Shopping Center Trespass and Theft in Arizona: A Lawful Playbook

Arizona shopping center owners and grocery anchors can handle trespass, loitering and repeat theft lawfully when three things are in place: written authority that says who controls each part of the property, posted notice backed by a consistent request-to-leave process, and records that police, prosecutors and, for Proposition 312 claims, the state can actually use. Officers do not need police powers to make that work. They need clear rules.

This guide explains how the key Arizona laws fit together, how landlords and tenants should split the work, and how to handle people in a heat emergency without turning a trespass call into a tragedy. For the service overview, see our shopping center and grocery security page.

Landlord or tenant: who controls which ground

A shopping center is a patchwork. The landlord usually controls the parking lot, walkways and shared service areas. Each tenant controls the inside of its store. Some grocery anchors own their own parcel or hold rights under a reciprocal easement agreement, which can change who controls the lot in front of the store. Your leases and recorded agreements decide the details.

Area	Usually controlled by	Center officer’s role
Parking lot, walkways, landscaping	Landlord or property manager	Patrol, request to leave under post orders, call police
Inside a tenant’s store	The tenant	Respond when the tenant asks, report, support staff
Anchor-owned parcel	The anchor, per its deed or agreement	Only what the anchor authorizes in writing
Loading docks, compactors, back-of-house drives	Varies by lease	Checks and after-hours patrol as agreed
Cart corrals and storefront sidewalks	Often shared	Settle in writing before the first shift

Put the answer in an authority letter from the owner or manager naming the security provider as its agent for the areas it controls. When an anchor wants officers to act on its parcel, get a separate letter from the anchor. Without that paper, an officer’s request to leave is just an opinion.

Trespass, done lawfully: notice, request, police

Under A.R.S. 13-1502, a person commits criminal trespass in the third degree, a class 3 misdemeanor, by knowingly entering or remaining on property after a reasonable request to leave by a law enforcement officer, the owner or another person with lawful control, or after reasonable notice prohibiting entry. A request by police acting at the owner’s request has the same effect as the owner’s own request.

That gives a center two tools: notice (signs and posted rules) and a request. Officers are private persons, not police, and our post orders keep the process simple:

1. Name the conduct, not the person. Sleeping in a doorway, drinking in the lot, harassing shoppers, being behind the buildings after close.
2. Explain the rule and point to the posted sign.
3. Give reasonable time to gather belongings and leave.
4. Make a clear request to leave on behalf of the property manager.
5. Call police if the person refuses or if anyone is at risk. Officers do not use force to move people.
6. Write it down: date, time, location, description and the words used.

Phoenix police advise that when you decide to ask someone to leave, another person should already be calling police, and you can cancel the call if the person goes. That timing keeps officers from standing alone with someone who escalates. This is general information, not legal advice. For more on what Arizona officers can and cannot do, read our guide to Arizona security guard licensing and authority limits.

The Phoenix Authority to Arrest Trespassers form

The Phoenix Police Department lets a property owner or agent file an Authority to Arrest Trespassers form online. It gives police permission to arrest people trespassing on the property when the business is closed, without first contacting the owner or management. By filing it, the owner agrees to cooperate fully in prosecuting anyone later arrested for trespass there. When a business is open, the department says an officer still has to make contact with someone to confirm the person is not a customer or otherwise allowed to be there.

The details are where centers slip:

• Signs are required. No Trespassing signs must be posted at all reasonable entrances and throughout the property, on poles, fences or buildings, high enough to resist tampering.
• Sign specifications. Phoenix recommends metal, bilingual signs at least 16 by 24 inches, printed in red on a white background.
• One-year life. The form is valid for one year. The department emails a reminder 30 days before it expires.
• Changes reset it. A change in ownership or agent requires a new form.

Authority to Arrest checklist:

• The signer’s title (owner, manager or agent) matches the management agreement
• The renewal date is on the property manager’s calendar, not one person’s inbox
• A new form is filed the week management or ownership changes
• Sign locations are photographed and checked monthly for damage or removal
• Tenants with late hours are told how the form applies to their areas, after you confirm with the precinct

Centers outside Phoenix should ask their own police department whether it offers a similar program.

Shoplifting and repeat theft: who acts and what to record

A.R.S. 13-1805 lets a merchant, or the merchant’s agent or employee, with reasonable cause, detain a suspected shoplifter on the premises in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable time, for questioning or summoning police. Reasonable cause is a defense to claims of false arrest or wrongful detention. The right belongs to the merchant. Officers hired by the landlord are not each tenant’s agent, so our default is to observe, report and support store staff and police. We take on a detention role only under a written agreement with the tenant.

Repeat offenders are where shared records pay off. Under 13-1805, shoplifting during a “continuing criminal episode” (theft of $1,500 or more over at least three separate incidents within 90 consecutive days) is a class 5 felony. A.R.S. 13-1819 makes organized retail theft, including removing merchandise with intent to resell it, a class 4 felony. Police and prosecutors can only connect incidents across tenants if someone writes them down the same way.

Tenants also have a civil remedy. Under A.R.S. 12-691, an adult who shoplifts is civilly liable to the merchant for the retail value of the goods plus an additional penalty of at least $250 and up to $250 plus actual damages. That is the tenant’s claim, not the landlord’s.

A shared incident report should capture:

• Date, time, tenant and exact location (store, lot row, door)
• Physical description, clothing and any vehicle and plate
• Items and estimated value, as reported by the tenant
• Camera views that captured the event, so footage can be pulled before it overwrites
• Police report number, if one was made

Store-level loss prevention is a different service from common-area security. Our retail security and loss prevention page covers it, and our guide on organized retail crime investigation explains how repeat cases get built.

Loitering, homelessness and heat

Many trespass calls at Arizona centers involve people with nowhere else to go. Being unhoused is not a crime. Conduct on private property is what officers address, and the approach is the same for everyone: calm, respectful, specific.

Heat changes the stakes. Maricopa County confirmed 608 heat-related deaths in 2024. More than three-quarters happened outdoors, and 49 percent of the people who died were experiencing homelessness. In June, a person who will not wake up behind a building may not be refusing a request. They may be dying.

The county lists warning signs of heat illness that officers should know: muscle cramps, headache, vomiting, confusion, no longer sweating and a rapid heart rate. Our post orders put medical response first:

• If someone is confused, overheated or unresponsive, call 911 before anything else.
• Offer water and shade while waiting, if the property allows it and it is safe.
• Know where the nearest cooling or respite site is. The Maricopa Association of Governments publishes a heat relief map each season.
• Do not discard belongings on the spot. Photograph and log what is left, then follow the owner’s written removal instructions.
• If someone threatens staff or customers, create distance and call police.

Sweeps without outreach usually move the same people to the next doorway. Pair enforcement with consistent lighting, landscaping that does not create hidden sleeping spots, and locked access to roofs, trash enclosures and utility rooms.

Proposition 312: keep records that prove the case

Voters approved Proposition 312 in November 2024, enacting A.R.S. 42-17451. Beginning in tax year 2025, a property owner can apply once per tax year for a refund of documented, reasonably necessary expenses to mitigate a city, town or county’s policy, pattern or practice of not enforcing laws on illegal camping, obstructing public thoroughfares, loitering, panhandling, public urination or defecation, public drinking, or illegal drug possession or use. The Arizona Department of Revenue says applications can be filed through December 31, 2035 under current law.

Points that matter for retail owners:

• Owners only. Tenants, including triple-net tenants, cannot apply. Anchors that lease should coordinate with the landlord.
• A cap. The refund cannot exceed the primary property taxes the owner paid to that city, town or county for the prior tax year. Some Arizona cities and towns levy no primary property tax, so the maximum can be zero.
• The locality decides. The department notifies the city, town or county, which has 30 days to accept or reject. No response counts as acceptance. A rejection can be challenged in superior court.
• Proof of payment. The department asks for invoices or receipts with proof of payment. A vendor estimate alone is not enough.
• Communications. Applicants must document their communications with the locality about the nuisance and explain how those show a pattern of non-enforcement.

Security records can support that file if they are kept with it in mind. Ask your provider to tag each logged incident by nuisance type, note the date, time and location, attach photos where policy allows, and record every report made to police or city services with its reference number. Have nuisance-related work invoiced as separate line items. Whether a claim qualifies is a question for your tax adviser or attorney. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.

How Honeybadger Solutions helps

Honeybadger Solutions is a veteran-led security firm with officers delivered in-house across Arizona. For shopping centers and grocery-anchored properties we walk the center at peak hours and after close, review the authority letters and sign placement, write post orders that spell out when officers make a request to leave and when they call police, and send daily and incident reports in a format tenants and police can use. We pair common-area officers with parking lot patrol and after-hours remote video where it fits the center.

Every engagement starts with a written quote before any work begins. Read more about our shopping center security services, or request shopping center security online and tell us about the center, its anchors and what tenants are reporting.

Frequently asked questions

Can our security officers trespass someone from the whole center?

Officers can make a reasonable request to leave for the areas the owner or manager controls, when the post orders authorize it. Areas a tenant or anchor controls need that party’s authorization. If the person refuses, officers call police. This is general information, not legal advice.

Does the Phoenix Authority to Arrest form cover us while stores are open?

The Phoenix Police Department describes the form as covering trespass when the business is closed. When a business is open, police say an officer still needs to contact someone to confirm the person is not a customer or otherwise allowed there. Ask your precinct how it applies to tenants with late hours.

Should center officers detain shoplifters for our tenants?

Arizona’s detention rule belongs to the merchant and the merchant’s agents or employees. Landlord-hired officers are not automatically each tenant’s agent, so the safer default is to observe, report and support store staff and police. Any detention role should be set out in a written agreement.

Can a grocery tenant file a Proposition 312 claim?

No. The Arizona Department of Revenue says tenants, including triple-net tenants, are not eligible. Only the property owner can apply, so tenants should coordinate with their landlord.

What should officers do when someone is sleeping in a doorway in summer?

Check on the person first. If they are confused, overheated or will not wake up, call 911. If they are well, explain the property rule, give them time to gather belongings, and point them to the nearest heat relief site.

Sources: A.R.S. 13-1502, Criminal trespass in the third degree, A.R.S. 13-1805, Shoplifting and detention, A.R.S. 13-1819, Organized retail theft, A.R.S. 12-691, Civil liability for shoplifting, A.R.S. 42-17451, Refund for failure to abate public nuisance, Arizona Department of Revenue, Proposition 312, Phoenix Police Department, Address Trespassers on Business Property, Maricopa County Department of Public Health, final 2024 heat-related deaths report release.

Related reading

• ▸ The Enemy in the Warehouse: Combatting Internal Theft & Cargo Crime
• ▸ Protecting the Build: Construction Site Security in Arizona
• ▸ Code Grey: Managing Violence in Healthcare Settings
• ▸ Security Consulting Arizona – Expert Risk Management Solutions