Do you have references for this statement?
PS - You really want to say cannot instead of "can not," the latter indicated the ability of inaction and the former the inability.
not sure about DC, but in California I am Positive this is how it works, keep in mind should a Citizen make a Citizens arrest, they can be held liable in civil court for damages as a result of a “false arrest” using the citizens arrest. There is no chance of that happening in a case like this though. HE IS GUILTY and we have Videotape to Prove it, as well as his LIVE CONFESSION on National TV.
I might add that in all cases, the Police will do everything in their power to discourage one from making a Citizens Arrest, because that REMOVES them from having the Authority to discern Probable Cause, or Reasonable Suspicion. Once a Citizens Arrest is made the Police are out of the picture except to write the ARREST report, They are not required to Arrest the Person but they are required to CITE or ARREST as a result of a Citizens Arrest, THEY CANNOT REFUSE, they will TRY though. Force the issue by asking them if they would like to be considered an ACCESSORY to the Crime for their REFUSAL to OBEY the LAW..You must be forceful with thugs like this or they will walk all over you. Let the thug know that your next stop is the DA’s Office, where you will allege (thug) of being a material participant after the fact for OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE. You will get your way, if you play hardball. Then the DA will decide to investigate or prosecute. This is and has been the Law of the Land since this country was founded, and I believe it is in every STATE, even Washington DC.
Some lawyers will try to tell you, that a "vigilante" is somebody who merely looks like a white potato farmer (and Christian) from Idaho (or is a FRPR who disagrees with you :-). Some of those lawyers are FRPRs, but they do not know, contrary to their statements that they "know what is legal and illegal" ... what they are talking about.
A vigilante would be a person who captures another person and then affects some punishment.
You being vigilant, does not make you a "vigilante" as in some ruffian beating up people; to the contrary, you being vigilant, is one of the reasons we have so many great volunteers mindful of our civic duty to help our neighbors.
Americans have much soverign authority, and we may affect a citizens arrest.
CAUTION: It is not easy. Most of the time, when done properly but unbeknownst to the citizens affecting the arrest, they make mistakes which are overlooked by the courts, because the citizens intent to uphold the law and get the job done well enough, has "saved the day" and usually somebody's life. Such as, when you pounce on some shooter just leaving a bank.
What is most often not explained, is that to affect a citizen's arrest, the lawful procedures are nearly the same as they are for a "law enforcement officer" --- the exception is that you are not carrying a badge, so to speak.
What is in common, but not often discussed, is that you bear all the responsibilities that we expect of an "LEO" carrying a badge. You do have to read the perp his rights. You must take an audit of the perp's physical and mental condition, and include a list of the perp's property taken into your custody. You are responsible for that perp's safety and well being ... all the way on up to your handing over that perp to the LEOs of the jurisdiction where you make the arrest. You may be liable, just like an LEO, for the perp's attorney's "coming at you" for screwing up the arrest.
So, it is not easy, though the courts generally will land on your side, because most "taxpayers" are good people who intend to do the right thing and stop matters from getting worse.
You have the right to do the right thing, and to arrest somebody for breaking the law, but you must obey the rule of law, that requires you to afford the perp due process - just like an LEO - while, I should add, you may not give any kind of indication that you are an LEO when you are not.
DO NOT impersonate an LEO, and instead, state clearly that you are "making a citizens arrest."
You have to clearly state to the judge, that you afforded all the due process that can have been reasonably expected of you in the circumstances, including, that you physically touched the perp - about which you state, later, to the judge,
"I saw that the perp acknowledged that I was making an arrest and that I was not a law enforcement agent - that it was a citizens arrest." If you were an LEO, then you amend that statement, accordingly, for making a citizens arrest though you were, "at the time, a law enforcement officer for such-and-such jurisdiction."
IN GENERAL - the best practice is to NOT go looking for bad guys to arrest. If you want to do that, campaign at the local office of your sheriff, to have them invite you along for a "demo." DO NOT attempt to practice routine law enforcement without having an enormous amount of money and insurance and knowledge of ALL the arrest powers statutes. BETTER: JUST PLAIN DO NOT DO IT.
IN PARTICULAR - the best practice is to alert the LEOs of your jurisdiction(s) AND take copious notes and film, audio and video and give the LEOs COPIES - you keep the originals (and give copies to your attorney(s)). As has been the practice of the Minutemen along our southern border.
So again, from the top, the land-owners along the borders of the United States, have a Constitutional right to expect of the President, that he enforces protection of their land and property lines that are International - whether or not their land borders on land or on water.
The President has the Executive power to defend such land with the full weight of the entire United States. The President is the top cop for these landowners' jurisdiction.
In the home of each of such land-owners, they ought to have one phone that is set to dial-up the county sherriff, and one phone that is set up to dial-up the State police, and a third phone to dial-up the President. Call, not necessarily in that order (depends on what the heck is going on out there!).
Bug the heck out of those numbers, for every sighting and every trespassing of your lands; and record all such actions.
If you do not get an active, repeat, active response from law enforcement (includes the President), then contact the news media ... and contact forums on the Internet.
This is all the lengthy process through which you and we must go, before petitioning our State legislatures to muster the militia, to do the law enforcement that some "authorities" have not yet had the guts to do.
You have the right to defend yourself; but you must do so lawfully and respecting due process in the event of your making a citizens arrest. At each step, the burden of the government failing us, must be great enough and recognized by most citizens to be great enough, to warrant moving on up to the next step.
If there really is a big enough problem and a big enough failure of government to act, then we have the right to make known directly to our State legislatures, our emergency and that it is time for action: the muster.
Given the available information, we are nowhere close to that.
In fact, we have yet to experience enough situations where the failures of law enforcement by local LEOs, is enough for citizens to be affecting noticeable numbers of citizens arrests.
That does not mean, that there is not plenty of information out there which demonstrates an unwillingness by public officials to enforce the law - particularly the President. His failures are a serious case. Our trouble is, that the general situation, though it appears to be serious, is not yet serious enough.
Though his failures seem to be helping it along to becoming serious enough. A rapidly souring response by the southwestern U.S. housing market, losing value because of the unrest developing from his in-actions, could set off a major disturbance.
My two cents are:
1) DO NOT go around planning on arresting anybody - leave it to the LEOs - and instead, get organized at the business of reporting what is happening, as have the Minutemen. The ACLU would just love to descend upon anybody making any citizens arrest on the border; so, I'd avoid giving them the pleasure. If you can, get to know some federal judges and be able to rapidly get warrants. Setting up such a system, will take a lot of your time and effort. Then again, a judge may be firmly with the program, having himself been the victim of inaction by the President.
2) Bug the heck out of the White House and your State legislators, not merely the Congress. A housing-and-property-values flight risk has more real promise of happening at the moment, than any other potential impact. If property owners get scared and they start to bolt, the Republicans especially in southern California, will not have much interest in saving Bush's hide.
The Bush Administration should be much more concerned about American property owners' migrations.
Final note and an opinion: It is a crime to serve on a jury and/or to vote when not a U.S. citizen, and these crimes should not receive any amnesty benefits whatsoever, because to do so, is an affront to the bedrock of our liberties.
DISCLAIMER: My statements above, about the procedures for making a citizens arrest, are my recollections of some of the training that I had as a federal agent, more than thirty years ago. The statutes and procedures may have changed. Look up the matter yourself. I suggest that you use the above information as a guide, for helping you to figure it out. If you're really interested in pursuing an education in making citizens arrests, you must study up on quite a lot of local, state, and federal statutes. There are probably some law enforcement academies where you can learn more, and if I were you, I'd find some law school professors who "really know their stuff" on this topic. DO NOT IMPERSONATE A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER. DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN ANY GUN CLUB THAT MANIFESTS ITSELF AS "THE" OR "A" MILITIA - There is only one militia per State, and it does not have the power to act (other than to train) with martial power and/or law enforcement powers without the authority of the State legislature's OK; by default, the sheriff in each county within the United States, is your immediate area commander - this is also a region in the common law, which blends into his duty to raise a posse for the hot pursuit of criminals at large, but that is another topic for another time.