Use of ForceQuestion 90 of 200

Synthesizing the chapter: which statement BEST summarizes a private security guard's use-of-force authority in California?

a.Guards have full peace-officer authority while on the private property they are hired to protect, including the power to stop, question, search, and arrest anyone on the premises on probable cause, with the same statutory immunities a sworn officer enjoys
b.Guards may use reasonable force, proportionate to the threat, to defend themselves, defend others, prevent the offense (PC §§692-694), and effect a lawful private-person arrest (PC §§835, 837), with delivery to police without unnecessary delay (§847); deadly force only on reasonable belief of imminent death/SBI; de-escalation preferred
c.Guards may use whatever force the property owner authorizes, because the owner's right to defend his own premises passes to the guard by contract, and the written post orders therefore set the lawful outer limit of force at that particular site
d.Guards may calibrate force to the level of hostility a subject appears to hold toward them, escalating against anyone openly contemptuous of the guard's authority and de-escalating for anyone who is merely uncooperative but polite about it

Explanation

The integrated rule: a guard may use force that is (1) reasonable, (2) proportionate to the threat, (3) for a lawful purpose (self-defense PC §692, defense of others PC §694, lawful arrest PC §§835, 837), and (4) not exceeding what is necessary. Restraint authority terminates when the threat or resistance ends. Deadly force is reserved for imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury. De-escalation is the preferred first approach (§835a(a)(2)). Delivery to police follows under §847. Options (a), (c), (d) collapse the framework and substitute peace-officer or owner authority for the statutory limits BSIS-licensed guards actually operate within.

Law Reference: Cal. Penal Code §§835, 835a, 837, 847, 692-694; Graham v. Connor (1989)
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