(a) Any owner, authorized agent or authorized employee of a retail mercantile establishment, who observes any person concealing or attempting to conceal goods displayed for sale therein, or the ownership of such goods, or transporting such goods from such premises without payment therefor, may question such person as to his name and address and, if such owner, agent or employee has reasonable grounds to believe that the person so questioned was then attempting to commit or was committing larceny of such goods on the premises of such establishment, may detain such person for a time sufficient to summon a police officer to the premises. Any person so questioned by such owner, authorized agent or authorized employee pursuant to the provisions of this section shall promptly identify himself by name and address. No other information shall be required of such person until a police officer has taken him into custody. For the purposes of this subsection, “reasonable grounds” shall include knowledge that a person has concealed unpurchased merchandise of such establishment while on the premises or has altered or removed identifying labels on such merchandise while on the premises or is leaving such premises with such unpurchased or concealed or altered merchandise in his possession.
(b) Whenever an employee or authorized agent of a library facility, as defined in subdivision (12) of section 53a-119, has reasonable grounds to believe that a person (1) is removing or is attempting to remove, without authority, a book or other archival library materials, as defined in said subdivision (12) of section 53a-119, from a library facility or (2) is intentionally mutilating, defacing or destroying a book or other archival library materials, such employee or authorized agent may question such person as to his name and address and may detain such person for a time sufficient to summon a police officer to the premises. Any person so questioned by such employee or agent shall promptly identify himself by name and address. For the purposes of this subsection, reasonable grounds shall include knowledge that a person (A) has concealed a book or other archival library materials while on the library facility premises or is removing such book or material from the library facility premises without authority or (B) has mutilated, defaced or destroyed a book or other archival library materials belonging to or deposited in a library facility.
(c) In any civil action by a person detained under the provisions of subsection (a) or (b) of this section against the person so detaining him or the principal or employer of such person arising out of such questioning or detention by any such owner, agent or employee, evidence that the defendant had reasonable grounds to believe that the plaintiff was, at the time in question, committing or attempting to commit larceny or mutilating, defacing or destroying a book or other archival library materials shall create a rebuttable presumption that the plaintiff was so committing or attempting to commit larceny or mutilating, defacing or destroying a book or other archival library materials.
(P.A. 73-617, S. 2; P.A. 84-248, S. 2; P.A. 92-260, S. 50.)
History: P.A. 84-248 inserted new Subsec. (b) authorizing employees or authorized agents of library facilities to detain and question any person who, on reasonable grounds, is suspected of attempting to commit library theft, relettering former Subsec. (b) as Subsec. (c), and adding provision re “mutilating, defacing or destroying library books or archival library materials”; P.A. 92-260 made technical changes in Subsecs. (b) and (c).
Transgression of statute results in merchant's inability to assert statutory privilege in a civil proceeding but does not require exclusion of evidence in a related criminal prosecution. 39 CS 392.
Notes of Decisions
Josey v. Filene's, Inc., 187 F. Supp. 2d 9 (D. Conn. 2002).
· cites it 17× “” Conn.Gen.Stat. § 53a-119a. The statute defines “reasonable grounds” as including “knowledge that a person has concealed unpurchased merchandise .”
State v. Agron, 148 A.3d 1052 (Conn. 2016).
“Second, although § 53a-119a (a) and (b) does grant shopkeepers and library agents the authority to "detain" suspected shoplifters and vandals, it only allows that detention "for a time sufficient to summon a police officer to the premises.”
3N Int'l, Inc. v. Carrano (In re Carrano), 530 B.R. 540 (Bankr. D. Conn. 2015).
· cites it 2× “The court in Fenn found in favor of the defendant on its counterclaim, ruling that the plaintiff had committed larceny by embezzlement as defined by Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-119a and that the embezzlement constituted a statutory theft under Conn.”
Moher v. Stop & Shop Companies, Inc., 580 F. Supp. 723 (D. Conn. 1984).
· cites it 3× “In support of her allegation that this violation occurred under color of state law, plaintiffs theory would appear to be that defendant acted “under color of” Conn. Gen.Stat. § 53a-119a, which privileges a shopkeeper to stop and detain any person reasonably believed upon…”
State v. Diaz, 466 A.2d 318 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1983).
· cites it 10× “The guard’s authority to question and detain the defendant arises from General Statutes § 53a-119a. 2 The defendant argues that this section grants merchants an interrogation power limited to asking the name and address of a suspected shoplifter.”
State v. Raffone, 136 A.3d 647 (Conn. App. Ct. 2016).
· cites it 3× “5 General Statutes § 53a-119a (a) provides: ‘‘Any owner, authorized agent or authorized employee of a retail mercantile establishment, who observes any person concealing or attempting to conceal goods displayed for sale therein, or the ownership of such goods, or transporting…”
Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-119a(a): 1 case
Josey v. Filene's, Inc., 187 F. Supp. 2d 9 (D. Conn. 2002).
“” Conn.Gen.Stat. § 53a-119a. The statute defines “reasonable grounds” as including “knowledge that a person has concealed unpurchased merchandise .”
Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-119a(b): 1 case
State v. Diaz, 466 A.2d 318 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1983).
“The guard’s authority to question and detain the defendant arises from General Statutes § 53a-119a. 2 The defendant argues that this section grants merchants an interrogation power limited to asking the name and address of a suspected shoplifter.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.