(1) Any law enforcement officer or operator of a recreational vehicle park who has probable cause to believe, and does believe, that theft of personal property belonging to such park has been committed by a person and that the officer or operator can recover such property or the reasonable value thereof by taking the person into custody may, for the purpose of attempting to effect such recovery or for prosecution, take such person into custody on the premises and detain such person in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable period of time. If the operator takes the person into custody, a law enforcement officer shall be called to the scene immediately. The taking into custody and detention by a law enforcement officer or an operator of a recreational vehicle park, if done in compliance with this subsection, does not render such law enforcement officer or operator criminally or civilly liable for false arrest, false imprisonment, or unlawful detention.

(2) Any law enforcement officer may arrest, either on or off the premises and without warrant, any person if there is probable cause to believe that person has committed theft in a recreational vehicle park.

(3) Any person who resists the reasonable effort of a law enforcement officer or an operator of a recreational vehicle park to recover property that the law enforcement officer or operator has probable cause to believe had been stolen from the recreational vehicle park and who is subsequently found to be guilty of theft of the subject property is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083, unless such person did not know, or did not have reason to know, that the person seeking to recover the property was a law enforcement officer or the operator of the recreational vehicle park. For purposes of this section, the charge of theft and the charge of resisting apprehension may be tried concurrently.

(4) Theft of any property belonging to a guest of a recreational vehicle park permitted under this chapter, or of property belonging to such a park, by an employee of the park or by an employee of a person that has contracted to provide services to the park constitutes a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

History.—s. 13, ch. 84-182; s. 1, ch. 85-65; s. 36, ch. 92-78; s. 23, ch. 93-150.