereign immunity is wrapped around

law enforcement officials that the Fourth Amendment is applied to their actions.

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There is a growing feeling among the courts of the country that the exclusionary

rule has been stretched far beyond its original and very useful purpose.114

A dissenting opinion in the Holloway case, by Judge Falkman, provides a thoughtful

counter:

Surely it will be argued that the mere fact of licensing alone does not a public

official make. It is true that recitation of a familiar “talismanic formula” . . . has

soothing effect on those who invoke it. Even fervent incantation cannot dispel the

reality of what function is being licensed here, that of protection of person or

property by an organized peacekeeping force.115

As eloquent as the reasoning may be, to uphold the public function argument may

lead to greater difficulties than maintaining the status quo. Public function theorists

posit that a private citizen’s privacy rights are undermined when the unreasonableness

of a search is “made to depend on the identity of the searcher rather than the activity

itself and its infringement on his privacy.”116 This argument was unconvincingly made

in New Hampshire v. Keyser.117 The setting included a department store shopper who

switched the contents of a $6.99 cooler with two tape decks worth a total of $150. The

defendant claimed he had no knowledge of how the tape decks got into the box. Upon

conviction, the defendant appealed, asserting that his Fourth Amendment rights were

violated, not by the members of the local police department, but instead by the security

guards. The court noted the issues:

The question in this case is whether the Fourth Amendment protections extend to

the action of the security guards because of their authority, official appearance

and police-type function.118

Providing security in a retail store environment is an insufficient basis to invoke the

exclusionary rule.119 Hence, the future of the public function argument appears less

likely to expand into the private security domain as other competitive theories.

Color of State Law: A Legislative Remedy When constitutionalism fails, the appellate strategist considers legal actions based on

statutory schema. Instead of a plea rooted in the Bill of Rights, the advocate urges reme-

dial action based on a particular code or section of a particular act. For example, claims

based on Civil Rights infractions and violations are commonly witnessed in the actions

against private security personnel. Borrowing from the civil rights theater, plaintiffs

assert civil rights violations, infractions, and other wrongs by utilizing the “color of state

law” standard discoverable at 42 U.S.C. }1983.120

Put another way, the advocate does not claim a harm arising under a particular

amendment but rather an injury to self or property caused by a specific action that

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eventually connects to some state action. Proof or demonstration that a state action

caused a personal loss, affront, or indignity under the auspices of color of state law is

part and parcel of the Civil Rights acts, and in select portions of said acts, these allega-

tions must be grounded in matters that are racially, religiously, or ethnically motivated.

Examples might be arbitrary state licensing boards or bodies that reject applications on

racial grounds, or denial or rejection of applicants based on religion or creed. Another

claim might be a contrived or intentional plan to single out targeted minority groups

in a shoplifting deterrence program.121

n n n

To discover how private casino employees can act under color of state law, see http://www

.martindale.com/business-law/article_Lewis-Roca-LLP_813180.htm.

n n n

To claim that security officers or other personnel are acting under color of state law

requires objective proof of a racial, religious, or gender motivation, or at least a dem-

onstration that the acts alleged and the injury inflicted were done under the auspices

and approval of the state or other governmental authority. The Civil Rights acts have

leaned toward a more liberal application in recent years with the emphasis on

personal harm arising because of government action by government personnel. United

States v. McGreevy122 provides instruction on the color of state law standard in regard

to whether or not the government actor is acting under color of state law. McGreevy’s

facts consist of a security officer who held two jobs, one at a Federal Express company

and the other as an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). In

his capacity as a security officer, he had the right to inspect and open packages that

were not properly identified or appeared to be mislabeled or mismarked. During a

routine investigation, he found a package that rattled, and upon inspection illegal

drugs were discovered. The defendant proposed that the employee with dual jobs

was acting under color of state as a DEA agent. The court, much to the dismay of

the defendant, disregarded his DEA affiliation and reminded the defendant that the

opening of a package occurred under auspices of his Federal Express position. It held

categorically:

Here Petre was not acting under a color of state law when he opened a package.

Petre did not hold his Federal Express position because he was a police officer.

He carefully separated the two jobs. He knew of no understanding between Federal

Express and the DEA for the disposal of contraband.123

A well-respected Pennsylvania Superior Court decision, Commonwealth v. Lacey,124

assessed an appellant’s claim that a statute governing security guard conduct provided

a basis for a color of state law declaration. The court, in interpreting a retail theft statute,

dealt precisely with the color of state question:

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A peace officer, merchant, or merchant’s employee, or an agent under contract with

a merchant who has probable cause to believe that retail theft has occurred or is

occurring on or about a store or other retail mercantile establishment and has

probable cause to believe that a specific person has committed or is committing

the retail theft may detain the suspect in a reasonable manner for a reasonable time

on or off the premises for all or any of the following purposes: to require the suspect

to identify himself, to verify such identification, to determine whether such suspect

has in his possession un-purchased merchandise taken from the mercantile

establishment, and, if so, to recover such merchandise, to inform a peace officer

or to institute criminal proceedings against the suspect, such detention shall not

impose civil or criminal liability on the peace officer, merchant, employee or agent

so detaining.125

The appellant’s reasoning concludes that the retail theft statute, in its terms and appli-

cability, inherently bestows police powers on private persons, which the court

completely rejected.

To prove color of state law requires proof of a direct relationship between a public

official and private security agent. The evidence must demonstrate significant involve-

ment of the private agent acting under a state law and, as a result, causing injury.

In Bouye v. Marshall,126 a U.S. District Court held, in the rarest of cases, that an off-duty

county police officer crossed the line from private to public since he “wore a police

sweatshirt and bullet-proof vest, displayed badge, was performing police function, and

used police authority to detain and search visitor.”127

To prove color of state law cases, the courts have devised a series of tests that seek to

quantify the level of state involvement, such as the Significant Involvement Test.

The test mandates a look at how much state action and state oversight played a role

in the harm inflicted while simultaneously looking for participatory schemes between

state and federal officials. In Byars v. United States,128 the Supreme Court held that

evidence was inadmissible when the unreasonable search and seizure was performed

by state officials concluding that state law enforcement was significant enough to satisfy

the term “significant.” In Gambino v. United States,129 the Supreme Court also employed

the Significant Involvement Test, ruling inadmissible evidence that was seized and

acquired by New York State Police in an unjustifiable search met the color of state

law standard. The Court was satisfied that the wrongful arrest, search, and seizure was

performed for the benefit and exclusive purpose of federal prosecution, and, therefore,

“the state officers acting to enforce the federal law were subject to the Fourth

Amendment just as if they acted under federal direction.”130 Finding significant involve-

ment or participation between state and federal agents, however, is very different from

deducing that the actions of the private security industry and police are equally in

concert.

Another argument bolstering color of state law theory is the Police Security Nexus

Test: “Under the nexus approach to state action analysis, a court considers the facts of

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the situation, looks for a contact between the private actor and the government, and

makes a qualitative judgment as to whether there is enough involvement in a challenged

action to say that it was an action of the state.”131 As in previous attempts to corral in the

protection of the Fourth Amendment, liberal constructionists must show either a signif-

icant involvement; a private action fostered, authorized, or colored by state authority; or

a public/private relationship conspiratorial in design. The natural procedural ties that

develop between private security and public policing give further ammunition to those

who propose an expansion of the color of state law theory. Since both public and private

law enforcement seek similar ends, are hankering for increased cooperation, and are

increasing their overall interaction, some critics call for an end to the immune status

accorded private practice.132 Not unexpectedly, public law enforcement has long been

considered the private security industry feeder system for informants and assistance.

There is a pipeline of trained investigators and security administrators moving from

public law enforcement agencies into the private sector. These agencies train the per-

sonnel in patrol techniques, investigation, interrogation, arrest, search and seizure,

and police administration. Years of experience working with these agencies give security

officers a common language, a common method of operation, and a common outlook

with those who stayed beyond. 133

Professor Euller, in his article in the Harvard Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law

Review, contends that police officers have no sense of changeover or “crossing over to

the other side” when they join private security systems.134

Consequently, scholarly commentary has emphasized a reexamination of the state

action in private security activities. Since a close and symbiotic relationship is emerging

with public law enforcement, and since the procedural ramifications of private justice

are starting to have a more marked impact on the public justice system, further study

is necessary.

Constitutional Prognosis for Private Security One of the chief reasons claimed for the phenomenal growth of the security industry is its

ability to avoid the often complex and convoluted legalities that hamper public police

operations. Equally crucial is the security industry’s ability to avoid the political

machinations that so encumber local, municipal, and federal police departments.

Police departments, not security departments, are concerned with statistics, clearance

sheets, and the general political issues that emerge in major municipal police depart-

ments. “Private agency police appear to be even less conviction-oriented than the

public police. They seem to be concerned primarily with the protection of property and

personnel.”135

The hostility toward the expansion of rights into the private security realm has been

fairly obvious in appellate case law review. A case in point includes Sackler v. Sackler,136

from the New York Court of Appeals. A wife, appealing a grant of divorce on the basis

of adultery, sought to exclude from evidence information acquired by private

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investigators employed by her husband. Surprisingly, defense counsel relied on Mapp v.

Ohio137 as a basis for its decision, stating cynically:

The theory seems to run like this: before Mapp the law of evidence in this state was

the same as to all illegal searches whether governmental or not, that is, all evidence

so produced was receivable. Now we are told that . . . evidence which is the fruit of

illegal government incursions is banned . . . except when under non-governmental

auspices. The argument goes too far and proves too much.138

The court, citing Burdeau v. McDowell139 and other representative precedents,

stated that neither “history, logic, nor law give any support for the idea that uniform

treatment should be given to governmental and private searches to the evidence dis-

closed by such searches.”140 When research divulges such spirited appellate ponderings,

the expansionists’ reasoning pulls at straws. Creative, innovative approaches that afford

protection to the general citizenry are always commendable, but to develop various

theories of argumentation that fail to withstand legal rigor assures futility for Fourth

Amendment applicability in private sector justice. The expansionist camp has to formu-

late rock-hard, substantive ideas based on the occupational nexus between private and

public and criminal procedure. It would be foolhardy to argue a lack of parallels

between the private and public police systems, but the similarities are not compelling

enough to afford this extraordinary transformation. “Courts and commentators alike

should be sensitive to the possibility that the existing powers and controls of private

police may require alteration,”141 but alteration does not require or lead jurors, practi-

tioners, or academics to the conclusion that what is good for public justice is equally

necessary in the private world of professional security. As Eugene Finneran, in his excel-

lent text, Security Supervision: A Handbook for Supervisors and Managers, imparts:

The other side of the controversy believes, as does the author, that it is impossible to

separate security from a degree of law enforcement or to separate loss prevention

from crime prevention. Even if it were possible to eradicate the joint history of

public and private safety and security operations, it would be a mistake to do so.

All previous expertise in the protection of assets through crime prevention must

be maintained and built upon using this experience as solid base for developing

all the skills necessary to become viable risk managers. All professional fields

are constantly changing and searching for better methods and procedures for

improving performance. Security is no exception.142

Clearly, private sector justice cannot infallibly mimic or imitate public sector justice.

Its obligation rests principally in distinct though complimentary mission when com-

pared to the public sector.143 By any reasonable measure, it should draw from public

sector justice the best it has to offer—namely, the public police system’s dedication to

fundamental fairness and due process. Other public sector traits to emulate include

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the system’s adherence to procedural guidelines, substantive rules and regulations

that ensure equity, and an academic and political community of both practitioners

and theorists who call to the forefront deficiencies in the American administration of

justice. Probably the greatest catalyst in ensuring additional adherence to the public

justice model will be the security industry’s own desire and motivation as it treks down

the long path of professionalism.

Summary A review of case law, statutory materials, and common law principles concludes that

the expansionists’ theory of constitutional protection, as to the arrest, search, and

seizure principles in private security, garners little intellectual or judicial support.

Scholarly materials urge increased constitutional oversight in private sector justice,

but jurists and legislators alike have turned a deaf ear. The arguments posed throughout

this section have included attempts, disguised in different forms, to show that the task

of private sector justice is, at best, mimicry of public law enforcement. While there may

be cooperation between public and private law enforcement in their fight against

crime, and while there is frequent interaction between the two camps, only the public

system, as the Constitution intends, is subject to the severest of judicial scrutiny.

The Constitution was designed and devised for the protection of the general citizenry

from overzealous government regulation, taxation, and oversight. Arguably, the chief

basis for the American Revolution was to remove the onerous restrictions and

heavy-handed bureaucracy that government had thrust upon the colonists. From this

it is fair to conclude that expansion of this sort is contrary to American legal tradition.

CASE EXAMPLES

STATE OF TENNESSEE V. GREGORY D. HUTSON, 649 S.W.2D 6 (1982)

Facts

On April 16, 1981, a security guard for the Knoxville Job Corps responded to an alarm indicating

that someone was on the third floor of the Job Corps Center. He pushed the elevator button to

go to that floor and found it to be already stopped there. Proceeding up the stairwell, he

observed a person entering the elevator, and he watched as it descended to the first floor. When

the elevator returned to the third floor, it was necessary for him to open the door with a key.

In doing this, he found the defendant, Mr. Hutson, inside the elevator. Hutson was taken to the

security office, where other personnel detained him. During the interrogation of Mr. Hutson,

the security guard, and other personnel felt that they had detained the right thief. As a result of

this determination, Job Corps officials entered into the room of Mr. Hutson and ordered him to

break the lock on his locker in his residential quarters. Once inside the locker, stolen goods

related to the third floor thefts were found.

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Discussion Questions 1. Constitutional remedies in cases involving private security investigators and

detectives will be rare. Why?

2. Relay a fact pattern whereby a private security operative may trigger the

exclusionary rule.

3. What standard governs the private security industry’s right to arrest?

4. Which Supreme Court case indicated a reticence or hesitancy to extend

constitutional protections to private sector justice?

CASE EXAMPLES—Cont’d

Issue

On a motion to suppress the admission of evidence based on a constitutional violation of a

search performed without a warrant, how should this court rule?

PRIVATE SEARCH AND SEIZURE—UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. LACEY LEE KOENIG

AND LEE GRAF, 856 F.2D 843 (7TH CIR. 1988)

Facts

On July 17, 1986, Federal Express senior security specialist Jerry Zito was at the West Palm

Federal Express station on what he described as a “routine station visit.” While there, he

conducted a visual inspection of packages received over the counter and detected an odor of

laundry soap or fabric softener emanating from one of the boxes. The shipper of record was

fictitious. The officer opened the package. Inside were two transparent plastic bags containing

white powder that the DEA office identified as cocaine.

After replacing all but a small sample of the cocaine with cornstarch, the package was

resealed. After consulting a DEA agent, the officer returned the package to the West Palm Beach

Federal Express office with instructions to perform a controlled delivery. The package was

routed through the Federal Express hub in Memphis, Tennessee. While in Memphis, the

package was kept in a Federal Express safe and was opened on two occasions by Federal

Express employees to check its contents. The box was once again opened upon its arrival in

Peoria, Illinois, on July 19, this time by Illinois state police and a Federal Express employee.

Again the contents tested positive for cocaine. The package was again sealed and then delivered

to its intended recipient, one Koenig. A federal search warrant was then obtained and executed

on Koenig’s apartment, resulting in the seizure of several items including the Federal Express

package containing the packets of cornstarch and cocaine samples.

Issue

Have defendants been constitutionally violated by this warrantless search?

Answer

No. Federal Express security personnel opened the package for their own reasons and no

evidence was introduced suggesting governmental control of Federal Express employees.

The opening of the package and the placement of its contents in plain view of DEA agents

destroyed any privacy interest the package might have initially supported.

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5. Name five exceptions to the warrant requirement.

6. Under some merchant privilege statutes, even if the merchant is completely

incorrect in carrying out an arrest, the merchant remains immune from a false

imprisonment or arrest cause of action. Explain.

7. How does private conduct become state action?

8. Can it be argued that private security is continuously involved in public function

activities?

9. What is the prognosis for constitutional protections being applied in the private

security industry?

Notes 1. Charles P. Nemeth & K. C. Poulin, Private Security and Public Safety: A Community-Based Approach

(2005).

2. William J. O’Donnell, Private Security, Privacy and the Fourth Amendment, 7 J. of Sec. Admin. 9 (1984).

3. See Paul A. Campo, Note: The Need for Reform of Missouri’s Peace Officer Training Requirements: A Historical, Economic and Legal Perspective, 66 UMKC L. Rev. 681 (1998); David A. Sklansky, The Private Police, 46 UCLA L. Rev. 1165 (1999); Lynn M. Gagel, Stealthy Encroachments upon the Fourth Amendment: Constitutional Constraints and Their Applicability to the Long Arm of Ohio’s Private Security Forces, 63 U. Cin. L. Rev. 1807 (1995).

4. Private Security Advisory Council, Scope of Legal Authority of Private Security Personnel, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration 3 (U.S. Department of Justice, 1979); see generally John D. Peel, Fundamentals of Training for Security Officers (1970); Guy R. Rankin, The Professional Handbook for Patrol and Security Guards (1977); Sullivan, Legal Problems of Private Security Forces, paper delivered at International Security Conference (Oct. 3, 1972).

5. Andrew P. Morriss, Returning Justice to Its Private Roots, 68 U. Chi. L. Rev. 551 (2001).

6. U.S. Const. amend. IV.

7. Ernest W. Machen, Jr., The Law of Search and Seizure (1950); Joseph A. Varon, Searches, Seizures and Immunities (1974); Note, The Concept of Privacy and the Fourth Amendment, 6 U. Mich. J. L. Rev. 154 (1972); Note, From Private Places to Personal Privacy: A Post-Katz Study of Fourth Amend- ment Protections, 43 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 96 (1968); Blancard, Clark, and Everett, Uniform Security Guard Power to Arrest, Part II (1977); Fred E. Inbau, Protective Security Law (1983).

8. Note, Seizures by Private Parties: Exclusion in Criminal Cases, 19 Stan. L. Rev. 608, 608-609 (1967).

9. 256 U.S. 465 (1921).

10. Burdeau v. McDowell, 256 U.S. 465, 475 (1921).

11. See generally Smith v. Maryland, 59 U.S. (18 How.) 71, 76 (1855); Barron v. Baltimore, 32 U.S. (7 Pet.) 243, 250 (1833).

12. See U.S. v. Janis, 428 U.S. 433, 456 n. 31 (1976); Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 487 (1971); Walter v. U.S. 48 U.S. L.W. 4807 (1980); see contra People v. Eastway, 241 N.W. 2nd 249 (1976).

13. Note, The Legal Basis of Authority, 26 Sec. Mgmt. 50 (1982); see also Rick Sarre, The Legal Basis For The Authority Of Private Police And An Examination Of Their Relationship With The “Public” Police (1992) available at http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/previous%20series/proceedings/ 1-27/�/media/publications/proceedings/23/sarre.ashx.

14. Nemeth & Poulin, supra note 1; see also Charles P. Nemeth & K. C. Poulin, The Prevention Agency: A Public Safety Model for High Crime Communities in the 21st Century (2004).

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15. National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, Report on the Task Force on Private Security 391 (1976). Some prognosticators on the constitutionality of private security arrests argue that this question is still in flux. See James F. Pastor, Security Law & Methods (2006); James F. Pastor, The Privatization of Police in America: An Analysis and Case Study (2003).

16. The Security Function 67 (1980).

17. Note, The Law of Citizen’s Arrest, 65 Colum. L. Rev. 502 (1965); see also Lael Harrison, Citizen’s Arrest Or Police Arrest? Defining The Scope Of Alaska’s Delegated Citizen’s Arrest Doctrine, 82 Wash. L. Rev. (2007).

18. National Advisory Committee, supra note 15, at 393.

19. Note, Private Police Forces: Legal Powers and Limitations, 38 U. Chic. L. Rev. 565 (1971); see also Pastor, Security Law, supra note 15; Pastor, Privatization of Police, supra note 15.

20. Alaska Stat. }12.25.030 (2010).

21. N.Y. C.P.L. }140.30 (2010).

22. People v. Niedzwiedz, 268 Ill. App. 3d 119, 644 N.E.2d 53, 55, (Ill. App. Ct. 1994) cited in Churney v. Downer’s Grove, 83 F. Supp. 2d 925, 927 (N.C. Ill, 2000) (citing 725 ILCS5/107-3, stating that “any person may arrest another when he has reasonable grounds to believe that an offense other than an ordinance violation is being committed”).

23. Edward T. Guy, John J. Merrigan, & John A. Wanat, Forms for Safety and Security Management 390 (1981).

24. Charles P. Nemeth, Private Security and Investigative Process, 3rd ed. 226–227 (2010).

25. Note, Citizen’s Arrest, supra note 17, at 504.

26. National Advisory Committee, supra note 15, at 391.

27. Private Security Advisory Council, supra note 4, at 10.

28. Note, Citizen’s Arrest, supra note 17, at 505.

29. Id. at 506.

30. Id. at 506-507.

31. National Advisory Committee, supra note 15, at 394.

32. Restatement of the Law of Torts, }119 (1934; 2d ed. 1966).

33. Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383 (1914).

34. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961); see also Massiah v. U.S., 377 U.S. 201 (1964); Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966); Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478 (1964); see generally Note, “Plain View”—Anything But Plain: Coolidge Divides the Lower Courts, 7 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 489 (1974); Edward G. Mascolo, The Role of Abandonment in the Law of Search and Seizure: An Application of Misdirected Emphasis, 20 Buff. L. Rev. 399 (1971); Annot. Admissibility, in Criminal Case, of Evidence Obtained by Search by Private Individual, 36 ALR 3d 553.

35. For an interesting case on aerial search see California v. Ciraolo, 476 U.S. 207, 106 S. Ct. 1009 (1986).

36. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968).

37. See Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108; Spinelli v. U.S., 393 U.S. 410, 89 S. Ct. 584 (1969); U.S. v. Haris, 403 U.S. 573, 91 S. Ct. 2075 (1971).

38. See Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 807, 102 S. Ct. 2727, 73 L. Ed. 2d 396 (1982).

39. Browning v. Vernon, 44 F.3d 818, 822 (9th Cir. 1995) (citing Act Up/Portland v. Bagley, 988 F.2d 868, 871-872 (9th Cir. 1993).

40. Hunter v. Bryant, 502 U.S. 224, 229, 112 S. Ct. 534, 116 L. Ed. 2d 589 (1991) quoting Malley v. Brigges, 475 U.S. 335, 343, 106 S. Ct. 1092, 89 L. Ed. 2d. 271 (1986).

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41. Corcoran v. Fletcher, 160 F. Supp. 2d 1085, 1089 (C.D. Ca. 2001).

42. 256 U.S. 465 (1921).

43. Id.

44. John W. Hall, Jr., Search and Seizure Inapplicability of the Fourth Amendment 53 (1982).

45. Note, Private Police Forces: Legal Powers and Limitations, 38 U. Chic. L. Rev. 565–566 (1971).

46. Private Security Advisory Council, supra note 4, at 3.

47. Id. at 15.

48. Id.

49. 5 Am. Jur. Trials 389-391.

50. 594 P.2d 1000 (1979).

51. Id.

52. Id. at 1002.

53. Id. at 1006.

54. Id. at 1005.

55. Stephen Euller, Private Security in the Courtroom: The Exclusionary Rule Applies, 24 Sec. Mgmt. 41 (1980).

56. Id.

57. 449 N.W.2d 471 (Minn. App. 1989).

58. State of Minnesota v. Beswell, 449 N.W.2d 471, 474 (Minn. App. 1989).

59. Private Security, Public Order: The Outsourcing of Public Services and Its Limits (Simon Chester- man & Angelina Fisher, eds. 2009).

60. 326 U.S. 501, 66 S. Ct. 276, 90 L. Ed. 265 (1946).

61. Id. at 506. See 1 W. LaFave, }1.8(d) at 200. See also Feffer, 831 F.2d at 739.

62. State of Minnesota v. Beswell, 449 N.W.2d 471, 474 (Minn. App. 1989).

63. For an interesting analysis of this transformation from the former Eastern block nation of Estonia, see Nele Parrest, Constitutional Boundaries of Transfer of Public Functions to Private Sector in Estonia, 16 Juridica International 44 (2009) available at http://www.juridicainternational.eu/ public/pdf/ji_2009_1_44.pdf.

64. State of Minnesota v. Beswell, 449 N.W.2d 471, 474 (Minn. App. 1989).

65. Id.

66. Note, The Legal Basis of Authority, 26 Sec. Mgmt. 54 (1982).

67. See Weeks v. U.S., 232 U.S. 383 (1914); Wolf v. People of The State Of Colo. 338 U.S. 25 (1949).

68. See Lustig v. U.S., 338 U.S. 74, 79 (1949); Elkins v. U.S., 364 U.S. 200 (1960). See also Martin McGuinness, The “Silver Platter” In The Context Of State Constitutional Adjudication, Albany Law Review (2008) available at http://www.albanylawreview.org/articles/McGuinness.pdf.

69. Note, The Platinum Platter in Ohio: Are Private Police Really Private? 2 U. Dayton L. Rev. 290 (1977).

70. Id. at 287-288.

71. Note, Private Searches and Seizures: An Application of the Public Function Theory, 48 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 185 (1980).

72. See Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 487 (1971); U.S. v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745, 771–772 (1966).

73. See particularly Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, 365 U.S. 715 (1961).

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74. Case No. 01-4016-SAC, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9367 (Kansas May 23, 2003).

75. Copeland v. City of Topeka, Case No. 01-4016-SAC, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9367 (Kansas May 23, 2003).

76. 547 F.2d 891 (1977).

77. U.S. v. Francoeur, 547 F.2d 891 (1977).

78. Note, Sticky Fingers, Deep Pockets, and the Long Arm of the Law: Illegal Searches of Shoplifters by Private Merchant Security Personnel, 55 Or. L. Rev. 279, 283 (1976).

79. John W. Hall, Jr., Search and Seizure Inapplicability of the Fourth Amendment 61 (1982).

80. U.S. v. Lima, 424 A.2d 13 (1980).

81. Id. at 121.

82. Id. at 119-120.

83. Note, Developments in the Law: State Action and the Public/Private Distinction, 123 Harv L. Rev. 1248 (2010) at http://www.harvardlawreview.org/media/pdf/DEVO_10.pdf.

84. G. Sidney Buchanan, A Conceptual History of the State Action Doctrine: The Search for Governmen- tal Responsibility (pt. 1), 34 Hous. L. Rev. 333, 336 (1997).

85. Euller, supra note 55, at, 655; see also Tarnef v. State, 512 P.2d 923, 934 (1973); People v. Agnose- poulous, 77 Misc. 2d 668, 354 N.Y.S.2d 575, 576 (1974); U.S. v. Clegg, 509 F.2d 605, 609-611 (1975); People v. Moreno, 64 Cal. App. 3d Supp. 23, 135 Cal. Rptr. 340 (1976).

86. Synder v. State of Alaska, 585 P.2d 229 (1978).

87. Id. at 232.

88. Lester v. State, 244 S.E.2d 880 (1978).

89. Id. at 881.

90. Gillett v. State of Texas, 588 S.W.2d 361 (1979).

91. People v. Horman, 22 N.Y.2d 378 (1968).

92. State v. Keyser, 369 A 2d 224, (1977).

93. See generally Griffin v. Maryland 378 U.S. 130 (1964); People v. Diaz, 85 Misc. 2d 41, 376 N.Y.S.2d 849 (1975); People v. Frank, 52 Misc. 2d 266, 275 N.Y.S.2d 570 (1966); State v. Bolan, 27 Ohio St. 2d 15, 271 N.W.2d 839 (1971).

94. Euller, supra note 55, at 606.

95. State v. Hutson, 649 S.W.2d 9 (1982).

96. Id.; see also People v. Tolivar, 377 N.E.2d 207 (1978).

97. State v. McDaniel, 44 Ohio App. 2d 163, 377 N.W.2d 173 (1975); see also U.S. v. Miller, 668 F.2d 652 (1982).

98. Id. at 180.

99. Id.

100. See State v. Scrotsky, 39 N.J. 410, 189 A.2d 23 (1963); Moody v. U.S., 163 A.2d 337 (1960); People v. Tarantino, 45 CAL. 2d 590, 290 P.2d 505 (1955); People v. Fierro, 238 Cal. App. 2d 344, 46 Cal. Rptr. 132 (1965).

101. Note, Seizures, supra note 8, at 613.

102. 195 F.3d 715 (4th Cir. 1999).

103. Id. at 730.

104. Id.

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105. William C. Cunningham and Todd H. Taylor, The Hallcrest Report: Private Security and Police in America 26 (1985).

106. Marsh v. Alabama, 326 U.S. 501 (1946).

107. Euller, supra note 55, at 658.

108. O’Donnell, supra note 2, at 11.

109. Id. at 12.

110. W. Clinton Terry, Policing Society (1985).

111. Note, Private Searches and Seizures, supra note 71, at 185.

112. People v. Holloway, 82 Mich. App. 629, 267 N.W.2d 454 (1978).

113. Id. at 456.

114. Id. at 460.

115. Note, Private Searches and Seizures, supra note 71, at 185.

116. State v. Keyser, 369 A 2d 224 (1977).

117. Id. at 225.

118. Id. at 226.

119. See Smith v. Brookshire, Inc., 519 F.2d 93 (5th Cir. 1975); cert denied, 424 U.S. 915, 96 S. Ct. 1115, 47 L. Ed. 2d 320 (1976); Duriso v. K-Mart No. 4195, Division of Kresge Co., 559 F.2d 1274 (5th Cir. 1977); El Fundi v. Deroche, 625 F.2d 195 (8th Cir. 1980); White v. Scraner Corp., 594 F.2d 140 (5th Cir. 1979).

120. See Civil Liability for Acts of Off-Duty Officers—Part I, 9 AELE Mo. L. J. 101 (2007) at http://www .aele.org/law/2007LRSEP/2007-09MLJ101.pdf.

121. Davis v. Carson Pirie Scott and Co., 530 F. Supp. 799 (1982).

122. 652 F.2d 849 (9th Cir. 1981).

123. U.S. v. McGreevy, 652 F.2d 849, 851 (9th Cir. 1981).

124. 471 A.2d 888 (Pa. Super. 1984).

125. Commonwealth v. Lacy, 471 A.2d 888 (Pa. Super. 1984).

126. 102 F. Supp. 2d 1357 (N.D.Ga. 2000).

127. Id. at 1358.

128. 273 U.S. 28 (1927).

129. 275 U.S. 310 (1927); see also Stonehill v. U.S., 405 F.2d 738 (9th Cir. 1968); U.S. v. Mekjian, 505 F.2d 1320 (5th Cir. 1975). Note, Private Searches and Seizures: supra note 71, at 185.

130. Euller, supra note 55, at 665.

131. Id.

132. See generally National Institute of Justice, Crime and Protection in America: A Study of Private Security and Law Enforcement Resources and Relationships (1985).

133. Euller, supra note 55, at 668.

134. Id.

135. Note, Private Police Forces, supra note 19, at 572.

136. Sackler v. Sackler, 15 N.Y.2d 40.

137. 367 U.S. 643, 81 S. Ct. 1684, 6 L. Ed. 1081 (1961).

138. Sackler v. Sackler, 15 N.Y.2d 42.

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139. 256 U.S. 465 (1921).

140. Sackler v. Sackler, 15 N.Y.2d 42.

141. Note, Private Police Forces: Legal Powers and Limitations, 38 U. Chic. L. Rev. 583 (1971).

142. Eugene D. Finneran, Security Supervision: A Handbook for Supervisors and Managers (1982).

143. Sven Bislev, Privatization of Security as Governance Problem: Gated Communities in the San Diego Region, 29 Alternatives: Global, Local, Political (2004).

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Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' target='_blank' style='cursor: pointer;'>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a> Created from apus on 2020-09-21 12:48:56.

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