Quote:
Originally posted by Ref Ump Welsch
The difference is the police has arrest powers, and we don't. Ya gotta be careful around cops, because you can get arrested for swearing at them now. A little thing called disturbing the peace. It's amazing what little you can do around a cop and end up behind bars nowadays. But it happens to anyone else, the cops will just take a report and let the prosecutors decide if an arrest is necessary.
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Tha may be true in some jurisdictions, but probably not in most. Under Oregon law, for example, the only real difference between a commissioned police officer and a private citizen is that a private citizen can not serve a warrant. A citizen can in fact make a citizen's arrest - of course if they due so without reasonable justification they can be sued for false arrest and held liable, just like the police. A police officer presented with a correctly executed declaration of a citizen arrest must take the specified suspect into custody.