In the USA a citizen can make an arrest (a citizen’s arrest – http://www.thefreedictionary.com/citizen%27s+arrest) when they witness a crime.

Beware: If you detain a person against their will, You better be holding onto both a criminal and proof of the crime. If not, You are the criminal and can be charged or sued.

When a cop detains you he/she can be mistaken and protected if they fallowed procedure. The results will be “oops! have a good day”

when a private citizen detains someone and has no just cause for doing so, they become the criminal.

When wal-mart tells it door greeters to check receipts and fails to explain the limitations of their role, The greeter and anyone else involved is put at risk of legal repercussions.

Q: Why Not Just Show The Receipt?
A: Why would you allowed an employee (private citizen) and their employer subject you to treatment that would get a cop reprimanded (at least) or Fired.

Civil rights are a precious gift and should be protected. If your allow an average citizen to ignore you rights, How will you prevent the government (of the people by the people) from doing so.

For anyone who thinks they are preventing crime (theft) by DEMANDING the proof of purchase your employee handed me as a CONDITION for me to LEAVE with what I PURCHASED.

Surprise! I’m not a criminal “You Are”

I ignore them because the way I see it is if they were doing their job, they would have clearly seen be pay for the items bagged and the items in the cart. The could see it because of where they stand and where the check out stands are. If they are gossiping with a co-worker and then stop to ask for my receipt, I don’t think so! It is bought and paid for. You should have been paying attention.

I am getting so sick of people saying it is no big deal to take a moment and show the receipt. Well, maybe you are right, but that is how it all starts. Baby steps. Our rights and freedoms are not taken away in a flash before our eyes, it is slow conditioning. We are asked for this things to condition us so we can start getting used to producing our papers and any other documents they will expect us to use to go from one place to another. How often do we need to show ID anymore? Hey, I am not arguing it, it is a protection on my ID theft and banking theft, etc. But that is one way to get you ready for compliance.

So really, showing your receipt isn’t really a big deal, but what is coming next? What more will be expected? When a change comes, you have to ask why we are making a change and where will this change lead us. What is the purpose of this change? Who is this change REALLY benefiting?

So as for me, as for today, NO, you will not be seeing my receipt. Follow me to my car, take down my license. While you are doing that, I will be reporting you as a suspicious stalker. My call will most likely get in before yours does. In the meantime, check out this clip of what happened to someone that refused to show their receipt…
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9444323

Seriously? Are you really serious? I would suggest you never go into the law field if you think that a $7.25 walmart employee has a right to tackle me. So because I’m 6′5 and 280lbs I have the “upper hand in stamina” that gives them probable cause? Seriously, what issues do you have?

Let it be known…you or any walmart employee (regardless if they are just doing their job) lays a finger on me and tries to “tackle” me as you say….I will take that as a threat on my life and will have no issue pulling my glock .45 on their head.

So…seriously. You should really never become a lawyer.

Well why do they look at your receipt, sometimes with items in bags, sometimes not, to make sure you paid for everything – which is the reason given by an ex Wal-Mart employee here – if they do not go through your bags – and they never do anyway!? I have seen these “greeters” look at receipts up to 7 seconds without their eyes even moving, then saying “ok, go ahead”. I believe some of these people don’t even know what they are looking for! As far as law is concerned they have a right to ask you for your receipt and they DO have the right to tackle you if they feel you might flee the scene or are bigger than they are/have the upper-hand in stamina/size/strength as a means for probable cause of theft. Each state is different but if you ask some laywer in your area he may likely tell you that an employee – not even an authorized “security guard” – is able to detain you for probable cause of theft. And why not when you can walk in with yesterday’s Wal-mart bags crumpled into your back pocket and then throw an item in and use a bogus “1 items sold” receipt to walk through the doors. I used to work at Wal-Mart and I know for a fact that not all items make the alarms go off, which is also interesting if you think they want to catch thieves then why don’t they rely on the alarm system to go off.