Is there such a thing as “citizen’s arrest”? Does it break down state by state?
We have them here in Canada (Ontario) specifically. It is most often used by store personnel to detain shoplifters. There are VERY specific rules on what you can & can’t do though.
The Master speaks.
You know, I thought I had seen that article before. I searched for it using the search engine, and it did not come up.
It said that any citizen can initiate a citizen’s arrest if they catch the criminal red handed committing a genuine crime. This seems kind of broad to me. Does this apply to speeding and running a red light? Sobriety tests?
Generally a citizen’s arrest is only valid for felonies, often only violent felonies, or property crimes on the arrestor’s property (secutiry guards detaining shoplifters)- Cecil’s proiding a summary, not actual laws and/or court cases. The law on this varies widely from state to state (and country to country), if you make an invalid arrest you’re probably guilty of several crimes (kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault, impersonating a police officer, etc.) and are probably liable in a civil trial as well. Your red light and sobriety test examples would likely cause you a lot of trouble, since running a red light often isn’t even a crime (it’s an infraction, punishable only by a fine, and not a misdemeanor, punishable by jail time), and forcing someone to take a sobriety test wouldn’t be an arrest anyway.
If it was reasonable for you to believe that a crime has been commited it is reasonable to detain them for the police without fear of criminal repercussions to the arresting citizen. IANAL YMMV.
As security we broke up many fights, it was not horribly unusual for us to have 3-4 people in cuffs. Somebody started it, someone probably has a legit self defense claim, we don’t decide that, we just hold you for law enforcement.
If it takes two hours for PD to get here after we call, we can’t help that, yell at them, we hold you for them to decide. Many people confuse inconvenienced with false arrest.
From some of the definitions I have seen of false arrest, amusement parks could be charged from having good restraint systems on rollercoasters.
Drachillix, you’re wrong. Flat out, very badly wrong in a way that exposes someone to an absurd level of risk if they act on what you’re saying. You’re making the mistake of extrapolating from what actions you can take in response to a narrow range of crimes committed on property the person you’re working for owns in a state with some of the least restrictive laws on citizen’s arrest in the country. Quite simply, if you detain someone for smoking a joint while they walk down the street, you are comitting a crime in North Carolina (specifically, G.S. 15A-404 Detention of offenders by private persons only allows detention for: (1) A felony, (2) A breach of the peace, (3) A crime involving physical injury to another person, or (4) A crime involving theft or destruction of property) and a host of other states.
And this doesn’t get into the whole mess of someone following your advice discovering that it wasn’t ‘reasonable’ to believe that a hand-rolled cigarette was a joint, or who mistakenly believes that a non-LEO can arrest a person for running a red light or driving a car while unable to pass a field sobriety test - like the post I was responding to claimed. Or the issue that what a court will accept as reasonable suspicion for a bouncer acting as an agent of a bar owner is a good bit lower than what a court will accept for a random joe on the street spotting someone comitting a misdemeanor.
Regarding the felonies, the opposite is true in CA. There is a “in-presence rule” with misdemeanors and infractions. The peace officer must have witnessed it for arrest.
If the officer did not witness it, but someone else did, as in the case of shoplifting (security), property crimes (property owner), etc, the officer fills out an AJ-8 (arrest report). On the backside, there is a section for the “citizen’s arrest” part.
So, basically, the citizen arrest is done with the aid of the peace officer. Kind of like filing a complaint.
I am going from memory on my criminal justice classes. Someone can jump in here and adjust/correct me if I am wrong. So many new laws come out every year, it’s ridiculous.