Relevant Criminal and Private Security Legislation
You do not need to memorize statute numbers, but you must understand the legal concepts that appear in exam questions: offences against the person (assault, battery, threats), offences against property (theft, burglary, criminal damage, robbery), and public order offences (disorderly conduct, trespass). Private security is also regulated: guards must hold the required licence or registration, carry it or display it as required, and must not work while unlicensed. Licensing rules typically cover conduct, uniform and identification, and prohibitions on impersonating police.
Key distinctions examiners test:
- Theft vs robbery: theft is taking property dishonestly; robbery involves force or the threat of force at the time of taking.
- Assault vs battery: assault is causing someone to fear immediate unlawful violence; battery is the unlawful application of force.
- Burglary vs trespass: burglary involves unlawful entry with intent to commit an offence; trespass is simply unlawful entry without that intent.
- Arrest vs detention: a citizen's arrest requires an offence and must be handed to police promptly; detention without lawful basis is itself unlawful.
Traps: candidates treat "suspicion" as proof, assume a guard can search a person as a condition of entry (only with consent, and refusal means refusal of entry, not forced search), and forget that licensing conditions are legal duties, not suggestions.
Rule of thumb: If you cannot name the offence, you cannot arrest for it - record, report, and call police.
Worked example: A person pushes past a guard, knocking over a display. The push may be battery and the damage criminal damage. The guard should not fight back; step back, note descriptions, preserve the scene, call police, and write a factual statement.