Claimant’s Mobile Phone Taken And Kept By JobCentre Security Staff
Joanne Lee
I took my brother to the job centre yesterday in which while he was there he received a phone call from the doctors informing him of his test results.
Security heard his phone go off and came over to him and said to him that he is not allowed to use his phone in the building.
He told them it was the doctors and was important.
He was told to switch off the phone or lose it.
My brother refused to do so but put his phone back in his pocket.
A few mins later my brother received an text message and with that security came over and snatched his phone out of his hand and told my brother he could have it back.
At the end my brother went to security and asked for his phone back.
The security man said (You have breached the rules of Job Centre Plus and therefore we have reserved the right to keep the phone).
At this point I stepped in and said (You just cant take a persons phone off them and refuse to give it back). I was told that unless we both leave the police will be called and we will both be arrested.
I then spoke to the manager whom went to security and asked for the phone to be returned.
Security then said (We have taken the phone as he was filming security staff at work and because of this the phone will not be returned).
As far as I am concerned theft is theft and as far as I am concerned there is nothing in the rule book that says mobile phones can b seized by security and kept.
Same Difference 
Reblogged this on perfectlyfadeddelusions and commented:
WTF? That’s wrong, just plain wrong. I hope you are able to get the phone back.
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That is theft, it was the job seekers personal property whether he filmed security or not doesn’t matter. Police should have been contacted on behalf of the jobseeker. JCP asked ro see my phone once so they could see I’d been jobsearching, I told them when they pay for my phone & the phone bill then they could see what’s on it. I now provide emails of my jobsearch, reams & reams of paperwork, which they don’t even look at most of the time.
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Reblogged this on DWPExamination..
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Let them call the police in as they have no legal right to do this and now you have to wonder what they are so scared as to what secrets they are trying to hide which need to be revealed. This sounds like blackmail to me and sounds like they are doing stuff that is illegal so call the police in and expose their dirty little secrets that they are trying to hide as well as get you phone back from these thieves.
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Theft.
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You are spot on – theft is theft. Even if he had actually been filming the security people (and I strongly suspect that to have been an outright lie) that does not give them the right to keep his phone. You should be complaining to the police, and if you have the name of that security guard request in the strongest terms that be arrested and charged with theft (unless being faced with that prospect induces him to return the phone).
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No.
Even if the security troll does now return the mobile telephone, the offence of theft will still have been committed. Moreover, by seeming to condone the actions of the security goon, the office “manager” is equally guilty because he aided or was an accessory to the offence, as would anyone who instructed the security moron to steal telephones.
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If you want to be precise it’s actually robbery. It’s disgusting the way these people think they can just go along doing what they please! Filming them or not, they have no right to take your phone!!
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It would only be robbery if the theft was accompanied with force or the threat of force. See Theft Act 1968, section 8 – http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/60/section/8
This is a pity, as the maximum sentence for robbery is life imprisonment.
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If it was snatched from his hand it was robbery, if he handed it over expecting it back and didnt get it returned then its theft, and the dept manager who has the power to overrule security in something as simple as this, is guilty by collusion. The police should have been called there and then where they could have checked the fone to find out if the video had been used, Which is really quite irrelevant anyway. These jobsworths really do need bringing down to earth and be told brusquely They are NOT police or MI5//6…..
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That’s really going to help them get work, these days you need a phone to get a job besides the obvious theft it is, they have no right to confiscate your things, its neither prison or school and it is illegal.
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You are perfectly within your rights to film in a public place e.g. the job centre. Call the police
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Reblogged this on disabledsingleparent.
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My immediate thought is that you should have stood your ground and let the police be called as one imagines they wouldn’t have been too pleased with the security firm! It sounds to me like you need legal advice on this and tell your MP too. I’d be going to the local papers first thing. The DWP gestapo need to be reminded in law they’re little nobodies, not little Hitlers.
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Unfortunately, the police can also be quite remarkably stupid – they may see the security goon as a comrade, or just give the usual mantra by reply, “Ain’t nuffink we can do coz it;s a civil matter, sir”. An approximate translation of that is “We cannot be bothered with something that takes us from our doughnut eating duties.”
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Taking of a persons belongings and refusing to return them is theft wherever it happes=ns, as Mike above says go to the police.
Tweeted @melissacade68
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This is clearly theft by a jumped up security gorilla goon. The police should be informed and the knuckle-dragging security gorilla reported to the boss of the company he works for. A formal, written complaint should also be made to the JCP manager with a view to filing a complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
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I am a trained SIA officer. You are NOT allowed to confiscate phones anywhere. Many jobcentre security are employed by GOD. Complain to them immediately
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Apologies for the ironic autocorrect.
G4S NOT GOD
THEY JUST THINK THEY ARE 😉
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Many jobcentre security are employed by GOD. Complain to them immediately
By means of His agents in the Church?
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He should contact the police and request the security guard is charged with theft as a conviction in the course of their job would get him the sack and their SIA licence revoked and he would have a criminal record that would show on any application needing a check on their criminal background.
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I saw a blog the other day I cannot remember which site but it was about the sia and there rules ie wearing their badge etc and the standards they must conform too which is quite strict considering some of the antics they get up too u can bet ur bottom dollar they would not have done this without the consent of the manager of the jcp office who in turn would preach if u dont conform I will get another who will so their jobs on the line also its all ass lick when he got his phone back he should look for the sia website and report him for theft there is a pdf for doing this.
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As I wrote above, the alleged manager is also guilty of the offence of theft, because he aided and abetted the offence even if he did not actually commission the offence or instruct the moron to steal the ‘phone.
If the ‘phone has subsequently been discarded, sold or destroyed, that is a further offence that has been committed.
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Reblogged this on Sasson Hann and commented:
If had been me, I would have just called the police. Ill people need their phones on them at all times.
Some security guards think that they’re a law unto themselves. I’d make a formal complaint to the DWP, the company that employs the security guards, and report it to the police.
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Reblogged on https://sassonhann.wordpress.com/ and said:
If had been me, I would have just called the police. Ill people need their phones on them at all times.
Some security guards think that they’re a law unto themselves. I’d make a formal complaint to the DWP, the company that employs the security guards, and report it to the police.
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This is the behaviour of a 3 world. Dictatorship.
Of course I should say this UK right wing ,nay extreme right govt
Behaves somewhat like a 1930s European dictatorship.
Notify the police in person,insist he is arrested for theft of your phone.
Stand your ground in the non job centre,never surrender your property to
Any one other than a police constable ( their proper title,in Scotland anyway)
Or his/her superior.
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Over on facebook, Nicole Mullis wrote: “The manager had a right to take the phone of of security and the manager had a legal right to call the police and he knows it if security didn’t give the phone back”
I believe that the so-called “manager” (whom I’d not trust to run the proverbial social event in a brewery) had more than a right to report the security cretin to the police, he actually had a duty to report the offence.
By failing to report the offence, the “manager” acted as an accessory or, in Victorian parlance, he compounded the offence and may even be said to have entered into a criminal conspiracy.
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A reply further down the facebook post indicated that four calls had been made using that ‘phone before it was blocked. It may be interesting to learn the number(s) called.
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Just the fact that a government department that is supposed to help people, needs to have security guards indicates a seriously flawed and failing DWP.
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Which Job Centre plus? I doubt the story, why would it not mention which one it was? I’m calling this story BS until a more credible testimony is written and reported. These stories need to be accurate.
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Completely illigal! You should have inssisted they called the police, I report to this as a burgaly. You can film anyhing or photo anything. This is disgusting!
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