© Rick Sarre, ISBN 0 642 24018 3 1 © Australian Institute of Criminology 1995 ISBN 0 642 24018 3 The contents of this file are copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (CWlth), no part of this file may in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, microcopying, photocopying, recording or otherwise), be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without prior written permission. Inquires should be address to the publisher, the Australian Institute of Criminology PO Box 2944, Canberra, ACT 2601). CHALLENGING SUSPECTS: LEGAL ISSUES Rick Sarre Senior Lecturer, School of Law, Faculty of Business and Management, University of South Australia Introduction Private security, employed as a means of tackling the ever-increasing amount of crime against business, is a growing industry. One source puts the costs to business in Australia (in 1992 figures) at $631 million annually (Walker 1994, p 7). Increasing demands for protection of people and property, together with financial constraints on governments, have greatly expanded the role of security providers, inquiry agents and private police in Australia. This paper looks at one aspect of this trend. Specifically it reviews some of the legal issues which may confront security staff and their business managers in circumstances where theft is suspected. At the outset, however, the point needs to be made that too few businesses act diligently and proactively to prevent stock loss and discourage employee dishonesty. In other words, fewer suspicions would have to be acted upon and fewer challenges would have to be made if retailers and other businesses altered aspects of their marketing and trading practices which made them vulnerable. Examples of these practices include making layouts and displays widely accessible to shoppers, giving refunds without proof of purchase and discouraging staff from becoming involved in the financial operations of the business. Our society simply cannot continue to expect traditional law enforcement to bear the costs of dishonesty while rudimentary crime prevention methods remain unexplored. The officer in charge of an Adelaide retail area, for example, estimated in January 1994 that 70 per cent of police day time hours are spent processing shoplifting