Question For LEO's out there.

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.

I can only tell you the law of this state (Ohio) seems to be directed toward urging the public to give reasonable assistance to police officers in the apprehension of fleeing suspects:

"2921.23 Failure to aid a law enforcement officer.
"(A) No person shall negligently fail or refuse to aid a law enforcement officer, when called upon for assistance in preventing or halting the commission of an offense, or in apprehending or detaining an offender, when such aid can be given without a substantial risk of physical harm to the person giving it.
"(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of failure to aid a law enforcement officer, a minor misdemeanor."

But be careful lest you go too far in our fair Buckeye State:

"3761.03 Damages in case of lynching.
"A person assaulted and lynched by a mob may recover, from the county in which such assault is made, a sum of not to exceed five hundred dollars; or, if the injury received therefrom is serious, a sum of not to exceed one thousand dollars; or, if such injury results in permanent disability to earn a livelihood by manual labor, a sum of not to exceed five thousand dollars."

and:

"3761.07 County's right of action against member of mob.
"The county, in which a lynching occurs, may recover from any of the persons composing a mob the amount of a judgment and costs rendered against it, under sections 3761.01 to 3761.10, inclusive, of the Revised Code, in favor of the legal representatives of a person killed or seriously injured by such mob. A person present, with hostile intent, at a lynching is a member of the mob and is liable under this section."

So there.


Frank2135

Martin,

As far as California goes, in addition to Penal Code section 150, you may want to check out section 830.6(c), it says:
"Whenever any person is summoned to the aid of any uniformed peace officer, the summoned person is vested with the powers of a peace officer that are expressly delegated to him or her by the summoning officer or that are otherwise reasonably necessary to properly assist the officer."

On a practical level, in over 18 years of law enforcement experience covering courts, jail, patrol, riots (Remember Rodney?), and natural disasters, I have never nor have I ever heard of anyone deputizing a private citizen.

An interesting sidenote is Calif. Code of Civil Procedure section 211:
"When a court has no prospective jurors remaining available for voir dire from panels furnished by the jury commissioner...the court may direct the Sheriff to summon, serve, and immediately attach the person of a sufficient number of citizens having the qualifications of jurors, to complete the panel."

So you could be sitting in Starbucks enjoying your iced latte, and one of my partners could walk up and say, "Guess what? You're now on a Jury panel!"

part 1: I didn't think so, but I live in PA, not CA, I can't find anything like a LEO "deputizing" anyone.

part 2: I just served jury duty and there was a newpaper clipping, which I later found online about just what you say:

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?archiveDate=05-22-02&storyID=12115

These "instant" jury duty summonses was news to me, but I sort of chuckled, thinking to myself, "I wonder which one is less likely to happen, to be deputized or to be served a summons on the street for jury duty?" I figured that both would be one of those events you'd never see in your lifetime.

But funny thing, I just ran across this news article that describes exactly that scenario, with deputies handing out summonses at a Wal-Mart. The article says that less than half of people sent jury duty notices actually serve. Besides deliberate no-shows, that number includes those excused for various reasons, those ineligible, and for notices sent to old addresses. But it sounds like many jurisdictions do face a problem with a thin supply of jurors. Since I just did my jury duty a week ago (was on a jury panel but was excused during voir dire), it's a topic sort of near to my heart at the moment.

In Oklahoma a "Peace Officer" can request assistance from an adult, the adult then becomes an agent of the officer's department or agency for the action requested. Say in making an arrest of a person, or helping get the word out that there is a fire in the building.

I do not know the legal ramifications IF that person gets hurt, but in Oklahoma, once again there is the good samaritan law that allows an individual to assist others (like giving first-aid or cpr) with out worry of civil litigation if they injure a person while helping them.

Only the "Sherrif" could legally "Deputize" a person. Peace officers in Oklahoma can be Sherrif's, deputies, police officers, rangers, agents, special agents, etc....

Two things of note here:

LEOs running around conscripting citizens for jury duty is yet another good reason for me to keep an out of state driver's license on hand.

What does the LEO do if he solicits aid from a conscientious objector, who is unwilling to use physical force against another person? I would say the jurisdiction would be pre-empted from prosecuting the would-be derelict due to a violation of his civil rights, much the same as restrictions against drafting c-o's into the army.

My guess would be that if a LEO is in such deep doodoo that he has to "deputize" some passing citizen, and the citizen just keeps on walking, the last thing the LEO is going to be able to do is go after the citizen for failing to assist him, since the LEO already has more on his hands than he can handle...

Yep, I'd tend to agree with that. I can imagine it would not fare well to happen across that LEO later and have him recognize you going by. Might not have such a pleasant conversation then...

Jury duty is a CIVIL matter. In Oklahoma it is via mailed subpoena. Also the Sherrif's department is responsible for enforcing CIVIL matters, such as property issues.

Also usually in Oklahoma, if people see the police need help, they help.