IF a citizen makes a misunderstanding of a situation, and detains someone without cause, and/or causes physical harm to another human being as a result of that misunderstanding, they should be punished for that.
LEOs should be punished for the same misunderstanding, if the same situation would be turned on them.
That is fine as far as it goes. It doesn't do the person caused harm any good though.
Saying that citizens are lawfully ALLOWED to make an arrest isn't the same as giving them the right to arrest others. If this citizen does not understand the offenses and necessary procedures, then he would be punished for making an arrest without cause.
Sure it is. If the law says someone can do something, then they can. If they screw up, they can be punished for it, whether you call it a "right" or "allowed".
Are LEOs never punished for making an arrest without just cause? I'd certainly hope they would be.
Yes, they are. There are civil and criminal penalities for unlawful arrests, civil is the more common of the two.
I'm not going to argue that there isn't a difference between the job of an LEO, and the job that I have. I don't think that difference would EVER require laws that were written specifically for one profession over the other.
In that case, one wouldn't need a license to practice medicine, law, etc. There are plenty of laws specific to professions.
another question. Why is 'assaulting a police officer' a different charge than 'assault'? Why is causing physical harm to one person any more or less serious a crime than causing physical harm to another person?
You'd have to ask the legislatures in the states where that is true for the answer. I can tell you what I think.
In North Carolina LEOs are just one protected class when it comes to assaults. Women (when assaulted by a male at least 18), children, handicapped people, and various others are also protected by increased penalities for simple assaults. In the case of LEOs, the reason, IMO, is that we are siginificantly more likely to be assaulted because of the job we do than the average person. In order to discourage that, there is an increased penalty. I've never been assaulted other than in the course of my duties as an LEO. If I wasn't an LEO, I've never have been the victim of an assault. That, IMO, is the reason.
When it comes to arrests, I don't think its unreasonable to limit the ability to people who have been trained how and when to do so. We don't let people not trained as doctors practice medicine, we don't let people who arn't trained as lawyers practice law. Our society is full of people who are empowered to do things the average person is not by virtue of their training, education, experience, etc.
If one wants to make arrests, one can become an LEO, if one wants to practice medicine, one can become a doctor.
As it stands now, citizen detention accomplishes everything needed for a citizen who is not a trained LEO to stop or prevent criminal activity.