Citizen's arrest
A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a private citizen – a person who is not acting as a sworn law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval England and the English common law, in which sheriffs encouraged ordinary citizens to help apprehend law breakers.
Legal and political aspects
Anyone who makes a citizen's arrest can find themselves facing possible lawsuits or criminal charges if the wrong person is apprehended or a suspect's civil rights are violated. This is especially true when police forces are attempting to determine who an aggressor is. Private citizens do not enjoy the same immunity from civil liability when making arrests on other private citizens as police officers do.The level of responsibility that a person performing a citizen's arrest may bear depends on the jurisdiction. For instance, in France and Germany, a person stopping a criminal from committing a crime, including crimes against belongings, is not criminally responsible as long as the means employed are in proportion to the threat. In both countries, this results from a different legal norm, "aid to others in immediate danger", which is concerned with prevention, not prosecution, of crimes.
Laws by region
Australia
In Australia, the power to arrest is granted by both federal and state legislation; however, the exact power granted differs depending on jurisdiction. The power to arrest for a federal offence is granted by section 3Z of the Crimes Act 1914. Under the Act, a person who is not a police constable may, without warrant, arrest another person if they believe on reasonable grounds that:- the other person is committing or has just committed an indictable offence; and
- proceedings by summons against the other person would not: ensure the appearance of the person before a court in respect of the offence; prevent a repetition or continuation of the offence or the commission of another offence; prevent the concealment, loss or destruction of evidence relating to the offence; prevent harassment of, or interference with, a person who may be required to give evidence in proceedings in respect of the offence; prevent the fabrication of evidence in respect of the offence; or would not preserve the safety or welfare of the person.
Generally speaking, as regards the law in Australia: Where it is clear on the evidence that a private citizen, or security officer, in detaining a suspect, acted reasonably and the suspect unreasonably, then it is likely that the court will find in favour of the citizen or security officer and against the suspect if that suspect chooses, later, to sue the citizen for assault or false imprisonment. In other circumstances where, e.g. a property owner arrests a thief in a manner, and in circumstances, disproportionate to the likely harm to the victim, and in clear defiance of the rights of the suspect, then the court is very likely to find in favour of the suspect. The courts may order compensation for such suspects in appropriate circumstances.
New South Wales
In the Australian state of New South Wales, the power to arrest is granted to anyone who is not a police officer by section 100 of the Law Enforcement Act 2002. Under the Act, a person may, without a warrant, arrest another person if:- the person is in the act of committing an offence under any Act or statutory instrument, or
- the person has just committed any such offence, or
- the person has committed a serious indictable offence for which the person has not been tried.
According to the Law Society of New South Wales, the arresting person should:
- inform the person that they are under arrest and
- inform the person of the reasons for the arrest.
Queensland
Section 260 of the Act also provides a power to arrest in preventing a breach of the peace:
Following the arrest, the person arrested must, without delay, be handed over to a justice of the peace or police officer, in accordance with section 552 of the Criminal Code. Legal advice should then be sought to avoid any possible legal action for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment or assault.
South Australia
Section 271 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 grants arrest powers to a person in South Australia.Tasmania
Under the Police Offences Act 1935, section 55, any person may arrest any other person whom they find committing an offence, where they have reasonable grounds to believe that the conduct will create or may involve substantial injury to another person, serious danger of such injury, loss of property or serious injury to property. Section 55 states "For the purposes of this section, a person is said to be 'found offending' if he does any act, or makes any omission, or conducts or behaves himself, and thereby causes a person who finds him reasonable grounds for believing that he has, in respect of such act, omission, or conduct, committed an offence against this Act." There are further provisions in section 301 of the Criminal Code Act 1924 that appear to allow a sliding scale of force in executing an arrest.Victoria
In the Australian state of Victoria, the power to arrest is granted in section 458 of the Crimes Act 1958. It states that a person may, without a warrant, arrest a person that they find committing an offence for one or more of the following reasons:- to ensure the appearance of the offender in court, and/or
- to preserve public order, and/or
- to prevent the continuation or repetition of the offence, or the commission of a further offence, and/or
- for the safety or welfare of the public or the offender.
Section 461 states that if an arrest is made under section 458 of the Crimes Act, and is later proven to be false, then the arrest itself will not be considered unlawful if it was made on reasonable grounds. Section 462A allows any person the right to use force "not disproportionate to the objective as he believes on reasonable grounds to be necessary to prevent the commission, continuance or completion of an indictable offence or to effect or assist in effecting the lawful arrest of a person committing or suspected of committing any offence".
Western Australia
It was only in 2004 that the Western Australian parliament repealed the provisions of the former section 47 of the Police Act 1892 which allowed any person to arrest without a warrant "any reputed common prostitute, thief, loose, idle or disorderly person, who, within view of such person apprehending, shall offend against this Act, and shall forthwith deliver him to any constable or police officer of the place where he shall have been apprehended, to be taken and conveyed before a Justice, to be dealt with according to law..." A private citizen would have found it rather difficult to interpret the terms "loose" or "idle" with any degree of legal certainty. Citizen's arrest powers are now in section 25 of the Criminal Investigation Act 2006.The Territories
;Northern Territory;Australian Capital Territory
Austria
In Austria, citizen's arrests can be made under § 80 Abs 2 StPO. The person making the arrest is allowed to hold the arrestee solely for the purpose of turning him over to a proper legal authority such as the police.Brazil
In Brazil, a Federal law allows any person to arrest a suspect criminal found in flagrante delicto or fleeing from the crime scene. The person has to, at his/her own judgment, have the physical power to keep the suspect detained, has to verbally explain what he is doing to the arrestee and has to call the police. Both have to wait for the arrival of the police. The person who makes a citizen's arrest has to sign the police forms as a witness and explain the facts. Typically it will lead to a time burden of at least two hours. If the facts cannot be verified the person who realizes the citizen's arrest might be sued by the arrestee.Canada
Federal law
's blanket arrest authorities for crimes or violations of federal statutes are found in the Criminal Code. In Canada, a criminal offence is any offence that is created by a federal statute—there are no "provincial crimes".Criminal offences are divided into three groups: indictable, dual procedure, and summary conviction. For the purposes of arrest, dual procedure offences are considered to be indictable.
The Criminal Code provisions related to citizen arrests were changed in 2012, by the Citizen's Arrest and Self-defence Act. As a consequence, it is now possible to make a citizen's arrest in Canada in circumstances where a "reasonable" amount of time has lapsed between the commission of a property-related offence and the arrest.