Are California Officer's Required to Accept a Citizen's Arrest?

This post is only offered as a discussion topic only and does not represent legal advice. Officers must refer to the laws in their own State as well as their agency's policies, which can be more restrictive on officers that the law requires.

Scenario: While working patrol, an officer responds to a vandalism call. When they arrive, a shop owner says that they observed another person vandalizing the front of their store. That person is still present and the shop owner wants that person arrested for the misdemeanor crime.

Is the officer required to accept the citizen's arrest regardless of the evidence that they find and what liability exists in making the wrong decision?

Answer: Unfortunately, this scenario is made complicated by a series of case and statutory laws that each address individual aspects of this issue. In 2005, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sought to clarify this issue by summarizing the law around citizen's arrests in a case called Meyers v. Redwood City. In that case, the court said, 

"California law gives the officer the choice of making the citizen's arrest or not, but there are powerful incentives to make the arrest. On the one hand, an officer who makes an arrest pursuant to a citizen's complaint is not subject to liability for false arrest or false imprisonment. CAL. PENAL CODE § 847(b)(3). On the other hand, an officer does not have to effect the arrest if he or she "is satisfied that there are insufficient grounds for making a criminal complaint[.]" CAL. PENAL CODE § 849(b)(1). However, there is a catch: If it turns out that there were grounds for the complaint and the officer failed to take the suspect into custody, the officer is subject to fines or imprisonment. CAL.PENAL CODE § 142(a).

The California courts have held that even though an officer may decline to take a suspect into custody under Section 849 if he finds no grounds for the complaint, an officer cannot be sued civilly if he makes the arrest and, it turns out, there were no grounds for the citizen's arrest."

On these calls, its important to do thorough investigations beyond just listening what the victim has to say. This includes looking for physical and video evidence and speaking to witnesses. If there isn't probable cause for the arrest or its clear the person did not commit the crime they're being accused of, officers are not required to accept the citizen's arrest. But, if there are reasonable grounds for the citizen's arrest and the officer fails to accept the arrest, the officer may be subject to fines or imprisonment.

As always, the resources mentioned in this training are available in the additional resources section of your TheBriefingRoom.com Learning Platform and officers should make sure to refer to your agency policy which can be more restrictive on officers than the law requires.

This blog topic serves as a summary of our video lesson on this crucial topic. If you're interested in accessing the full video lesson and additional resources, click the link to register for your free 30-day trial.