Is the "citizens arrest" legit?

[yoda313]

So in the movies and tv shows you sometimes here them use "citizens arrest" in some crime dramas.

I was wondering, is there a legal precedents for this??? Can it be upheld in court? Wouldn't be easier to call the cops on a cell phone???

MODS - feel free to lock this if you think this might get too political down the road. My intent is only for informative purposes not to rile people up.

[Supreme2k]

Dear Yahoo!:
How do I make a citizen's arrest?
David
Elko, Nevada

Dear David:
We can tell you with full confidence that it is a very, very bad idea to try to drag someone down to the police station on your own. As the good Trooper Ness of the Illinois State Police says:

When you sign or make a complaint against someone for an infraction of the law, you are in affect "arresting" them...I cannot recommend that you try and "arrest" someone by restraining them physically, as you may be subject to liability if you do that. Work within the system by filing your charge with a police department or States Attorney with jurisdiction.
Needless to say, attempting to manhandle someone renders you vulnerable to all kinds of nasty lawsuits, in addition to physical harm. The police department in Arroye Grande, California, offers this helpful four-step guide to Making a Citizen's Arrest:

1. Notify police upon observing a crime.

2. Provide police with information to assist in identifying the violator.

3. Sign the complaint form. (After this, most cases are concluded without your further involvement.)

4. Appear in court when requested by the District Attorney's Office

[adam]

Citizen's arrests are authorized in two circumstances. The most common reason is purely evidenciary and used whenever it is likely that the first responder will lack arrest rights. This is done most often when the act will occur on private property. Consider the law that makes it illegal to film in a theatre. The first person to detain the individual will be either an usher or a security guard and both lack arrest rights. They will call the police but by then its too late, they will have already detained the individual which constitutes and arrest. The camera and film that were used will now be inadmissible at trial. The entire criminal statute will be entirely unenforceable unless Uncle Sam is willing to place Federal authorities in every theatre. The way around this is to just include a citizen's arrest clause. Now the usher's detaining of the individual won't render the evidence inadmissible.

Then there are those citizen's arrests that really are intended to allow the average citizen to take the law into their own hands. These are generally reserved for offenses which are considered a breach of the peace and the logic is that if you have a safe option to stop a serious crime you shouldn't be worried about being sued. An arrest just means to make the person reasonably believe they are not free to leave. Citizen's arrests don't mean to put the guy in the back of your car and take them to the station, they mean to knock the gun out of their hand and hold them down until the police arrive. In many states drunk driving is considered a breach of the peace. You are authorized to block their vehicle in its parking spot with your own vehicle, and this is considered a citizen's arrest.

[yoda313]

Thanks adam and supreme2k.

[mrtristan]

We were having some trouble with people trying to break into our shop for a while. During the worst of it, my brother and I had to head to work every night, when the alarm company called. As much as I'm a pacifist, I was getting really tired of waking up at 2AM and driving to work, so I asked the officer what I could legally do, should we catch the individual(s) in action.

He gave me some advice on how to avoid a lawsuit.

1. Make sure no one is there to see you beat the crap out of the criminal.

2. In the event that there is an audience, yell things like "Stop resisting arrest!" Then, proceed to kick the crap out of them.

3. "He seems to have fallen down, officer. I don't know how he got those bruises."

[thecoalman]

3. "He seems to have fallen down, officer. I don't know how he got those bruises."

My brother and I caught a guy trying to break into his car once, he tried to run away but tripped on an exposed edge of a sidewalk and DID fall down and split his head open. The officer was quite amused when we told him he tripped and fell with a "....sure he did" look.

[ZAPPER]

3. "He seems to have fallen down, officer. I don't know how he got those bruises."

My brother and I caught a guy trying to break into his car once, he tried to run away but tripped on an exposed edge of a sidewalk and DID fall down and split his head open. The officer was quite amused when we told him he tripped and fell with a "....sure he did" look.

A few years ago my brother was a live in night watchman at a junk yard that he did alot of dealing with. So one night after there had been a couple of thefts of tools and such, my brother heard some noises. He grabbed a shotgun and went out to see what was up. He confronted two theives caught in the act. One drew a gun, but my brother shot first. My brother let the unarmed guy run (Why?) and went to call the police. while my brother was gone the now one and a half legged theif crawled off. The police arrived in record time for such a high crime area to find the theif crawling across the road. My brother says that the police laughed and told him that he should have waited a few minutes before calling, it could have saved alot of paper work.

My brother was worried sick, he figured that it would be a big mess in court. Hell, he never even saw the inside of a squadcar let alone a court room. He called a lawyer and told the lawyer that he had just about blown a theifs leg off at the knee. The lawyer said "Don't worry, that guy won't have a leg to stand on in court" My brother did try to follow up on the matter, I mean after all you would think that shooting someone might get a little complicated. It turns out that the theif gave about three alises and managed to disappear from the city hospital. The worse part is that my brother lost a good shotgun out of the deal (seems that it has gone missing from the PD)

The owner of the junkyard that my brother does business with now has a standing deal with a couple of narcotics officers. He pays a thousand dollars for them to finger anyone that rips him off. (lets just say that there ain't too many repeat offenders)

[TooLFooL]

yoda313, i actually did ask a police officer that question, and he said EXACTLY what supreme 2k said.

[b1tchm4gn3t]

He called a lawyer and told the lawyer that he had just about blown a theifs leg off at the knee. The lawyer said "Don't worry, that guy won't have a leg to stand on in court"

hahaha

[adam]

Its not a citizen's arrest if you are just defending yourself or your property. That's just self-defense and you can always use it, to a reasonable degree, regardless of whether the crime you are thwrarting authorizes a citizen's arrest or not. Be careful though, even though its unlikely the state will prosecute you if things get out of hand the other guy/gal can still sue you for damages. That happens alot actually.

BTW: You are generally authorized to use much greater force to protect the destruction of your property as compared to the loss (theft) of your property. So make sure and tell the officer that you were afraid it was going to break or something.

[ZAPPER]

My brother was worried half sick about having to go to court on this one, but everytime that he tried to find out what was going on, he got chuckles and laughs and wisecracks about it. Even the lawyers advice was to wait and see what happens. It was a long time before he even found out that the theif had escaped from the hospital, maybe a year or more? It sure did keep my brother walking a straight line for awhile!

[AlecWest]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but, on citizens' arrests, I've heard that they must be (in all respects) similar to a police arrest. In short, a citizen can't just say, "I arrest you." The citizen must specify the charge by statute or ordinance (just like a police officer would) and must read the suspect his/her rights. And, if the procedure isn't followed exactly, it could be used by the suspect's attorney to claim the suspect's civil rights were violated ... getting the suspect off scot-free on that technicality (and leaving the "citizen" open to a potential lawsuit for false arrest).

[Mister Flonk-Flonk]

Just be careful none of the bullets hit them in the back.

[adam]

No that's not true AlecWest. Citizen's arrests aren't really arrests at all in the sense that you'd think of an officer placing someone under arrest. They occur when you hold the guy down or block his car with yours. Its just any form of detention. And the whole point of adding a citizen's arrest clause to a statute is to remove all formalities for the first responder untill an officer with arrest rights can arrive. The suspect is still going to have to have their Miranda warnings read to them when placed under formal arrest.

Also, you are never acquited and/or not charged just because your civil rights were violated, that just makes all evidence stemming from that violation inadmissible. You can still easily be convicted of a crime on eye-witness testimony alone even if the weapon or any suspect statements end up being suppressed.

[AlecWest]

Adam,
I hear what you're saying but am not referring to a citizen merely detaining a suspect until police arrive. I was referring to a citizen who takes arrest powers in his own hands, takes a suspect into "custody," and transports a suspect to police HQ. But even there, I could be wrong. I don't know much about the issue of citizens arrests ... and would certainly agree that this issue should be taught in high school civics classes so people would know what they can do (and what they should NOT do). Read the Wikipedia article linked to below under the "Dangers" heading (in regards to civil rights violations):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen's_arrest

Another good source of information is the Constitution Society's Guide to Citizens Arrest:

http://www.constitution.org/grossack/arrest.htm

which cites a Massachusetts law allowing suspects to "sue" citizen arresters who may have violated their civil rights.

[adam]

If you physically detain someone that is automatically at least false imprisonment, battery, and assault which are all torts. If your actions fall within the scope of the applicable citizen's arrest statute, assuming there is one for that crime, then you have the defense of privilege. The "dangers" of executing a citizen's arrest are that you will exceed the scope of a lawful citizen's arrest, and thus will subject yourself to at least civil damages. In this instance you are not engaging in a citizen's arrest at all.

Yes if you violate someone's civil rights that opens you up to civil damages but like I said, it won't excuse the suspect's actions. At the most a civil rights violation only causes evidence obtained as a result to be suppressed. They can still be charged and convicted on that evidence that wasn't tainted by the violation.

The part of your post that I said wasn't true was that you are required to cite the law you are relying on and read Miranda in order to execute a lawful citizen's arrest (at least in some cases.) Its not true. Failing to do these things will not result in civil liability or suppression of evidence. They just have no bearing on a citizen, there's no way they'd even know how to do this properly without training.

[MOVIEGEEK]

If someone breaks into my home my dog will make a citizens arrest but I haven't taught him "civil rights".

[AlecWest]

If someone breaks into my home my dog will make a citizens arrest but I haven't taught him "civil rights".

I once saw a small poster you could buy that was all black ... except for two big angry looking yellow eyes in the upper left part, two small angry looking yellow eyes in the lower right part, and a notice below saying:

"Protected By Doberman & Son Security"

[AlecWest]

The part of your post that I said wasn't true was that you are required to cite the law you are relying on and read Miranda in order to execute a lawful citizen's arrest (at least in some cases).

In what cases would it not be true?

[adam]

I intended for those to be your words not mine. It seemed you were saying that "at least in some cases" citizens would be required to quote miranda, etc..., before making a lawful citizen's arrest.

My answer was that this is not true in any cases.