Harassment: Loss Prevention Officer's Abuse of Power

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: New York.

The retail company I work for has a no cell phone use policy on the sales floor, which is fine and understandable. If you are caught using a cell phone, the managers or loss prevention officer will confiscate the phone until your shift is over. My questions are:

1. Is it an abuse of power to confiscate the phone of an employee who was no longer on the clock? In this instance, the employee's shift had ended, he left the phone at the counter (hidden, it was not in plain view) while he was shopping within the store.

2. Can the phone be taken without first informing the employee (especially the employee mentioned above who was no longer on the clock) that the phone is being confiscated?

I strongly suspect harassment of this employee. He seems to be singled out (not just in this instance). He is a minority and is gay. Other employees continuously and obviously break this rule and other rules and they suffer no consequences.

Thank you

Harassment: Loss Prevention Officer's Abuse of Power