At Will Arrest Powers

[devildog66]

This type of legislation is "back door" that does not address specific actions but can be used to silence, say, those involved in civil disobedience against unjust laws. There was quite a case in Norfolk VA involving open carry (legal in the Commonwealth) and with the "at will" arrest powers a police officer would have been able to jail the subject of this open carry case.

DD sends


Once again, Virginia Delegate Jackson Miller has introduced a bill that will allow an officer to arrest a citizen AT WILL for a class 1 or class 2 misdemeanor. Currently, unless the person is a danger to others, will continue doing the illegal act, is drunk, or won't sign a summons promising to appear in court, the officer has to write a summons and let you go. A misdemeanor is a minor crime, by definition, and generally does not necessitate putting someone in cuffs and taking them to jail for the weekend. This kind of new police power, VCDL is convinced, would have put several of our members, like Chet Szymecki and Danladi Moore, in jail for an arrest that was improper to begin with.

 

[cassandrasdaddy]

got a link to the legislation?

 

[mbt2001]

Well, an officer can pretty much arrest you at will whether it is legal or not and you can't do much about it until after the fact. They maybe trying to DEFINE it, but who knows.

 

[Landric]

I really don't think this, if it passes, will make a big change in Virginia. I was a LEO in Virginia for nearly ten years before I went to work for a PD in North Carolina. There are enough exceptions in the laws of arrest in VA that officers could generally find an exception and make a custodial arrest rather than issuing a summons.

I issued plenty of summonses for misdemeanors while I worked in Virginia, but I also arrested plenty of people for them. It all depends on the circumstances. North Carolina has "at will" arrests for any misdemeanor (not just the top two classes) and I (along with most officers I know) still issue a lot of citations for misdemeanors rather than making custodial arrests.

When a custodial arrest in made in Virginia (and NC for that matter), the officer has to take the person arrested before a magistrate without unnecessary delay. The magistrate determines if the arrest is valid, and if so, sets conditions for release. Officers cannot now, and will not be able to if this legislation passes, simply arrest and jail someone without any sort of oversight.

The only area of law where arrests might increase in Virginia if this legislation passes is traffic. When I worked in Virginia we generally issued a summons for driving on a suspended license. In North Carolina, I'd say we arrest at least half of those charged with driving while suspended.