Are you aware of what circumstances would cause a civilian to be "deputized" so that they are effectively an LEO for a period of time?
There's some question I'm seeking to resolve related to this matter.

Not sure if this is quite what you're thinking about when you're referring to "deputizing", but I just found the section of California's statutes regarding posse comitatus:

Section 150 of the California penal code

150. Every able-bodied person above 18 years of age who neglects or refuses to join the posse comitatus or power of the county, by neglecting or refusing to aid and assist in taking or arresting any person against whom there may be issued any process, or by neglecting to aid and assist in retaking any person who, after being arrested or confined, may have escaped from arrest or imprisonment, or by neglecting or refusing to aid and assist in preventing any breach of the peace, or the commission of any criminal offense, being thereto lawfully required by any uniformed peace officer, or by any peace officer who identifies himself or herself with a badge or identification card issued by the officer's employing agency, or by any judge, is punishable by a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).

The wording sounds fairly broad. Sounds like you could deputize civillians to do anything from: serve an arrest warrant, to help chase an escaped prisoner, to help quell a riot, and maybe patrol a neighborhood to prevent looting, etc. Hmmm, or if an officer is wrestling with a suspect and asks a bystander for help to subdue the person, I guess the LEO is technically invoking posse comitatus on the civillian. I had never thought of it that way until now.

Anyway, hope that helps. And I am not a lawyer nor an LEO, nor do I play one on TV.

I was a LEO in CA for a long time, and was well aware of that section. However, unless it was a life an death situation (and maybe not even then), I would never do it. As soon as you "deputize" someone, all kinds of civil liabilities come into play. If your "deputy" gets hurt, is he/she covered by workmans comp? And if not, who is responsible. Probably me. How about if the "deputy" gets killed? I put him/her into a deadly situation with no training, no equipment, no nothing. Nothing but bad could come of this in todays world. This section was probably whipped up in the days of cowboys and Indians; form a posse to go chase the guys who robbed the stagecoach. No lawyers back then to sit back and pick you to death for what you did.

A bunch of years ago an officer I worked with got shot about six times by a BG with a Tech-9. The BG disappeared into the darkness alongside of rural I-5. A truck driver saw what was happening and stopped to help. The officer gave him the shotgun from the patrol car (thinking that he was going to pass out), and gave him a description of the BG, worrying that the BG was going to circle around and start shooting again. That didn't happen, and a responding officer caught the BG. The officer, even tho the truck driver had voluntarily stopped to help, got ripped by the department for arming a civilian. Go figure...

In the Federal system, an agent can "deputize" whomever he needs for emergency assistance.... as in OBG's scenario above. The key is, of course, "emergency" assistance. What I'm unsure about is whether or not there is a penalty for refusing to assist.

Can you elaborate on the basis for your question, Martin?

I can't elaborate, sorry. I just needed some case examples of a LEO Deputizing a person or persons.

Well, no LEO's except OBG have chimed in, so I'll add one more thing. Actually, it's not clear what you're asking for, Martin. I mean, the bit of California's state law does outline what circumstances a posse comitatus could be called out, at least in California. Is that not what you're after?

The only example I have been able to find so far of a modern use of the posse comitatus (multiple civilians) happened in 1977 in Aspen, Colorado. Ted Bundy escaped from the jail and local civilians were called out, armed with their own weapons, to hunt him down.

I did run across this fascinating bit of posse comitatus trivia. Francis Scott Key probably would never have written the Star Spangled Banner if it weren't for a Maryland posse comitatus formed to capture some British soldiers causing mayhem in the county. Without the posse, Francis Scott Key would never have been on the ship watching the British attack Ft. McHenry, and would not have been so moved and inspired to see the American flag still flying proudly come morning that he then composed the Star Spangled Banner. You can read more about this story here .

I've been directed by LEOs to render armed assistance in the past, and I would say that it is entirely the discretion of the individual LEO. I believe they are warranted to recruit aid at any time from anyone, but they are responsible at least in part for what then transpires. I discussed this with a Washington State Patrol Seargent once, and he put it like this: If he was chasing a bad guy, and he yelled at someone in the BGs path to "stop him", the person might just think that means to shoot the BG, and pull out his hand cannon and blow the man down. Now obviously the idiot that does that is going to go to court, but the cop may be standing right beside him in court when he does.

Anyways, I've received such direction from local Police Chiefs to Sheriffs to Military Police, and they pretty much all act the same. I am sure that it is predicated on how well they know the person they are ordering and whether they trust that person's judgement or not, and how imminent the situation at hand was. I can tell you in a firefight they are going to appreciate any qualified help they can get if it is going against them.

As to particular laws, well, I'd say what you found pretty much spells it out. That seems to be a fairly common position in most jurisdictions.

One other thing, don't expect a police dog to obey your commands just because the patrolman recruited you. As far as they are concerned, everyone not the patrolman is a bad guy, inlcuding other patrolmen sometimes (LOL)...

That's exactly what I was looking for. I need to cite actual cases of this happening in the real world, and I'm wondering what, exactly, happened. Contact me via PM if you can provide a situational discussion with more detail.

By the way, the Grandy Buldozer guy was a more recent case.

Last summer while we were in Alaska a LEO, might have been fish and game type, got into a shooting with a BG. Some civilian stepped up and drilled the BG. I don't know if he was asked/directed to, or just did it. I tried to find something by googling, but my aircard/slower than dialup internet just takes too long. You can try if you are interested...

Do you have any links with details about this or elaborate a bit on it? I just read a half dozen different accounts about the Granby, Colo. incident and none of them mention any civillians getting involved during the bulldozer rampage, just deputies, state troopers, park rangers, and SWAT from the adjacent Jefferson County.

There was one mention of The Posse Comitatus Act in one of the articles about this incident that I read, but that's different from what we're talking about here.