Bag checks: what is allowed

The Greek law on private security companies, Law 2518/1997, gives guards no power to search. (Baggage screening at airports and ports is a separate activity the same law provides for in art. 1 §1ε, with the approval of the competent aviation or port authority; this guide does not cover it.) On the contrary, it says the company must not infringe citizens’ constitutionally protected rights in its activities, and the same applies to its staff (art. 4 §1στ and §2α).

• The guard asks, not orders: “This venue checks bags at the entrance. Could you open yours?”
• The guard is not the police: they wear a badge and carry their ID card (art. 6 §1), and may not present themselves as police (art. 4 §2γ).
• Consent means a free choice: with a clear alternative — not going in, or leaving the bag where the venue provides.

The wider picture is in what security guards can and cannot do. In a real incident the police decide; for a real case, take legal advice.

1. Notice in advance: a sign visible before the door and, where there is a ticket or invitation, there too. It says what is checked, which items are not allowed, and what happens if someone declines.
2. The visitor opens the bag: the guard asks them to open each compartment themselves.
3. Visual check: the guard looks; no hands inside, nothing taken out, no touching the person. If something needs moving, the visitor moves it.
4. Discretion: medicines, personal items and documents are not commented on, read or photographed.
5. No record of contents: the check produces no list of what anyone carries.

The procedure is written in advance in the post orders so every guard does the same. How an event entrance is laid out with queues and check stages is in event security, and reception rules for company visitors are in visitor access control.

A check done “at discretion” easily becomes profiling, and profiling touches exactly the rights that Law 2518/1997 requires security companies not to infringe (art. 4 §1στ). The right rule is simple, written and the same for everyone.

• An objective criterion: all bags, or all above a size, or a fixed interval set by the procedure.
• The same way for everyone: same question, same time, same tone.
• No exceptions for “regulars”: if the rule says everyone, it means everyone.

• Entrance: the condition was not accepted, so entry does not happen. The guard explains once, calmly, and informs the person in charge if there is one. No bargaining, no threats.
• Exit: refusing is not proof of theft. The guard does not shut the door, does not follow the person and does not expose them in front of others.
• If the person tries to walk through: the guard does not restrain anyone over a bag check; they inform the person in charge and, if needed, the police.
• Record: time, place, what was asked, that it was declined, who was told — no labels.

A condition that is not accepted means no entry — never a “forced check”. The guide to factory gate truck control applies the same rule to vehicles.

For felonies and misdemeanours caught in the act, any citizen has the right to arrest the offender (Code of Criminal Procedure art. 275 §1) — a guard has that right, no more. Anyone arrested is taken without delay to the prosecutor (art. 279 §1), which in practice means the police are called at once. Even then, the guard does not search the bag; that is for the police to decide.

What a guard does step by step on seeing a theft — certainty, approach, when not to intervene — is in what a security guard may do on spotting a shoplifter. Store-wide prevention is in retail loss prevention.

• Written policy: what is checked, when, by whom, and what happens if someone disagrees — known to every employee before it applies.
• The same for everyone: from the newest hire to the manager; never a way to single someone out.
• Discreet: away from customers, with the same respect for personal items.
• Refusal: the guard does not press; they record it and inform the person the policy names. The decision belongs to the company, not the guard.

The guard’s role is to apply a procedure the client has already decided, not to design one on the spot. OVIT records patrols, incidents and reports on the Guardly platform, so every refusal or exit incident has a time, actions and an owner in one live picture. Request a proposal for your site.