Ethics, Professional Conduct, and Civil Liability
Ethical baseline
The guard's authority is borrowed from the client and limited by law. Honesty, confidentiality, nondiscrimination, and reporting misconduct are core. Gifts, gratuities, and side deals create conflicts. Off-duty conduct can affect licensure and employment.
Civil exposure
Common claims include false imprisonment (intentional confinement without legal authority), assault (threat), battery (unlawful touching), negligence (failure to use reasonable care), defamation, and malicious prosecution. Respondeat superior makes an employer liable for employee acts within scope. A private guard is generally not a state actor for Section 1983 civil-rights claims, but joint action with police can change that. Ohio's Good Samaritan statute (ORC 2305.23) encourages emergency care without fear of civil liability for ordinary negligence, but it is not a shield for reckless conduct.
Worked example
A guard detains a suspected shoplifter for 90 minutes in a back room after the person offers to pay. Police are not called. The detention exceeds the reasonable time and manner allowed by ORC 2935.041. The guard and employer face false-imprisonment exposure. If police had been called promptly and the detention was brief, the risk would drop sharply.
Traps
Detaining to obtain a confession; searching bags without consent; posting about an incident; accepting cash from a vendor; failing to document a use of force.