1. Persons concealing property as set forth in section 711.3B or 714.5, may be detained and searched by a peace officer, person employed in a facility containing library materials, merchant, or merchant’s employee, provided that the detention is for a reasonable length of time and that the search is conducted in a reasonable manner by a person of the same sex and according to subsection 2 of this section.
2. No search of the person under this section shall be conducted by any person other than someone acting under the direction of a peace officer except where permission of the one to be searched has first been obtained.
3. The detention or search under this section by a peace officer, person employed in a facility containing library materials, merchant, or merchant’s employee does not render the person liable, in a criminal or civil action, for false arrest or false imprisonment provided \n Tue Dec 09 21:54:09 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 808 (40, 1) 5 SEARCH AND SEIZURE, §808.16\n\nthe person conducting the search or detention had reasonable grounds to believe the person detained or searched had concealed or was attempting to conceal property as set forth in section 711.3B or 714.5. [C62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, §709.22 – 709.24; C79, 81, §808.12] 2010 Acts, ch 1125, §3; 2019 Acts, ch 140, §5 Referred to in §714.5 \n
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
7
cases, 1990–2020 · leading case:
State v. Adams, 554 N.W.2d 686 (Iowa 1996).
State v. Adams, 554 N.W.2d 686 (Iowa 1996).
· cites it 22× “Iowa Code § 808.12 (1). 2 Adams argues the police officer’s search of him violated this statute because Adams was not “concealing property” at the time of the search; the cap he took had already been recovered by the store employee and neither the police nor store personnel…”
Winckel v. Von Maur, Inc., 652 N.W.2d 453 (Iowa 2002).
· cites it 10× “Iowa Code § 808.12 (3). The fact that a person has concealed .”
State v. Ceaser, 585 N.W.2d 192 (Iowa 1998).
· cites it 6× “" At the time Robinson and Bullerman apprehended Ceaser, they were acting under the authority of Iowa Code section 808.12(1). This statute allows a merchant's employee to detain and search a shoplifter.”
Lenstra v. Menard, Inc., 511 N.W.2d 410 (Iowa Ct. App. 1993).
· cites it 12× “Lenstra asserts the district court erred in granting summary judgment to the defendants on his false arrest claim, arguing genuine issues of material fact existed regarding the defendant’s claim of immunity under Iowa Code section 808.12. In addition, Lenstra claims the district…”
Zohn v. Menard, Inc., 598 N.W.2d 323 (Iowa Ct. App. 1999).
· cites it 6× “5, may be detained and searched by a peace officer, person employed in a facility containing library materials, merchant, or merchant’s employee, provided that the detention is for a reasonable length of time and that the search is conducted in a reasonable manner by a person of…”
United States v. Baker, 30 M.J. 262 (1990).
“Code § 35-33-6-2 (1988); Iowa Code § 808.12 (West 1979 & Supp.1990); Ky.”
State of Iowa v. Michael Wedgwood (Iowa Ct. App. 2020).
· cites it 2× “2d 192 , 194–95 (Iowa 1998) (evaluating the “reasonable force” a merchant may use to detain a suspected shoplifter under section 808.12), overruled on other grounds by State v.”
— Iowa Code § 808.12(1) — 2 cases
State v. Adams, 554 N.W.2d 686 (Iowa 1996).
“Iowa Code § 808.12 (1). 2 Adams argues the police officer’s search of him violated this statute because Adams was not “concealing property” at the time of the search; the cap he took had already been recovered by the store employee and neither the police nor store personnel…”
State v. Ceaser, 585 N.W.2d 192 (Iowa 1998).
“" At the time Robinson and Bullerman apprehended Ceaser, they were acting under the authority of Iowa Code section 808.12(1). This statute allows a merchant's employee to detain and search a shoplifter.”
— Iowa Code § 808.12(3) — 3 cases
Zohn v. Menard, Inc., 598 N.W.2d 323 (Iowa Ct. App. 1999).
“5, may be detained and searched by a peace officer, person employed in a facility containing library materials, merchant, or merchant’s employee, provided that the detention is for a reasonable length of time and that the search is conducted in a reasonable manner by a person of…”
Lenstra v. Menard, Inc., 511 N.W.2d 410 (Iowa Ct. App. 1993).
“Lenstra asserts the district court erred in granting summary judgment to the defendants on his false arrest claim, arguing genuine issues of material fact existed regarding the defendant’s claim of immunity under Iowa Code section 808.12. In addition, Lenstra claims the district…”
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.