11 Comments
founding

Great coverage of the topic Keith - thanks for making this video. Hope we can have our local police department cover the guidelines in one of our training sessions.

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I have detained when a felonious assault and battery happened for an obvious crazy person in a convenience store. When the cross the line their rights are temporarily suspened. Why would anyone allow someone that is a danger to others to roam the street just to attack again.

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Good info, Keith!

A note in Texas Citizen Arrest: Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Section 14.01(a) says, “A peace officer or any other person, may, without a warrant, arrest an offender when the offense is committed in his presence or within his view, if the offense is one classed as a felony or as an offense against the public peace.”

This means I can perform a citizen’s arrest for 1) a felony -OR- 2)an offense against the public peace.

That means

ANY felony

And also a misdemeanor if it is an offense against the public peace, because if it isn’t a felony, and it disturbs the public peace, what else could it be?

I wish it was stated more clearly, but the legal precedent has been set for this interpretation.

Hope this helps my brother and sister sheepdogs here in the Lone Star State!

Excerpt From

2022–2023 eBook of Texas Criminal and Traffic Laws

Pocket Press

This material may be protected by copyright.

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Keith - I am the safety team leader for a smaller church outside in Western NY, and sadly it doesn't seem like we're getting anywhere despite our attempts to reach out to the local PD. I've stopped in person (was directed to call the captain via phone) and left voicemails (2 or 3 over several weeks) with the captain, but nothing returned. Any suggestions?

Regardless --- As always - you brought a great topic & covered it thoroughly (IMO)! Appreciate you brother!

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author

Mike,

Call the police department and ask for the watch commander. The Captain is probably overworked or he doesn't care. The watch commander should have a beat officer come by and talk to you. Be persistent. Every agency is way understaffed right now.

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Great job brother, valuable topic that folks needed to hear. Hopefully the hearing leads to application, ( application coupled with wisdom).

Blessings and stay safe.

Code 4 from the Panhandle 👍

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In Georgia, citizens arrest is no longer an option. The law was changed a couple years ago after a man and his son chased down a black jogger and shot him.

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One thing that probably should probably be mentioned is that, when you have someone detained you "own them". If they get hurt while detained, it's on you (once detention is successful). I'm not discouraging citizen's arrest in certain scenarios, but it's another thing to consider. This knowledge is what I learned in commissioned security officer training in Texas.

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Great training. I represent a Florida church safety team. And for one of our trainings, we will definitely be contacting local law-enforcement to have them teach us on citizens arrest.

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I would like ti attend. Sorry I can not due to travel. I l8ve in indiana and I am on my church security team. Is there a schedule for other state's you are going to offer your training course in.

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Thanks Keith. We do a lot of scenario training and discuss what constitutes necessary force and the ramifications. We qualify every six months at a local range for our CPost and training. We started having a review by the owner/retired police officer involving state law and use of force. We started during covid because of it and no ammo. I've kept it going to keep us refreshed. Too much to talk about, but I do talk with local cops in our area quite a bit. You are right on that the response times and the morale of the officers is really rough. One told me to do what we have to do at the church and eventually they will show up to finish the job. Just do the right thing. He said that with a real tired look. Anyway, thanks for the information. The only way to work through this is with training.

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