Dealing with banned habitual offenders

[FireEMSPolice]

How do you ban someone and keep them away for the time stated. Right now, we ban people for 1 year for shoplifting. However, them alone signing the "ban card" does not always keep them away. Our former Security Manager wanted to take those who are banned to court and get a court order to keep them away. However, this was never implemented and doesnt appear to be on the horizon. I already filled out a complaint against one guy and sent it up the chain and never heard back.


How do you all deal with this?

[UtahProtectionForce]

call Pd to issue tresspass, since they have "consented" to not come back, they are criminally tresspassing..... and can be convicted of so.

[Curtis Baillie]

Here's an effective way to ban someone:

When I wanted to ban someone from one of our stores I would write a letter, signed by myself and our legal department. I then hired a process server to physicaly serve the ban on the person. They even signed for it. Many times the process server would video tape the process and send me the tape or CD.

A copy of my legal letter and signed notice would then be forwarded to the local Chief of Police.

If you're interested, I'll send you a copy of the letter I used - one for the public and one for employees.

You might want to visit with your local prosecutor and get an opinion as laws change in locales.

My process was effective in many different states and Canada.

[bigshotceo]

One option you might want to consider, assuming the people causing the problems aren't broke, is a civil demand notice (ie you've cost us extra money in security costs, so we demand you pay us $X.XX for our troubles or we'll sue you). Some stores up here in Canada do it all the time for shoplifters.......

[FireEMSPolice]

All good suggestions and I thank you.

The anchor store Loss Prevention guys use civil demands. Our management wont. I have already tried that route and it fell on deaf ears. I had the complaint ready to go clerk down at the courthouse as previously mentioned.

Things that cost extra like hiring process servers wont fly.

By the time the City police show up, the guy is gone and cannot be served by the police. Yesterday, I waited over an hour for them (looged in our call cards) for a disorderly conduct. The guy was gone before the PD got there but not before driving away at a high rate of speed, nearly hitting my security officer. Of course, we got a crappy police officer that responded.

[Andy Taylor]

One option you might want to consider, assuming the people causing the problems aren't broke, is a civil demand notice (ie you've cost us extra money in security costs, so we demand you pay us $X.XX for our troubles or we'll sue you). Some stores up here in Canada do it all the time for shoplifters.......

We used to do that when I worked LP. It was $200.00 + the retail price of whatever was shoplifted.

[Curtis Baillie]

All good suggestions and I thank you.

The anchor store Loss Prevention guys use civil demands. Our management wont. I have already tried that route and it fell on deaf ears. I had the complaint ready to go clerk down at the courthouse as previously mentioned.

Things that cost extra like hiring process servers wont fly.

By the time the City police show up, the guy is gone and cannot be served by the police. Yesterday, I waited over an hour for them (looged in our call cards) for a disorderly conduct. The guy was gone before the PD got there but not before driving away at a high rate of speed, nearly hitting my security officer. Of course, we got a crappy police officer that responded.

Sounds like your management needs to be re-educated.

[ozsecuritychic]

If Im not able to hand it to them we send it registered post, by having it registered they have to sign for it when it is delivered. Nine times out of ten I have handed it to them and got them to sign it, I tell them they either sign or I will give it to the cops and they can bring it to them. I banned a female who was caught with a fair amount of stolen stuff for 3 yrs, but because she wasnt able to behave herself for me to give it to her she was served it by the police and it is well and truely documented now.

[flashlightcop509]

At my sites, it's pretty cut and dry...

Tile 13, Section 3705, VSA...

"Unlawful Trespass: (a) "A person shall be imprisoned for not more than three months or fined not more than $500.00, or both if, without legal authority or the consent of the person in lawfull possession, he/she enters or remains on any land or in any place as to which notice against trespass is given by. (1) Actual communication by the person in lawful possession of his/her agent or by a law enforcement officer acting on behalf of such person or his/her agent; or (2) Signs or placards so designed and situated as to give reasonable notice."

If someone ain't supposed to be wherever and are issued an NOT, I'm pretty sure the resulting fines and jail time would be a sufficient detterent to coming back...

[Guest]

TExas

We have it easy down here. If I see one of our habitual offenders, I just call PD. When they get there, I tell the person that their presence is no longer warranted or welcome and the management, clients, and security officers no longer require their presence and they will arrested on site without warning if seen on the property again. A triplicate copy of this is then given to the PD, my office, and those who operate the facility with the issue.

[Bill Warnock]

Sounds like your management needs to be re-educated.

Curtis some in leadership positions that involve security operations still live in the dark ages. We are in the fly-by-wire era and they in their open cockpits still calling out "contact."
This craft, like many others, must adapt. Those of us to resist change for the purpose of resistance are pushed by the side as the world moves on. Interesting enough some believe that CCTV now the ubiquitous box or sphere in stores, lobbies, building exteriors and on street corners do not represent the quintessential or idyllic life envisioned by the founders resent the intrusion. All organized societies have had watchers who reported back to authorities the goings on they observed. Sometimes personal slights were met with false testimony and in some ways persists to this day.
We have met the spike in crime and terrorism with more sophisticated surveillance. To say CCTV such as demonstrated in the British model, has not been privy to lectures and presentations by London's Metropolitan Police representatives. They need to see footage of arrests within seconds of a crime being perpetrated or police directed to intercept suspicious behavior.
To resist for the sake of resistance, hurts all of us. Post 9/11 and the open cockpit which preceded it require us to look at what "provide for the common good" means in these days.
Curtis you seem to what to say and say it in an effective manner. Most impressive is you don't whine, a strong atttribute.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[Chadly]

We actually have a banning guideline for our property, with ban ranges from 6 months to 5 years depending on the severity of the offense.

Do the bans get enforced? Yes and No. When we catch someone on our property who has been confirmed as being a banned subject, we monitor them and notify the PD. When PD arrives, they make sure we have our ducks in order and arrest the subject for trespass, which is mostly just a municipal citation. (Ive rarely seen a state charge for Criminal trespass)

Say someone is caught shoplifting that has a current ban notice on file, then they get arrested for the retail theft, and are charged with the theft and criminal trespass at the state level. Most of the time in plea deals the DA's throw the trespass conviction out.

Say someone decides to go to Muni court and fight the trespass ticket. Ive heard rumors that if someone fights the ticket, the muni judge just throws the ticket out. ( I cant remember what grounds he used) but that was a couple years ago, before everyone started cracking down on the disorderly behavior and having several high profile incidents at the mall.

[ddog]

We actually have a banning guideline for our property, with ban ranges from 6 months to 5 years depending on the severity of the offense.

Do the bans get enforced? Yes and No. When we catch someone on our property who has been confirmed as being a banned subject, we monitor them and notify the PD. When PD arrives, they make sure we have our ducks in order and arrest the subject for trespass, which is mostly just a municipal citation. (Ive rarely seen a state charge for Criminal trespass)

Say someone is caught shoplifting that has a current ban notice on file, then they get arrested for the retail theft, and are charged with the theft and criminal trespass at the state level. Most of the time in plea deals the DA's throw the trespass conviction out.

Say someone decides to go to Muni court and fight the trespass ticket. Ive heard rumors that if someone fights the ticket, the muni judge just throws the ticket out. ( I cant remember what grounds he used) but that was a couple years ago, before everyone started cracking down on the disorderly behavior and having several high profile incidents at the mall.

Well if HV keeps them from getting out of the more serious offenses, then it has served its purpose of showing patterned behavioral deviations from law. What more can you ask than putting a nail in their coffin for a more serious crime? Otherwise, they may walk out of the more serious crime as well without the HV status.