Comments on: How to Make a Citizen’s Arrest

By: Mike (U.S. Army Vet.)

Mike (U.S. Army Vet.) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 10:50:48 +0000

I live in Hawaii, and some no good scumbag threatened to slice me up after he started talking to me about drugs and I had kindly informed him that I don’t do drugs. So I called the police and gave them a report and asked to have him arrested on grounds of terroristic threatening, and all they did was talk to the guy and let him go! Some messed up system I served for man. What good is this system when it keeps letting violent offenders roam free to hurt more people? That’s all I’m saying…

By: CE Ramsey

CE Ramsey — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 04:01:37 +0000

In this PC age, when certain crimes by certain ethnic groups are committed and go ignored by the constabulary, I think citizen’s arrests can be a fine thing. i’ve read of many instances when they don’t bother to show up, or when they do, don’t arrest the culprits. i do believe it would send a message both to peretrators and their enablers that their conduct is not considered civilized behavior, and that we expect them to be suitably chastened for it.

By: Dave Johnnylaw JD, Northwestern California U of L

Dave Johnnylaw JD, Northwestern California U of L — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:55:55 +0000

That’s funny that “Every state in the U.S., except for a few states like North Carolina and Washington,,” And there goes Gomer Pyle handing out citizens arrests to Deputy Fife in Mayberry….North Carolina. I guess the Andy Griffith’s legal continuity consultant was off that day.

By: MAN

MAN — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 01:18:22 +0000

I AM THE MANLY MAN

By: Henriette

Henriette — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 14:20:36 +0000

Made me remember a police poster I saw a few years ago. Call the emergency number. Make sure you get a good description of the offenders. Take pictures if possible with your phone. This was after some highly publizised cases were someone actively intervened and got beaten to death. A good witness is more valuable then another victim.
Also, I would like to add, that before you run after a fleeing offender, make sure the victim is going to be okay or attented to. Running three blocks yelling stop, and not knowing if you will catch up, won’t do much good for someone with a serious injury.

By: John Fiscal

John Fiscal — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 10:17:51 +0000

I think that citizens arrests are great on paper, but in practice, there are these pesky things called humans rights, and it’s fine and dandy to detain me for committing a felony, but to me, you’re some guy trying to kidnap me, with no evidence, and you’re not even wearing a uniform- so any reasonable doubt that you are in a position of authority isn’t there

LEO’s have to jump through a fair bit of BS to arrest someone legally, and even then it can be quite shaky, but those regulations and statutes are there to protect the detainer and detainee

With citizens arrests there is no such thing- Your ‘reasonable doubt’ might be garbage, you’ll probably get shot for trying to kidnap someone, and all in all you’ll have a bad day.

You are MUCH better off calling the police and giving them any evidence you have

By: Kenny

Kenny — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:20:41 +0000

Always be careful when performing a citizens arrest. You never know who you could be subduing. You could be dealing with a murderer who just killed a dozen people and won’t be afraid to kill you. Or you could have a suspect pull a weapon. I always assume the extreme when dealing with criminals. If they are crazy enough to violate a law they probably are crazy enough to put up some sort of resistance

By: Tink34

Tink34 — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:03:25 +0000

I encountered a situation where a hot head decided to stop a teen from getting change out of someone’s car…put a gun to his head and threatened to kill him if he moved before the police arrived…dragged him across the street and put the gun to his head again and informed him that he had hollow point bullets and wasn’t afraid to use it. I don’t agree with theft, but this seemed a bit excessive

By: RealitiCzech

RealitiCzech — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:45:51 +0000

“I’m 16 in a small town and I saw this guy thats like 19 slam this girl into a wall. So I tackle him tell her to call the cops and I find myself in hot water for assault? Yay for the justice system!”
Don’t mess around with domestic violence. You can call it in to the cops, but don’t interfere unless you know the person very, very well (blood relative, wife, maybe a GF). You would be better off trying to fistfight a suicide bomber than interfere with DV. Even cops hate messing with DV situations, because the party used as the punching bag will usually deny everything and say they tripped or fell. And if you decide to knock the guy down, chances are the girl will start beating on you with the nearest rock. It’s deeply messed up, but that’s the way it is.

By: Jeremy Fletcher

Jeremy Fletcher — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:54:50 +0000

Speaking from a law enforcement point of view, I enjoyed this article. I would definitely agree with the author that you must always consider your own personal safety first when making a citizen’s arrest. Remember that a car being broken into is still just a material object that can be repaired/replaced. I believe the smartest and safest thing to do is to be the BEST witness possible. This is of course unless the crime presents an immediate threat to someone’s life then do what you need to do. I have seen many accused criminals not held accountable for their crimes because the witness(es) were not that great. If you can observe everything that is going on with the bad guy while relaying that to authorities until their arrival, it can be extremely helpful. In CA you can even let the authorities know that you want to place someone under citizen’s arrest (misdemeanors) once they have safely detained the individual, as long as you witnessed the person commit the crime.