Criminal Code and Federal Statutes Relevant to Security Work
The Code and the offences you will actually meet
The Criminal Code is federal statute law and is the main source of a guard's powers and limits. Offences a guard commonly encounters include theft (s. 322; s. 334, under or over $5,000), robbery (s. 343), break and enter (s. 348), mischief (s. 430), assault (s. 265), assault with a weapon (s. 267), uttering threats (s. 264.1), criminal harassment (s. 264), causing a disturbance (s. 175) and possession of property obtained by crime (s. 354). Other federal statutes matter too: the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Cannabis Act, the Firearms Act, the Youth Criminal Justice Act (ages 12 to 17) and the Canada Evidence Act.
Provisions that control what you may do
- s. 494 - citizen's arrest: any person may arrest without warrant a person who on reasonable grounds is believed to have committed an indictable offence, or who is found committing a criminal offence; an owner or person in lawful possession (and their agent) may arrest a person found committing a criminal offence in relation to the property. The arrested person must be delivered to a peace officer forthwith.
- s. 25 - force may be used to enforce the law, limited to what is reasonable, with no more force than necessary.
- ss. 27, 34, 35 - force to prevent an offence, defence of person, defence of property.
- s. 26 - excessive force is itself an offence.
- Charter ss. 9 and 10 - no arbitrary detention; on arrest or detention a person must be told promptly of the reason and of the right to counsel.
Traps: theft under $5,000 is a summary conviction offence, so a citizen's arrest requires the person to be found committing; 'reasonable grounds' means facts, not hunches; a guard is not a peace officer and cannot use s. 495 or compel anyone to produce identification.
Rule of thumb: belief of an indictable offence, or found committing any offence - then deliver to police forthwith.