Can you do a citizen's arrest on a Police Officer for wasting Police time?

Question

Just wondering, as you see stories of people being arrested for ridiculous things only for the case to ultimately be thrown out of court in the papers all the time.

Answer 1

Any citizen can arrest anyone whom they observe in the commission of a felony.

He could be charged with malfeasance, misfeasance and/

or non-feasance, but those are misdemeanors.

Cops do get scolded by judges sometimes for silly cases.

Answer 2

No, and if you try to arrest him, you can be charged with obstructing a police officer on duty. Not everyone thinks alike policemen inclusive, I heard a Magistrate tick off a senior police inspector " why are you wasting the court's time over a trivial matter like this ?" Actually the inspector was only presenting the case and had nothing to do with the arrests and all. But still it was embarrassing as the remarks reflected badly on the efficiency of the police on the whole. So if you think the Officer was rude and wasting time you can take his name and number down and make an official complaint. Every policemen is equipped with a notebook to note down every incident and the action taken, including the time. There are no gaps between lines and any mistakes or alterations are initialed and if its a statement from you, you are obliged to sign on each page and at the end of the statement. So, when he's being interviewed by the c.a.p.d. he will be asked to show his notebook and if he didn't note down any incident of your complaint then he's got a lot of explaining to do.

Answer 3

I think you'll find that the Police are duty bound to uphold the law 'without fear or favour' and to be non bias and impartial.



We don't make the laws, we just work to uphold them.



As for the case being thrown out of Court, that's down to the Courts and the CPS. There are also many valid cases that get thrown out. Trust me, I'm in a position to know and I've seen it happen many times.



Please do your research before you start pointing the finger in the wrong direction and if you have a complaint, direct it at the government who make the rules.



As for you 'question', try it. You only have to have reasonable ground to suspect an arrestable offence has been committed. You might have to do a bit more research first though and your necessity for arrest will be interesting. (Section 24 PACE, SOCAP 2006)

Answer 4

Sounds like something out of Little Britain or something from that new TV show I saw the other day called The IT Crowd. I think that might make a funny scene where citizens start arresting the police instead or people robbing banks with Champagne bottles. See everyone duck before opening them? Hey officer lie down or I'll shoot you with this kork! I was not robbing the bank, just opening it up in the bank cause I was thirsty! I hearby arrest you officer for trying arrest me for robbing a bank which I was'nt realy robbing...

Answer 5

There is no such offence as wasting police time. This is tabloidspeak for making a false report to any person which causes fear for the safety of any person or property. The wording is not exact, but I haven't looked it up. So, if a police officer tells you there is a bomb in your handbag and there isn't .................



And citizen's arrest is also tabloidspeak. You can't just arrest someone who does something that you think is naughty. If the police have to stick to strict rules, so would you.

Answer 6

No, unfortunately wasting police time is not grounds for a citizen's arrest on a police officer. I used to work various shifts in a psychiatric ER in a rural county next to the county in which I live, and there was a state trooper who harrassed me more than once around the midnight hour while I was driving to or from work. I finally called his supervisor and told his supervisor I was Public Health Officer and I was going to pink slip him to a psychiatric hospital as a danger to others, specifically me, if he continued to harrass me as I was driving to or from work in the middle of the night. The harrassment stopped.

Answer 7

What you need to do is document the case by photgraphing or videotaping the events as they happen. You build your case over a period of time and get as many instances of non-performance behaviour as eveidence as you can. Then you take it all to a television net work and speak to the producer of a current affairs or news programme. Or you could put the evidence on www.youtube.com for the whole world to see. You need to know that you will probably become the target of every police officer who wants to nail your hide to the wall by booking you for every infringement you make and some you don't make.

Answer 8

Let's say you put a police officer who is on the clock in custody and effect a citizen's arrest on him/her and detain the officer for an indeterminite length of time. Is that not forcing a waste of police time?

Answer 9

Wasting Police time is not something you could arrest a Police Officer for - the Police decide what is a waste of their time.



but I get the point you are making

Answer 10

Why don't you try it and let us know how it goes??? I would be interested to find out!



Stop being a hater. Accept that whatever you did that earned you a meeting with the police was your fault and you have to live with your choices. Don't hate the good officers who are out there every day risking their lives to protect you and everyone else in the community (even the police haters).

Answer 11

if you feel that the officer is wasting time, approach the officer and ask for him name and badge number and then go to the closest police precinct and report him, which will probably eat a lot of your free time with paper work and making new enemies and etc, in which case you would have been better off ignoring the police officer in the first place.

Answer 12

A citizen's arrest can only be made when the citizen witnesses a felony being committed.

Answer 13

No.

But since you are a taxpayer, and the city/county/state is paying the Officer with your money, you might try to sue the city to get your money back.

Answer 14

if you think a crime is being commited by anybody you can carge them yes, dont let jobs and titles put you off. i arrested a judge in court, things went against me after i did that things went well and it was sorted in ten minutes, he got his own back at a later date, the next time i went to court, the police arrested me by pretending their was no info on the computer so they could keep me in a cell all night, putting me at a disadvantage and putting something in my drink, as a consequence making me unfit to defend myself, this was the homosexual police, they have them in the stations because they are good at fitting people up, so beware.

Answer 15

let us think about this. 1 sec 2 sec is there any law out there saying it is illegal to waste time. no huh.Does everybody waste time at some point. yes huh. are you a law enforcement officer no huh. the best way to learn about law enforcement is to make it a career

Answer 16

I don't think that would stand up in court, besides usually they have to be doing something rather horrible to make it stand in court.

Answer 17

it is a form of police harrassment .....the courts may at some time recognise it for what it is

Answer 18

In a free society, the answer would be yes. Unfortunately, there aren't any free societies. Just police and nanny states.

Answer 19

What if your house is on fire but the fire department could not get to you because they were arrested for wasting time in their firehouse?

Answer 20

Only if you want to receive a criminal record for false imprisonment and be on the end of a civil action for trespass to the person.



If you ever plan on doing it, please let us all know in advance so we can monitor the outcome...

Answer 21

Of course you can but don't expect any support from the police. They would stitch you up and you'd probably end up doing hard time in Durham.

Answer 22

NO



What a ridiculous idea.



Nobody would take you seriously.

Answer 23

No I don't think so it would be a bit foolish, but they can be "done" for wasting public money

Answer 24

What a great question, i'm guessing he/she would not be happy about it at all and you may end up the one arrested. Ill put that in the only if pile

Answer 25

Can you be arrested for wasting OUR time?

Answer 26

Hell yeah, buddy! This is your big chance to stick it to The Man.

Answer 27

I think that might be a really bad idea. Especially if he is armed. Don't do it buddy.

Answer 28

how about you try it and let us know how it went

Answer 29

For anything but that, Yes.



They don't make the Law, they enforce it.



We have the right to do the same.

Answer 30

go for it

Answer 31

No

Answer 32

try it!!!..touch him/her ..you have just committed assault on police!...oh dear...you will be coming in!

Answer 33

LOL, I wouldn't try it.

Answer 34

No

Answer 35

Only one way to find out?try it! they can.

Answer 36

You're an idiot!

Answer 37

THERE MAY JUST POSSIBLY BE A CASE OF"CONDUCT UNBECOMING"

Answer 38

Hell yes, go on do it

Answer 39

Try it!!!!!