Legal question - are store employees allowed to search your bags? I was approached by a Target employee who insisted on searching through my oversized handbag. Nothing was in it and I felt it was an invasion of privacy.
Bag search
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10-23-2006, 03:46 PMwithquestionsBag search
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10-23-2006, 04:01 PMClair BonnerRe: Bag searchWhen you entered the store, there was a small sign that read,Quote:
Quoting withquestions
"All bags are subject to search."
So, yes, they had every right to detain you and search your bag. -
10-23-2006, 04:10 PMwithquestionsRe: Bag search
I have never noticed any such sign before in my life! I can't believe they can just search like that!
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10-23-2006, 04:11 PMbam!Re: Bag searchJust because the sign is there doesn't mean they can legally search your bag. I have walked into small trinket stores that say all shoplifters will be shot on site, but in our state it is illegal to use deadly force against property crimes.Quote:
Quoting Clair Bonner
So, maybe they had every right to stop you and search you and maybe they didn't. Just because they post a sign, doesn't make it legal. -
10-23-2006, 04:13 PMClair BonnerRe: Bag searchHomeland Security laws touch all of us. What used to be against the law prior to 9/11, is the law today.Quote:
Quoting bam!
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10-23-2006, 04:31 PMpanther10758Re: Bag search
Stores like Walmart have bag checkers at door. This is in plain view and if your not happy with it you can shop elsewhere. Thsi "bag check" tool helps reduce "shrinkage" which effects prices we all pay! Now why would store do this if not legal or at least unchallanged at present! You can refuse check! What would they do? Answer nothing they cant accusse you of shoplifting without someone seeing you take item! Are bag checks a pain of course they are but so are bag checks at airports but they are there for all of our benefits! Just within last few hours Snoop Dogg was caught trying to slip a gun on board a plane inn Orange County CA. If he had been a terrorist and there was no check then what!? would you scream over lack of check? Listen we have our annoyances this is one of them deal with it or shop elsewhere! If you have nothing to hide then check is meaningless and it takes less than a minute of your time. One minute to help reduce high prices is small price to pay.
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10-23-2006, 04:38 PMClair BonnerRe: Bag search. . . and, one minute to help keep me safe!!Quote:
Quoting panther10758
This is what happens when you vote Republicans into office (twice). You allow your Constitutional rights to be chipped away, more and more each day. I think we should have incarcerated all Middle-Eastern people in concentration camps in Arizona, just like we did with the Japanese during WWII. That way, we keep our Constitutional rights, and get rid of potential problem people.
But, since we don't put people in camps anymore, then we all suffer with the consequences. -
10-23-2006, 04:51 PMcissycicleRe: Bag searchSome stores have the sign saying "no shirt, no shoes, no service". If that sign is not posted, will I be serviced if I don't have shirt, or shoes?Quote:
Quoting Clair Bonner
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10-23-2006, 04:59 PMpanther10758Re: Bag searchQuote:
Quoting Clair Bonner
Now this has become a political thread? If I wake up with the Flu are Republican to blame for that also!? This has nothing to do with politicas as bag check existed long before Bush! -
10-23-2006, 05:04 PMClair BonnerRe: Bag searchDemocrats are going into office in November. Bush will be out in 2008. We will be out of Iraq within a year. Anyone who likes Bush doesn't remember Nixon. If you don't study the past, you are doomed to repeat it!Quote:
Quoting panther10758
And, instead of searching bags under Homeland Security laws, bags will be checked at the door instead of searched.
All good things. -
10-23-2006, 05:06 PMpanther10758Re: Bag search
I guess my point was missed. Politics as little to do with what we are talking about here. :wallbang:
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10-23-2006, 05:11 PMcissycicleRe: Bag search
How did this go from a "bag search" to a "Bush search"?
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10-23-2006, 05:12 PMClair BonnerRe: Bag searchPerhaps. But, what "little" it DOES have to do with it, I thought I'd capitalize on the moment. Bag searches, without probable cause, have EVERYTHING to do with Homeland Security, and the chipping away of our Constitutional rights.Quote:
Quoting panther10758
This woman writer is feeling the pinch, and it's because of Bush and his cronies.
They are ALL going to be gone, and perhaps, this country can get back to some semblance of "normalcy" and the world will be a better place once again.
I say "put them all in camps" like we did with the Japs, and then we can apologize 60 years later!! -
10-23-2006, 05:13 PMpanther10758Re: Bag searchQuote:
Quoting cissycicle
Exactly my point -
10-23-2006, 06:36 PMwithquestionsRe: Bag search
I can understand some official looking person wanting to search my bag, but not some overly zealous store employee without reason.....
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10-23-2006, 06:46 PMpanther10758Re: Bag searchQuote:
Quoting withquestions
Official looking? in who's opinion? Without reason? hmmm what would you feel would be reason? Now becareful because anythng you say could be slanted as "profiling" See where I am going the bag search is random or maybe everyone. Theives are not all the same age, sex etc they come in all shapes sizes etc you cant pick out a sterotype! If your unhappy with bag search then shop elsewhere its really that simple! -
10-23-2006, 06:51 PMwithquestionsRe: Bag search
Fair enough. I just thought it was kind of an invasion of privacy. By without reason - I mean, I didn't give any reason I theived anything. But I understand what you are saying.... I suppose, I would rather have the bag search and enjoy lower prices, than vise versa.
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10-23-2006, 07:18 PMbam!Re: Bag search
There have been many court cases where bag checks were performed ILLEGALLY by store employees. Bag checks must be VOLUNTARY. If it becomes involuntary or coerced (IE we will call the police) it becomes illegal.
Just like you don't have to answer a police officers questions, you don't have to consent to a bag search.
The key is in how they perform the bag check. Also, you can post any sign you want, yet that doesn't make it legal. Remember, store rules are not legal rules (for the most part) which cannot be enforced by LE. -
10-23-2006, 07:21 PMbam!Re: Bag searchProve it. I seriously doubt that you can apply the Patriot act to retail store bag checks. In fact, I am confident that it is irrelevant. I am going to do my own research, but would like you to back up your claim(s).Quote:
Quoting Clair Bonner
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10-23-2006, 07:25 PMpanther10758Re: Bag searchCorrect Bam but most do not realize these checks are voluntary if they thought it through they would realize they could just walk by and there would be no grounds ot stop them. But I refer to my earlier statements its better than high prices and if you havent done anything wrong whats the big deal?Quote:
Quoting bam!
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10-23-2006, 07:28 PMbam!Re: Bag searchI don't mind bag checks. In fact we use (sparingly) bag checks. I condone bag checks, but not in the LP sense.Quote:
Quoting panther10758
I was just answering the original question about the legality of bag checks. Also, just because a store has a sign does not make it legal. -
10-26-2006, 10:28 PMPaulERe: Bag search
Eva Braun said,
"Perhaps. But, what "little" it DOES have to do with it, I thought I'd capitalize on the moment. Bag searches, without probable cause, have EVERYTHING to do with Homeland Security, and the chipping away of our Constitutional rights.
This woman writer is feeling the pinch, and it's because of Bush and his cronies.
They are ALL going to be gone, and perhaps, this country can get back to some semblance of "normalcy" and the world will be a better place once again.
I say "put them all in camps" like we did with the Japs, and then we can apologize 60 years later!!"
And I thought I was bad about hijacking a thread...... -
10-27-2006, 03:52 PMsouperdaveRe: Bag searchSo that's why our "Cute Women Must Shop Naked!" sign never worked. ;)Quote:
Quoting bam!
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10-27-2006, 04:18 PMpanther10758Re: Bag search
Damn I was gonna hang ours today!!
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10-27-2006, 05:51 PMcdwjavaRe: Bag searchI WISH people would stop foisting the falsehood that laws or policies that existed decades before 9/11 have somehow been created by Big Brother since then!Quote:
Quoting Clair Bonner
The policy of searching bags has been done by many stores since the 80s. More stores have started to do it today than 20 years ago, but the idea has been around for a very long time, and this is a store policy issue and not one that state or federal law is directly involved in.
- Carl -
10-27-2006, 05:55 PMcdwjavaRe: Bag searchWhether a detention would be lawful by the retailer would really depend on the state in question. Generally, a retailer is not going to be permitted to use force to detain someone for a routine check of their bags on their way out of a store - they could get sued or criminally charged if they tried. But, they CAN detain for cause if they believe someone has shoplifted or committed a crime (again, subject to the confines of the particular state's laws governing citizen's arrests).Quote:
Quoting withquestions
Most people let them look in the bag. Rather than making a scene, if I did not like the policy I would shop somewhere else - there are plenty of options for everything.
- Carl