hypothetical question...

[Mahone]

Lets say you are a security guard, and you witness an assault being committed nearby. As a bystander, but also as a security guard (and under strict instructions not to get involved in any physical confrontation, but instead to call the police), what would you do? Most security guards are under this instruction to my knowledge. Would you let the assault continue, and call the police, and just watch helplessly? Or would you try and stop it, using physical force and potentially lose your job and career by doing so?

Bearing in mind your answer to this question, watch this video:

The Seattle Times: Video

[Hemidakota]

Observe and Report: Security Guards Create a False Sense of Security | The Crime Map

[Guest Alana]

When able to prevent harm to an other human, I would think it would be our duty, regardless of our job, to help. There's no job in the world worth letting someone else get hurt or killed over.

I'm sure we can make this question a lot more complicated, but I'm just going with the simple answer right now:)

[Gwen]

i thought there was a good samaritan law? if you could and refused to prevent someone from being harmed you were also partly at fault. she obviously went to these guards for help, they ignored her.

[NeuroTypical]

I know lots of security guards. They are mostly good folks - a split between retired ex-military folks supplimenting their retirement, and young kids going to school.

Many of them have the same complaint expressed here - that they're basically ordered to be useless if something actually happens. Their jobs might be on the line if they actually try to help. Occasionally you'll hear one of them crack a joke about an active shooter event. They say after it's all over and people are reviewing the security camera footage, the first thing they'll see is the vapor trail left by the security guard as he took off running the other way.

I'm glad to report that many of the guys I know, would help, even if it ended up costing them their jobs.

LM

[rameumptom]

One of the problems is as the guard is "saving" the victim, others enter in behind him and steal the store. It has happened before, where an attack is staged as a distraction to get the guard to leave his post.

At most I would shout out and flash my lights in the area, hoping to scare off the muggers, and call the cops.

[MarginOfError]

i thought there was a good samaritan law? if you could and refused to prevent someone from being harmed you were also partly at fault. she obviously went to these guards for help, they ignored her.

Good samaritan laws, if I understand correctly, protect an individual from liability for damage they do when trying to help someone in distress. For example, if I were to come across an individual in a burning car and I accidentally broke that person's arm while removing him or her from the vehicle, I am not liable for the broken arm under good samaritan laws.

However, these laws only apply so far as I do not receive any compensation for my actions. A security guard is a paid employee and good samaritan laws won't apply to him when he is on duty. He may not be directly responsible for his actions, but his employer will be--and it's the employer's liability that explains why they don't want their security guards intervening. Essentially, the mall owners don't want to be on the hook if one of their untrained security guards hurts anybody.

Police officers do not act under good samaritan laws. Unlike your standard security guard, they have legal protections and liabilities that are contingent on their training and certifications.

[Vanhin]

I would help. Besides, I would never take such a useless job.

Regards,

Vanhin

[Gwen]

one thing i think is very different about the video and just a "would you get involved" type question is that the girl went specifically to the security guards for help. they didn't happen across it or see it way down at the other end of place where they would have to leave their post to respond. it wasn't a matter of reporting a crime vs getting involved. there were 3 of them and the fight literally started in the middle of them. they were already involved. how do you not respond?

one day i was driving through not the best part of our little town and there was a man breaking into a car. i'm pretty sure he was breaking in and not just a "i locked my keys in" situation by the way he kept looking around like he didn't want to be seen. i'm not going to stop with all my kids in the car and get involved in that situation. i did call the police station from my cell after i turned the corner and he couldn't see me and report it. i reported, i did not get involved.

another time, same part of town, i saw a yw walking briskly down the side of the road, she was obviously upset and there was a man following her and he was obviously very angry. again i've got a car full of kids i'm not putting them in a bad situation. i called the police station, while i was on the phone with them he cornered her and they were yelling at each other, i requested that an officer be sent out. it may have been a lover's quarrel, i don't know. i chose not to get involved but to report.

however, had she when she was walking away from him come up to my car and asked for a ride out of there to get away from him (i'm now involved by her actions) i would have picked her up. i would not have locked her out of my car and watched the man hurt her. which is essentially what these ppl did.

[Just_A_Guy]

I seem to remember watching a movie about this kind of thing . . .

Incidentally: MOE has it. State laws will vary, but generally speaking a bystander has no affirmative "duty to rescue"--Jerry Seinfeld notwithstanding.

[pam]

i thought there was a good samaritan law? if you could and refused to prevent someone from being harmed you were also partly at fault. she obviously went to these guards for help, they ignored her.

I think you have watched too much Seinfeld.

[Gwen]

i don't watch any seinfeld, can't stand him. just one of those things you hear rumors on but never really cared enough to get clarification on.

[mormonwifey]

Well,seeing as how my baby sister was murdered by her husband and my mother used to be in an abusive relationship,I have to say,I would call 911 really quick and then go get things settled down.I would help the person being assaulted and try to hold the one assaulting them for the police.We have an obligation,as a christian to help

[confuzzled]

I believe one has to ask themselves if they could live with themselves for not acting. I for one would be willing to lose my job for doing what I thought was right.