General Rights of Citizens
What this domain tests
Citizens keep constitutional and statutory rights when a private guard deals with them. You must know which rights a guard can lawfully affect and which require police.
Core rights
- Consent. A guard may ask to search a bag, a car, or a person, but refusal is not an admission and not probable cause. Without consent or a lawful arrest, the answer is no.
- Silence and identification. A private guard cannot compel a person to answer questions or produce ID. Miranda warnings are a police requirement; a guard's failure to give them is not itself a violation, but coerced statements and prolonged detention are.
- Liberty. A person may walk away unless the guard has grounds for a citizen's arrest or a valid merchant detention.
- Force. Force must be reasonable and proportional. Deadly force is limited to preventing imminent death or serious bodily harm.
- Privacy and recording. Nevada generally lets a participant record a conversation, but secretly recording a conversation you are not part of can violate NRS 200.650.
- Equal treatment. Race, religion, sex, national origin, and similar characteristics cannot drive stops, searches, or service refusals.
Worked example
A guard "has a feeling" that a customer concealed merchandise. He asks to see inside her bag; she says no and continues walking. The correct move is to let her go, note the description, and call police if a report is warranted. Holding her arm would be false imprisonment because a feeling alone is not probable cause.
Traps
Treating a refusal to consent as guilt. Believing Miranda applies to every guard. Recording a private conversation between two other people. Detaining someone for disrespect or a bad attitude.