An
organizational policy, whether in an educational, religious, or business
organization, is not law. Accordingly, “police tactics” are
inappropriately used on people who violate policies. The proliferation
of off-duty police officers in retail in more than one of the U.S. states (and
perhaps in the E.U. as well), complete with lethal weapons, renders the
distinction between policy and law especially relevant and even
pressing. To be sure, trespassing is indeed a crime, even though some municipal
police departments in Florida have refused to recognize it as such, as, for
example, when a property owner illegally enters a rented apartment, but in a
store, absent a decision by a manager to have a person removed from the
premises, store “police” cannot legally act violently against the public as
long as no crime is being committed—even if a store policy is being violated.
The full essay is at "Police Enforcing Texas School Policies with Violence."
