The legal powers of security guards revealed — What can they actually do?

UK security personnel have the same powers afforded to them as any other private citizen in this country but are allowed to remove someone from private property with the landowner's consent — which equally applies to everyone else.

Copyright: Dwayne Hards.

Security guards can use reasonable force to detain a shoplifter but must inform them that they're under a citizen's arrest. They cannot use policing powers to enforce the law, as most of them are not attested to a UK police force. However, despite them having no special powers, they have been known to harass innocent members of the public — such as journalists, photographers, and other ordinary citizens — despite this usually being unlawful.

Most trained security officers only have citizen powers but would usually be more prepared to deal with a situation than the average citizen, according to the police.