ever been threatened with arrest after making an arrest?

[locknid]

here in AZ a private person can make an arrest for any felony, and misdomeanors which amount to a breach of peace. The company I work for is pro-active in making contacts, searches, etc at apt complexes which range from super ghetto(most) to super nice. In a single night there are usually 10-15 arrests across all our properties depending on the night. I personally have my fair share and have had good experiences with the LEOs which come to transport the subject. There have been problems though where certain LEOs do not know the private person arrest laws and actually threaten to arrest the s/o with false imprisonment or kidnapping. It has never happened to me but it has happened to other s/o with the company. Usually the SGT of the LEO gets a nice call the next morning from our LT to let him know the conduct of his officer, and it usually doesn't happen again.

Now to the question. Have any of you guys been threatened with false imprisonment or kidnapping after making an arrest(or detaining) depending on your state laws?

[ycaso77]

I would assume you're talking about "citizens arrest" unless you have some statute that allows private security to detain a suspect until the arrival of local LE. I know of several cases where private security at various locations ( malls, private companies, apartments) have been charged with false arrest and/or imprisonment. It's a case by case basis decided entirely by local/state statutes for the most part.

[locknid]

No here in AZ it is kind of crazy what we can do. They are called private person arrests, and it is just that an arrest. we are not allowed to detain unless it is for shoplifting at a store. In AZ being a s/o does not cancel out your right to private person arrest. WHen we make an arrest it is legit, the LEO hears what happened and talks with the subject and then transports him just like he had made the arrest.

13-3884. Arrest by private person

A private person may make an arrest:

1. When the person to be arrested has in his presence committed a misdemeanor amounting to a breach of the peace, or a felony.

2. When a felony has been in fact committed and he has reasonable ground to believe that the person to be arrested has committed it.

13-3889. Method of arrest by private person

A private person when making an arrest shall inform the person to be arrested of the intention to arrest him and the cause of the arrest, unless he is then engaged in the commission of an offense, or is pursued immediately after its commission or after an escape, or flees or forcibly resists before the person making the arrest has opportunity so to inform him, or when the giving of such information will imperil the arrest.

we are also allowed to use whatever force needed to make the arrest as long as the force is justified. It has never happened to me but after some other s/o's with my company made a perfectly legit private person the responding LEO threatened the s/o with arrest for false imprisonment or kidnapping because of their ignorance of certain ARS codes. I was just wondering if anyone here has either been arrested or threatened to be arrested by the responding LEO.

[ycaso77]

Let me see if I understand this- you can detain only for shoplifting in your area. But how do you arrrest someone without detaining them? It sounds similair to apprehension in the military, where military police detain a suspect until an nco or commisioned officer authorizes the formal arrest of the subject for specified charges. Basically it sounds like you make a complaint as a witness to responding officers based on a citizens arrest law. The detaining part is still throwing me off though.

[publicsafetyred]

Arizona's CA laws seem very simular to California's.

[bigdog]

ok according to what hes saying detain is hold for investigation, and if its the wrong guy or something let him go . arrest is , in his state , im guessing, is you assume the role of arresting officer the pd just transports. its like california the police officer has to approve it as a valid arrest.

[bigdog]

your lucky our citizens arrest powers are based on caselaw that almost no cop knows about. It is for breach of peace or felonies. Getting a cop to agree a non leo to arrest in FL is hard as hell. THe court calls it a citizens arrest but the laws call it detain. Oh and unless its a felony they try to pull the false imprisonment card. Until i pull out the case law and they say "hmm i didnt know that."

[N. A. Corbier]

Let me see if I understand this- you can detain only for shoplifting in your area. But how do you arrrest someone without detaining them? It sounds similair to apprehension in the military, where military police detain a suspect until an nco or commisioned officer authorizes the formal arrest of the subject for specified charges. Basically it sounds like you make a complaint as a witness to responding officers based on a citizens arrest law. The detaining part is still throwing me off though.

Detainment, for the purposes of investigation pursuant to developing probable cause for an arrest, is the provience of public law enforcement. Some states authorize a retail store employee or agent to take a person into detainment to develop probable cause for the retail theft arrest, or for the purposes of recovering merchandise through civil action (Give it to me, we let you go.)

This is not an arrest, because you have not determined enough information to form probable cause yet. If you have determined probable cause, your state may not authorize you to make a citizen's arrest for the misdemeanor / non-breach of the peace crime of "petit theft (retail redefinition)." Therefore, a specfic statute must authorize you to make a detainment, and authorize the police officer to make a misdemeanor arrest based on your investigation (which would normally be considered heresay and not enough for a misdemanor arrest by a LEO.)

In CA and AZ, and several other states, a private person has codified arrest powers which enable them to make arrests in the name of the state (citizen's arrest), issue lawful orders compelling the offender to accompany them to a magistrate, and use force to ensure complaince with the lawful order (actually physically arresting them.)

Since the police transport to the jail and present to the magistrate, most folks just turn them over to the cops.

In CA, you can lawfully transport your prisoner to a jail, then book them in yourself. You had best be prepared to fill out a booking report, arrest affidavit, and the rest of the paperwork, or your arrest may be deemed invalid due to procedural issues.

The thing, of course, is that a private person's arrest offers no civil or criminal immunity to liability, whereas a public law enforcement officer's arrest has the full immunity that the state provides.

[N. A. Corbier]

BTW, most security officers have never had to make a private arrest, either due to company policy or client request.

This doesn't come up that much.

[locknid]

BTW, most security officers have never had to make a private arrest, either due to company policy or client request.

This doesn't come up that much.

wow, huh we must be an exception then. we are encouraged to make arrests if you feel comfortable doing it, it is not mandatory though. most of our clients are apartment complexes which are in bad areas, poor, and have high crime rates. I have made arrests from simple trespassing(wife beater kept coming back) to burglury, to large amounts of dope. we do consentual searches and all that fun stuff, most are armed posts. At the nicer properties I tend to stay hands off because they usually complain about that stuff moreso.

[LavianoTS386]

My post orders say nothing about misdomeanors but they do say "ensure felony violators are arrested." That being said we do not carry handcuffs or weapons of any kind, so I don't think arresting a person who comitted a felony is something that I'm going to worry about executing personally.

[N. A. Corbier]

I work with S.C.OP's, so the threat of making false arrest has not come up (yet) since we started the program in 2004.

This is what we deal with quite often: "You arrested him, he's your prisoner, why did you call us"?

That'd be my question. Your the special, he's your prisoner, I'm not going to fill out your booking sheet and arrest affidavit...

Do the guys you train have transport units, or do they have to beg/command the local SO to transport?

[locknid]

In our ARS codes it states that once we have them under arrest we call the police to transport them to a magistrate. It is against our policy to transport prisoners, i don't know whether it is against the law or not. Most of the employees are not equiped to transfer people in their vehicles.

If you want to see what I carry to work just check out the post in the equipment section. along with that is a level IIA vest, soon to be IIIA when I get the money. I have used everything one my belt except for the gun thankfully.

I also carry a digital voice recorder because sometimes(not often) police are iffy about whether or not I got consent to search, so then i bust out the recording and show how stupid the guy with a baggie of coke and a meth pipe was to let me search him.

[Tennsix]

What happens if the police won't or can't transport?

[knotquiteawake]

i know in my case if the Sheriff won't transport we have to cut the guy loose. But they are usually good about honoring our arrests and transporting if the crime is serious enough. Most trespassers, unless we can show previous FI cards are cut lose or their parents are called to pick up.