A. Definitions: For the purposes of this Section, the terms defined in this Section have the meanings ascribed to them herein:
MERCHANT: Any persons who own or have in their possession or subject to their control personal property with authority to sell the same in the regular course of business at retail or wholesale.
PERSON: Includes an individual, a partnership, corporation or association.
B. Acts Prohibited: Any merchants or merchants' employees who have reasonable cause for believing that any persons have taken, or are in the act of taking, any article of value without paying therefor, from the possession of the merchants in their place of business or from any vehicle or premises under their control, with the wrongful intent to deprive the merchants of their property or the use and benefit thereof or to appropriate the same to the use of the takers or any other persons, may detain such persons for the sole purpose of delivering them to a peace officer without unnecessary delay and then and there making a charge against such persons to the peace officer. The persons detained shall promptly be informed of the purpose of the detention and shall not be subjected to unnecessary or unreasonable force, nor to interrogation against their will.
C. Arrest of Suspected Violator: Upon a charge being made, any peace officers may, without a warrant, arrest any person whom they have reasonable cause for believing has committed or attempted to commit the offense described in subsection B hereof.
D. False Arrest: No merchant, merchant's employee or peace officer shall be criminally or civilly liable for false arrest or false imprisonment or wrongful detention under subsection B if that merchant's, merchant's employees, or peace officer's action was based upon reasonable cause. (Ord. 444, 2-2-70)