Detained By Store Manager for Having Fake ID

I was confronted and detained with force by a grocery store manager who discovered a fake i.d. in my wallet. The i.d. was super glued in the wallet. When I was approached, the i.d. was in his hands out of the wallet. Can a person go through someones wallet, forceably rip the i.d. out to confirm it was a fake, and then forceably detain the person inside the store until authorities arrived?

You can be detained for reasonable cause. However the use of force and the search are both questionable. Had you try to leave once requested to stop? Did manager request your wallet before removing it from your person? You may want to contact an Attorney over those actions in fact if the search was unlawful its possible the evidence (fake ID) cannot be used as evidence possibly

What is the background to this incident - how did the manager come to have your wallet, or know about the fake ID?

Sounds like contraband used in the commisssion of a crime.

I think most of the story is left out here. Did he arrest you for shoplifting or some other crime?

Was he was trying to arrest you? If you fought, he can fight. He can search you and say it was to make sure you didn't have any weapons, for his own safety. And if you were fighting, it would be fine for him to get your ID from you, in case you fought again and got away, he would know who you are.

Don't know about the ripping out of your wallet thing, but seems very minor to have any out come from it, to go against him.

And I don't think there is any law's about just having a fake license, if your NOT using it and it wasn't used in a crime?

If you are getting e-mail alerts, please come back and respond...

...sounds like a minor attempting to purchase alcohol illegally. In that case the manager has the right to request the ID for inspection. Only the police can seize it.

...the question as to whether or not they are allowed to conduct a search for a non-shoplifting charge is one that I am curious to know the answer on.

If it was for shoplifting, they do have a reasonable right to search pockets and persons. Generally the LP office I worked in would just ask what they stole or where are the other tags (tag/label switching). With the consent of the person, if they were over 18, or their parent, if they were under 18, a same-sex officer or mall security officer could search the person. If the kid played dumb then the police were called and could search them with or without the consent of the parent. ...and most kids knew that if they paid for it and handed it over our store would not prosecute. In some cases we just banned them from the store. ...and we had a file and Polaroid of every shoplifter.

Now there are such things as national databases, store databases, Griffyn systems, Choice Point AND my all time favorite ....civil remedies in lieu of law enforcement. ...but there is nothing like nailing someone with a CR and then nailing them with a set of handcuffs courtesy of WV's finest in blue.

The LP office I worked in would generally tell the kid that they had a fake ID and if they were turned in with it, it would be a felony charge. At that time 18 was the drinking age in the state and 16 year olds had 18 year old IDs. Yeah, this was a long while ago...

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Quoting usedbranflakes

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...the question as to whether or not they are allowed to conduct a search for a non-shoplifting charge is one that I am curious to know the answer on.

If it was for shoplifting, they do have a reasonable right to search pockets and persons.

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I have never seen any state's shoplifting laws which permit a merchant/agent to search a suspected shoplifter, especially in the great detail outlined here. I am not saying there is no state out there with such a law. If someone can cite one, I also would be interested in reading it.


Searches by "private persons" are detailed in law and deal with privacy rights, just as searches by officer's are. However, I do understand this is in a shoplifting context. Restraining a person of thier liberty can be iffy with legalities at times? West's case law digest's at the law library has a section for searches by "private person's."

In "very rare" cases, a private person can be restrained by the 4th Amendment, just as police are.

I did find one state, California, which permits a "limited" search of a suspected shoplifter.

(4) A merchant, theater owner, a person employed by a library facility, or an agent thereof, having probable cause to believe the person detained was attempting to unlawfully take or has taken any item from the premises, or was attempting to operate a video recording device within the premises of a motion picture theater without the authority of the owner of the theater, may request the person detained to voluntarily surrender the item or recording. Should the person detained refuse to surrender the recording or item of which there is probable cause to believe has been recorded on or unlawfully taken from the premises, or attempted to be recorded or unlawfully taken from the premises, a limited and reasonable search may be conducted by those authorized to make the detention in order to recover the item. Only packages, shopping bags, handbags or other property in the immediate possession of the person detained, but not including any clothing worn by the person, may be searched pursuant to this subdivision. Upon surrender or discovery of the item, the person detained may also be requested, but may not be required, to provide adequate proof of his or her true identity.



http://www.pcgsolutions.com/Shoplifting_C.htm

If the context of using a "fake ID" to purchase alcohol is presumed, such state's statute's would have to be properly looked at to determine if a merchant can "seize" any suspected contraband as the police can do?

In my state of Georgia, proper verification of a license would include the review of the front and rear of the license.

I can visualize a cashier, when handed a wallet to examine the license within, giving the license a tug to examine the bag.

Now, in a perfect world, the cashier would have asked for the license to be removed prior to examination, but I am just throwing out a scenario.

After all... the only reason I can imagine for supergluing a license in a wallet is to prevent the review of the back of said license.

BOR - Look, it's your choice. You can either show me what you have in your pockets or you can show the police. You can make it hard or easy on yourself, it's your choice. There were occasions where we would search and would usually do it with a security officer (not a LEO) present. I can't remember what the LP guidelines were back then, but I am pretty sure that we could legally perform a reasonable search of the person. ...and a guy never searched a woman and vice-versa.

In WV, at the time I was there, we had 1 hour where we could detain the person. We could search them, but only if we had solid and firm evidence. We required parents to pick up the juvenile if they were in the mall or released the juvenile to the police if the parents could not get them. Granted, some of the juveniles were little brothers and little sisters of friends and I was guilty of cutting them a break.

Generally showing the videotape was good enough to get our merchandise back and send them on their way. It looks like they changed that to 1/2 hour detention.

I had never heard of a problem for this, but that was nearly 15 years ago before America got sue-happy. Nowadays it would probably be a quick decision; call the police and let them handle the criminal, burning a copy of the camera information to DVD and all that good stuff. ...LP seems like it would be easier today.

...and it's funny that 70% of thefts still are inside jobs.