We often hear the term “citizen’s arrest”, but what about non-citizens? Do they (in your jurisdiction) have no power of arrest? Say someone is a foreign tourist in your jurisdiction and has the opportunity to detain someone they have witnessed committing a crime? What power of arrest do they have?
Some perfunctory searching seems to indicate that the laws allow a “private person” to make an arrest, not a “citizen.” So a foreigner would presumably have the same powers (and risk the same liabilities) as a citizen.
“Citizen’s arrest” appears to be a colloquialism and not a legal term.
Everyone has the power of common-law arrest in the United States, whether or not they are a citizen.
Most states have codified that power in their statutes. For example, here is New York’s statute:
If I recall correctly, you have the same power of arrest as a police officer. You had better be right about the arrest being valid, however, because you do not have any of the immunity that a police officer has against liability for wrongful but good-faith arrests.
Citizen’s arrest in the U.S., what you can and cannot do.
Not quite. An officer may arrest for felonies committed outside his presence.
Also police officers can detain people for investigatory purposes.
Obligatory Gomer Citizen’s Arrest video: The Andy Griffith Show Citizens Arrest - YouTube
Oops, I duplicated Omar_Little’s link. That’s what I get for opening the page and then getting distracted before reading it.