Still waiting for a call back from Lloyd Center security manager Mark Hanson on Saturday's pounding of a puppy protester—and we're not holding our breath—the Mercury has been doing some independent investigation into the center's security policies. The Lloyd Center is owned by Ohio-based Glimcher Realty Trust, and security there is provided by a GRT subsidiary, the Glimcher Properties Corporation, through one of its subsidiaries (yes, there are a lot of subsidiaries), Ohio Retail Security, LLC (ORS).

So: It turns out that security guards working for Ohio Retail Security, LLC, are expressly forbidden from using physical force to control problematic situations in the mall. Here's page 4 of the ORS operations manual, a copy of which was obtained by the Mercury today.

MANUAL: Forbids force...

Page 9 of the manual cautions mall security guards even further against using physical force:

MANUAL: Security Officer, not police officer...

Page 10 explicitly forbids detaining suspects or using force against them:

MANUAL: Says physical force is forbidden except when attacked...

Page 12, meanwhile, says that security officers breaking these policies may be held personally liable, and not be afforded legal defense by ORS:

MANUAL: It's your fault, not ours...

The question is: Whether Lloyd Center security management has been encouraging a policy of "arresting" subjects over the last three years. Anecdotally, the Mercury is hearing that the Lloyd Center security staff have indeed been encouraged to "arrest" problem subjects at the mall since Hanson was bought in as security manager, in response to the mall developing a problem reputation. That means whatever policies and procedures are officially in place, it's possible that in practice, management was encouraging security guards to be more heavy-handed. In which case, liability may well fall on ORS. But as I mentioned, Lloyd Center Security Manager Mark Hanson is yet to return a call for comment. I've haphazardly scanned in the first 12 pages of the ORS operations manual after the jump, in case any attorneys/liability wonks are interested. In the context of the Youtube of what actually happened, it makes for pretty hilarious reading.