State Shoplifting Statutues - "A"
Section 15-10-14 Detention and arrest of person suspected of larceny of goods held for sale.
(a) A peace officer, a merchant or a merchant's employee who has probable cause for believing that goods held for sale by the merchant have been unlawfully taken by a person and that he can recover them by taking the person into custody may, for the purpose of attempting to effect such recovery, take the person into custody and detain him in a reasonable manner for a reasonable length of time. Such taking into custody and detention by a peace officer, merchant or merchant's employee shall not render such police officer, merchant or merchant's employee criminally or civilly liable for false arrest, false imprisonment or unlawful detention.
(b) Any peace officer may arrest without warrant any person he has probable cause for believing has committed larceny in retail or wholesale establishments.
(c) A merchant or a merchant's employee who causes such arrest as provided for in subsection (a) of this section of a person for larceny of goods held for sale shall not be criminally or civilly liable for false arrest or false imprisonment where the merchant or merchant's employee has probable cause for believing that the person arrested committed larceny of goods held for sale.
Alaska
AS 11.46.220. Concealment of Merchandise.
(a) A person commits the crime of concealment of merchandise if without authority the person knowingly conceals on or about the person the merchandise of a commercial establishment, not purchased by the person, while still upon the premises of the commercial establishment, with intent to deprive the owner of the merchandise or with intent to appropriate the merchandise.
(b) Merchandise found concealed upon or about the person which has not been purchased by the person is prima facie evidence of a knowing concealment.
(c) Concealment of merchandise is
(1) a class C felony if
(A) the merchandise is a firearm;
(B) the value of the merchandise is $500 or more; or
(C) the value of the merchandise is $50 or more but less than $500 and within the preceding five years the person has been convicted and sentenced on two or more separate occasions in this or another jurisdiction of the offense of
(i) concealment of merchandise under this paragraph or (2)(A) of this subsection, or an offense under another law or ordinance with similar elements; or
(ii) AS 11.46.120 , 11.46.130, or 11.46.140(a)(1) or (a)(2), or an offense under another law or ordinance with similar elements;
(2) a class A misdemeanor if
(A) the value of the merchandise is $50 or more but less than $500; or
(B) the value of the merchandise is less than $50 and within the preceding five years the person has been convicted and sentenced on two or more separate occasions of the offense of concealment of merchandise or theft in any degree, or an offense under another law or ordinance with similar elements;
(3) a class B misdemeanor if the value of the merchandise is less than $50.
AS 45.45.100. Requiring Individuals to Keep Merchandise in Full View.
A merchant may request an individual on the merchant's premises to place or keep in full view merchandise that the individual removes, or that the merchant believes the individual may have removed, from its place of display or elsewhere, whether for examination, purchase, or another purpose. A merchant is not criminally or civilly liable for making this request.
AS 11.46.230. Reasonable Detention as Defense.
(a) In a civil or criminal action upon the complaint of a person who has been detained in or in the immediate vicinity of a commercial establishment for the purpose of investigation or questioning as to the ownership of merchandise, it is a defense that
(1) the person was detained in a reasonable manner and for not more than a reasonable time to permit investigation or questioning by a peace officer or by the owner of the commercial establishment or the owner's agent; and
(2) the peace officer, owner, or owner's agent had probable cause to believe that the person detained was committing or attempting to commit concealment of merchandise.
(b) As used in this section, "reasonable time" means the time necessary to permit the person detained to make a statement or refuse to make a statement, and any additional time necessary to examine employees and records of the commercial establishment relative to the ownership of the merchandise.
Arizona
13-1805. Shoplifting; detaining suspect; defense to wrongful detention; civil action by merchant; classification; public services in lieu of fines
A. A person commits shoplifting if, while in an establishment in which merchandise is displayed for sale, such person knowingly obtains such goods of another with the intent to deprive that person of such goods by:
1. Removing any of the goods from the immediate display or from any other place within the establishment without paying the purchase price; or
2. Charging the purchase price of the goods to a fictitious person or any person without that person's authority; or
3. Paying less than the purchase price of the goods by some trick or artifice such as altering, removing, substituting or otherwise disfiguring any label, price tag or marking; or
4. Transferring the goods from one container to another; or
5. Concealment.
B. Any person who knowingly conceals upon himself or another person unpurchased merchandise of any mercantile establishment while within the mercantile establishment shall be presumed to have the necessary culpable mental state pursuant to subsection A of this section.
C. A merchant, or a merchant's agent or employee, with reasonable cause, may detain on the premises in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable time any person suspected of shoplifting as defined in subsection A of this section for questioning or summoning a law enforcement officer.
D. Reasonable cause is a defense to a civil or criminal action against a peace officer, a merchant or an agent or employee of such merchant for false arrest, false or unlawful imprisonment or wrongful detention.
E. If a minor engages in conduct which violates subsection A of this section notwithstanding the fact that such minor may not be held responsible because of the person's minority, any merchant injured by the shoplifting of such minor may bring a civil action against the parent or legal guardian of such minor under either section 12-661 or 12-692.
F. Any merchant injured by the shoplifting of an adult or emancipated minor in violation of subsection A of this section may bring a civil action against the adult or emancipated minor pursuant to section 12-691.
G. Shoplifting property with a value of two thousand dollars or more or shoplifting property during any continuing criminal episode regardless of the value of the goods is a class 5 felony. Shoplifting property with a value of one thousand dollars or more but less than two thousand dollars is a class 6 felony. Shoplifting property valued at less than one thousand dollars is a class 1 misdemeanor, unless the property is a firearm in which case the shoplifting is a class 6 felony. For the purposes of this subsection, "continuing criminal episode" means theft committed from at least three separate retail establishments within a period of three consecutive days.
H. In imposing sentence on a person who is convicted of violating this section, the court may require any person to perform public services designated by the court in addition to or in lieu of any fine that the court might impose.
I. A person who commits shoplifting and who has previously committed or been convicted within the past five years of two or more offenses involving burglary, shoplifting, robbery or theft or who in the course of shoplifting entered the mercantile establishment with an artifice, instrument, container, device or other article that was intended to facilitate shoplifting, is guilty of a class 4 felony.
Arkansas
5-36-116. Shoplifting.
(a)
(1) A person engaging in conduct giving rise to a presumption under § 5-36-102(b) may be detained in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable length of time by a law enforcement officer, merchant, or merchant's employee in order that recovery of a good or may be effected.
(2) The detention by a law enforcement officer, merchant, or merchant's employee does not render the law enforcement officer, merchant, or merchant's employee criminally or civilly liable for false arrest, false imprisonment, or unlawful detention.
(b)
(1) If sufficient notice has been posted to advise patrons that an antishoplifting or inventory control device is being utilized, the activation of an antishoplifting or inventory control device as a result of a person's exiting an establishment or a protected area within the establishment constitutes reasonable cause for the detention of the person so exiting by the owner or operator of the establishment or by an agent or employee of the owner or operator.
(2) Any detention under subdivision (b)(1) of this section shall be made only in a reasonable manner and only for a reasonable period of time sufficient for any inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the activation of the antishoplifting or inventory control device or for the recovery of a good.
(3) A detention under subdivision (b)(1) of this section by a law enforcement officer, merchant, or merchant's employee does not render the law enforcement officer, merchant, or merchant's employee criminally or civilly liable for false arrest, false imprisonment, or unlawful detention.
(c) As used in this section, "antishoplifting or inventory control device" means a mechanism or other device designed and operated for the purpose of detecting the removal from a mercantile establishment or similar enclosure or from a protected area within a mercantile establishment or similar enclosure.
(d)
(1) Upon probable cause for believing a suspect has committed the offense of shoplifting , a law enforcement officer may arrest the person without a warrant.
(2) The law enforcement officer, merchant, or merchant's employee who has observed the person accused of committing the offense of shoplifting shall provide a written statement that serves as probable cause to justify the arrest.
(3) The accused person shall be brought immediately before a magistrate and afforded an opportunity to make a bond or recognizance as in other criminal cases.
5-36-102. Consolidation of offenses - Shoplifting presumption - Amount of theft.
(a) Conduct denominated theft in this chapter constitutes a single offense embracing the separate offenses known before January 1, 1976, as:
(1) Larceny;
(2) Embezzlement;
(3) False pretense;
(4) Extortion;
(5) Blackmail;
(6) Fraudulent conversion;
(7) Receiving stolen property; and
(8) Other similar offenses.
(b) Notwithstanding the specification of a different manner in the indictment or information, a criminal charge of theft may be supported by evidence that it was committed in any manner that would be theft under this chapter subject only to the power of the court to ensure a fair trial by granting a continuance or other appropriate relief if the conduct of the defense would be prejudiced by lack of fair notice or by surprise.
(c) The knowing concealment, upon an actor's person or the person of another, of an unpurchased good or merchandise offered for sale by any store or other business establishment, gives rise to a presumption that the actor took the good or merchandise with the purpose of depriving the owner or another person having an interest in the good or merchandise.
(d)
(1) The amount involved in a theft is deemed to be the highest value, by any reasonable standard, of the property or service that the actor obtained or attempted to obtain.
(2) An amount involved in a theft committed pursuant to one (1) scheme or course of conduct, whether from one (1) or more persons, may be aggregated in determining the grade of the offense.
