Law enforcement officer

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A law enforcement officer (also called peace officer), in North America, is any public-sector person charged with upholding the peace, mainly police officers, customs officers, correctional officers, probation officers, parole officers, and sheriffs or marshals and their deputies.

Modern legal codes use the term peace officer to include every public-sector person vested by the legislating state with law-enforcement authority—traditionally, anyone "sworn, badged, and armable" but, basically, who can arrest, or refer such arrest for a criminal prosecution. Hence, city police officers, county sheriffs' deputies, and state troopers are usually vested with the same authority within a given jurisdiction.

Jurisdictions may restrict the powers granted to those who have "peace-officer status" as opposed to "police status". For example, in New York State, all New York State Court Officers,[1] as well as Court clerks,[2] assigned to the 1st and 2nd Judicial Departments are classified as Peace Officers. However only the Uniformed Court Officers of the New York State Unified Court System may carry firearms without a pistol license.

Contents

[edit] Canada

In Canada, the Criminal Code (R.S., c. C-34, s. 1.) defines a peace officer as:

“

"peace officer" includes

  • (b) a member of the Correctional Service of Canada who is designated as a peace officer pursuant to Part I of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, and a warden, deputy warden, instructor, keeper, jailer, guard and any other officer or permanent employee of a prison other than a penitentiary as defined in Part I of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act,
  • (c) a police officer, police constable, bailiff, constable, or other person employed for the preservation and maintenance of the public peace or for the service or execution of civil process,
  • (d) an officer within the meaning of the Customs Act, the Excise Act or the Excise Act, 2001, or a person having the powers of such an officer, when performing any duty in the administration of any of those Acts,
  • (e) a person designated as a fishery guardian under the Fisheries Act when performing any duties or functions under that Act and a person designated as a fishery officer under the Fisheries Act when performing any duties or functions under that Act or the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act,
  • (f) the pilot in command of an aircraft
    • (i) registered in Canada under regulations made under the Aeronautics Act, or
    • (ii) leased without crew and operated by a person who is qualified under regulations made under the Aeronautics Act to be registered as owner of an aircraft registered in Canada under those regulations, while the aircraft is in flight, and
  • (g) officers and non-commissioned members of the Canadian Forces who are
    • (i) appointed for the purposes of section 156 of the National Defence Act, or
    • (ii) employed on duties that the Governor in Council, in regulations made under the National Defence Act for the purposes of this paragraph, has prescribed to be of such a kind as to necessitate that the officers and non-commissioned members performing them have the powers of peace officers;
 ”

[All members of the Canadian Forces have Peace officer power while they are engaging "in the course of any military operation, training or administration, either as a result of a specific order or established military custom or practice". Section 156 of the National Defence Act declares that members of the Canadian Forces who have been designated as Military Police shall be considered peace officers under the Criminal Code of Canada.]

Section (b) can designate as a peace officer a member of the Correctional Service of Canada under the following via the Corrections and Conditional Release Act:[1]

“
  • 10. The Commissioner may in writing designate any staff member, either by name or by class, to be a peace officer, and a staff member so designated has all the powers, authority, protection and privileges that a peace officer has by law in respect of
    • (a) an offender subject to a warrant or to an order for long-term supervision; and
    • (b) any person, while the person is in a penitentiary.
 ”

In addition, legislatures of provinces can designate a class of officers (ie. Conservation Officers) to be peace officers.

[edit] US

[edit] California

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's (CDCR) Correctional Peace Officers and State Parole Agents are also classified as sworn Peace Officers. The CDCR Officers, Sergeants, Lieutenants, Captains, Chief, Warden and above positions thereafter, have State Peace Officer status.

[edit] New York State

New York State grants Peace officers very specific powers under NYS Criminal Procedure Law, that they may make warrantless arrests, use physical force, and issue tickets under section 2.20 of that law.[3]

There is a full list of peace officers under Section 2.10 of that law.[4] Below are some examples.

That state has law enforcement agencies contained within existing Executive Branch departments that employ sworn Peace Officers to investigate and enforce laws specifically related to the department. Most often, these departments employ sworn Investigators (separate from the New York State Police) that have state-wide investigative authority pursuant to the departments mission.

The New York State Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE) is a state investigative agency housed under the State Department of Health. Narcotic Investigators with the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement are sworn Peace Officers who carry firearms, make arrests, and enforce the New York State Controlled Substances Act, New York State Penal Law, and New York State Public Health Law.

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance employs sworn Peace Officers as Excise Tax Investigators and Revenue Crimes Investigators. These State Investigators carry firearms, make arrests, and enforce New York State Penal Law related to tax evasion and other crimes. Excise Tax Investigators may execute Search Warrants. All Police Officers, Sheriffs, and Constables in New York State are Peace Officers.

The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Division of Field Investigation also employ sworn Peace Officers as State Investigators. All DMV Investigators carry Glock model 23 firearms and enforce New York State Penal Law and Vehicle and Traffic Law. The DMV Division of Field Investigation investigates auto theft, odometer tampering, fraudulent documents and identity theft crimes.[citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Peace Officer associations

[edit] US National associations

[edit] US State associations

[edit] References

  1. ^ New York State Court Officers
  2. ^ Court Clerks
  3. ^ New York State Assembly web site. Click on CPL for Criminal Procedure law, then article II, then section 2.20. Accessed December 3, 2007
  4. ^ New York State Assembly web site. Click on CPL for Criminal Procedure law, then article II, then section 2.10. Accessed December 3, 2007


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