Question about security guards

The answer, I believe, is a big, fat, "It depends."

There have been stories where company policy forbade physical confrontation, others where the lack of confrontation was heavily criticized, and there isn't a single law at work here. It's governed by state laws (and licensing, in some cases).

Guards at nuclear plants, for example, are authorized to use deadly force. Whereas there was a story of mass transit station guards who could do nothing but call for the police when a 15-year-old girl was being beaten in front of them.

They can, and do, detain shoplifters. I don't see why a fight in the store wouldn't fall under the same parameters -- protecting the store's merchandise. Many larger stores have a security room where they'd detain people until the real Police arrived.

If the scene is set specifically in a Bloomingdale's, you may want to call them up about their practice.

This is a Home Depot, but it shows how the policy isn't 100%

Stephen Holmes with Home Depot's corporate office says, "No merchandise or other asset is worth risking the life of our associates or customers, which is why we have a strict policy against pursuing a shoplifter in a manner that creates a safety risk for anyone, and that includes chasing shoplifters across the parking lot. In this case, store cameras clearly showed that the associates violated the policy after the struggle between the asset protection associate and the shoplifting suspect had ended. We strictly enforce this policy due to serious accidents that have occurred in the past, but we always review and consider any mitigating circumstances to ensure we're treating our associates fairly."

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The bolded part strongly suggests that if the perpetrator (alleged or not) escapes the store, then maybe the "asset protection officer" does not give chase. But I know that some stores allow the chase to varying degrees.

Lorcroftlegacy said:

If a department store security guard broke up a fight, could he detain the believed aggressor?

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Yes. More usually, both if he could catch them. Any disturbance in the store can be dealt with by security, and if the store or anyone else wants to prosecute, the suspect would be detained and turned over to police. Many large retail chains, such as Bloomingdale's, prosecute every crime as a policy, no matter how small. A 12 year old shoplifting lipstick gets prosecuted the same as a guy who punches out an employee. The kid will get a trespass warning and a lecture, the adult gets the Full Monty.

Jeff

This might help you. It seems that Bloomingdales loss prevention are pretty proactive.

Here's video of a plainclothes LP guy tackling a suspected shoplifter (more info in Youtube description)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1bYZzFzlvo

And here's what's expected of LP staff at Bloomies:
http://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/10114656