Inspired by ‘Die Hard’, but I’m asking about in a reality, i.e. a real police officer.
In the movie after John kills one of the terrorists, Ellis remarks “What’s he doing?” and Holly says “His job.” Ellies replies “His job is 3000 miles away.”
So who is correct? Is John doing his job? Or is he out of his jurisdiction? Furthermore, could he actually get in trouble for doing what he did out of his jurisdiction (let’s ignore for the moment blowing up the building)?
On a similar note, earlier Ellis is doing coke. John remarks “You missed some.” Could John have arrested him?
I’ve been on the job since 1982 (did 25 years, retired with pension, started another career with a different agency, eligible or a 2nd pension in 2022).
Though via federal law I can carry a handgun in all 50 states and territories, but other than that I have ZERO law enforcement power outside of the state of Wisconsin.
A [stupid] acquaintance of mine took some action once while on vacation out of state. He was actually charged with impersonating. The charges were eventually dropped but it cost him a bit. Tard!
It’s possible there is a state that grants off duty officers from out of state authority, but I don’t know of any. Other than a self defense situation I wouldn’t take action anyway off duty out of state. If you are inferring citizens arrest I wouldn’t do it unless there was a danger factor. But I never carry cuffs on vacation.
I’m going to respond to the topic inquiry of the OP.
Did John McClane (a police officer) have an obligation to intervene?
I am not a member of law enforcement and in fact have little knowledge of the jurisdictional aspects of it. Nevertheless, I would suspect that as a sworn police officer John McClane was obligated to intervene.
As a sworn officer he saw [serious] violations of the law. As such, even in the role as citizen, could apprehend and make a citizens arrest.
I will immediately concede that if McClane started shooting people things start to go wonky.
Well, McClane is stuck in the building and tries to summon the authorities by using the fire alarm, but gets attacked then tries a radio and is attacked again. He went on the offensive later but one might argue that he was drawn into the situation out of self defense, not a desire to intervene.
He would not have been legally obligated. He had no lawful authority and a private citizen is not obligated to act in a case like that. It’s Die Hard not the last episode of Seinfeld ;).
I don’t even have to act while off duty in my own jurisdiction. Unless there is a self defense/defense of others situation the brass would rather we didn’t. I had a Captain who would routinely joke:
What do you call an off duty cop at a crime scene?
I have a friend who’s a Special Constable in London. These are volunteer cops who do one or two shifts a month for free. They do get an Oyster card that gives them free public transport travel in London though. They are allowed to use that for personal travel while off duty, but there is small print that states they are expected to step up if anything happens while they are travelling. But her Sargeant reminds them all on a regular basis that it really isn’t worth the risk if you’re not in uniform and not carrying truncheon and cuffs.
Not only is he killing all those people, in the end, in the confusion, his limo comes speeding up, and McClane gets in the car and just rides off. That’s got to be against procedure.
Around here a police officer doesn’t do his own report when he’s involved in a shooting. He’s interviewed by investigators from a different agency and they do the report based on his/her statements. This is not just policy it’s actually the law in Wisconsin.
So if I OC someone I have to do a long use of force report. If I shoot them I have very little paperwork to do. I eagerly await smart ass anti-cop responses to that.
I read once that there’s reams of paperwork for Toronto (or Ontario?) police just for drawing their weapon. But then, a Toronto cop was recently convicted for shooting a suspect while he was down - that is, down because the cop had already shot him.
I understand why you wouldn’t want to work off the clock, especially on vacation, but you might be selling yourself short. I was arrested once by an officer out of his jurisdiction, and my lawyer told me there was no defense there because any ordinary citizen would have had the same right to arrest me. And cops don’t get fewer rights than an ordinary citizen just because they are out of their jurisdiction.
