(A) It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to remove any merchandise from a commercial business without paying for the merchandise and without the consent of the owners of the business.
(B) Any peace officer may arrest, without warrant, any person he or she has probable cause for believing has committed larceny of merchandise held for sale in retail or wholesale establishments, when the arrest is made in a reasonable manner.
(C) Any merchant, his or her agent or employee, who has reasonable grounds or probable cause to believe that a person has committed or is committing a wrongful taking of merchandise or money from a mercantile establishment, may detain the person in a reasonable manner for a reasonable length of time for all or any of the following purposes:
(1) Conducting an investigation, including reasonable interrogation of the detained person, as to whether there has been a wrongful taking of the merchandise or money;
(2) Informing the police or other law enforcement officials of the facts relevant to the detention;
(3) Performing a reasonable search of the detained person and his or her belongings when it appears that the merchandise or money may otherwise be lost; and
(4) Recovering the merchandise or money believed to have been taken wrongfully. Any reasonable detention shall not constitute an unlawful arrest or detention, nor shall it render the merchant, his or her agent or employee criminally or civilly liable to the person so detained.
(D) Any person concealing unpurchased merchandise of any mercantile establishment, either on the premises or outside the premises of the establishment shall be presumed to have so concealed the merchandise with the intention of committing a wrongful taking of the merchandise within the meaning of this section, and the concealment or the finding of the unpurchased merchandise concealed upon the person or among the belongings of the person shall be conclusive evidence of reasonable grounds and probable cause for the detention in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable length of time, of the person by a merchant, his or her agent or employee, and any reasonable detention shall not be deemed to be unlawful, nor render the merchant, his or her agent or employee criminally or civilly liable.
(2002 Code, § 134.13) Penalty, see § 10.99