Can you citizens arrest a cop

In order to encourage citizens to leave arrests to the professionals, laws in almost all states afford less protection to private citizens who make mistakes during the arrest process than they do to police officers. While state laws vary, many states require the citizen to turn over the suspect to the police without delay.

The citizen cannot take justice into his or her own hands. It's sometimes considered a citizen arrest even when a private person reports a misdemeanor offense but lets the police handle the actual arrest. Say a citizen witnesses a shoplifter and calls the police. When the police arrive, the officer arrests the shoplifter.

The arrest may be valid under what's called the "delegated citizen's arrest. Why do we care who does the actual arresting? Because, generally, neither private citizens nor police officers can make warrantless arrests for misdemeanors they don't personally witness.

A citizen who witnesses a misdemeanor has arrest authority. A police officer who witnesses a misdemeanor has arrest authority. But in the case of the citizen witnessing the offense and the officer making the arrest, we have a gap in arrest authority—the citizen has it, the officer does not. To fill this gap, some states allow a delegated citizen's arrest, which transfers the citizen's arrest authority to the officer.

So in the case of the shoplifter, the citizen who witnessed the offense delegates her arrest authority to the officer—making the officer's arrest valid. Police officers have much more leeway in conducting arrests. For example, if they arrest someone they reasonably but mistakenly believe to have committed a felony, they're probably in the clear. But a private citizen who arrests someone for an apparent—but not actual—felony might be liable to the arrestee for a tort like false imprisonment.

Example 1. While eating lunch in the park, Ella Mentry thinks she has overheard two people talking about a plan to rob Haro's Jewelry Store.

As the two people walk away, Ella realizes that one of the individuals is her next-door neighbor. About an hour later, Ella sees a crowd and two police officers gathered in front of Haro's.

She immediately rushes to the neighbor's house and places him under arrest for robbery. It turns out, however, that there was no robbery—the police and crowd had gathered for a diamond-cutting demonstration. Ella is civilly liable to her neighbor and may have to pay damages to compensate for the time, trouble, and distress of the improper arrest. Example 2. Same case. Assume that after overhearing her neighbor talking about what she thought was a plan to rob Haro's, Ella tells Officer Chang what she heard.

Michael Steinberg Home. Free Consultation Emergency? The first is Arrest by a private person. Authority of Person Not a Peace Officer to Make an Arrest A person who is not a peace officer may arrest another person when any crime has been or is being committed by the arrested person in the presence of the person making the arrest.

Assisting peace officer arrest furnishing information immunity. A peace officer making an arrest may command the assistance of any person who is in the vicinity. A person commanded to assist a peace officer has the same authority to arrest as the officer who commands his assistance. A person commanded to assist a peace officer in making an arrest shall not be civilly or criminally liable for any reasonable conduct in aid of the officer or for any acts expressly directed by the officer.

Private citizens, acting in good faith, shall be immune from any civil liability for reporting to any police officer or law enforcement authority the commission or suspected commission of any crime or for giving other information to aid in the prevention of any crime.

Refusing to aid a peace officer. Denver Code of Ordinances Revised Municipal Duty of citizens to aid police officers It shall be the duty of all persons, when called upon by any police officer, member of the police department, or person duly empowered with police authority, promptly to aid and assist such officer, member or person in the discharge of their duties. Use of physical force in making an arrest or in preventing an escape [HMS The first sections only apply to the police] Except as provided in subsection 2 of this section, a peace officer is justified in using reasonable and appropriate physical force upon another person when and to the extent that he reasonably believes it necessary: To effect an arrest or to prevent the escape from custody of an arrested person unless he knows that the arrest is unauthorized; or To defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of physical force while effecting or attempting to effect such an arrest or while preventing or attempting to prevent such an escape.

A peace officer is justified in using deadly physical force upon another person for a purpose specified in subsection 1 of this section only when he reasonably believes that it is necessary: To defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of deadly physical force; or To effect an arrest, or to prevent the escape from custody, of a person whom he reasonably believes: Has committed or attempted to commit a felony involving the use or threatened use of a deadly weapon; or Is attempting to escape by the use of a deadly weapon; or Otherwise indicates, except through a motor vehicle violation, that he is likely to endanger human life or to inflict serious bodily injury to another unless apprehended without delay.

Nothing in subsection 2 b of this section shall be deemed to constitute justification for reckless or criminally negligent conduct by a peace officer amounting to an offense against or with respect to innocent persons whom he is not seeking to arrest or retain in custody. For purposes of this section, a reasonable belief that a person has committed an offense means a reasonable belief in facts or circumstances which if true would in law constitute an offense.

If the believed facts or circumstances would not in law constitute an offense, an erroneous though not unreasonable belief that the law is otherwise does not render justifiable the use of force to make an arrest or to prevent an escape from custody.

A peace officer who is effecting an arrest pursuant to a warrant is justified in using the physical force prescribed in subsections 1 and 2 of this section unless the warrant is invalid and is known by the officer to be invalid.

A person who has been directed to assist a peace officer under circumstances specified in subsection 5 of this section may use deadly physical force to effect an arrest or to prevent an escape only when: He reasonably believes that force to be necessary to defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of deadly physical force; or He is directed or authorized by the peace officer to use deadly physical force and does not know, if that happens to be the case, that the peace officer himself is not authorized to use deadly physical force under the circumstances.

Under these circumstances the Good Samaritan is immune from civil damages here is the law: Preventing a crime reimbursement Any person who is not a peace officer as defined in section 5 , C. RE: Citizen's Arrest--Standards. You asked whether our law limits a person ' s authority to make a citizen ' s arrest to offenses that occur in the citizen ' s presence.

As you know the Office of Legislative Research is not authorized to give legal opinions and this report should not be considered one. Based on the language used in several court cases, our law allows a citizen to make an arrest if the offense occurs in his presence. Unfortunately, few Connecticut cases deal with the authority of a citizen to make an arrest and the cases are old. Also, we could not find a Connecticut case that explicitly turned on the issue of whether the offense had to occur in the citizen ' s presence for him to be able to legally make the arrest.

Thus, it is not clear whether this is an absolute prerequisite under all circumstances.