Requirement of sheriffs to provide aid to local law enforcement upon request by local law officer

MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE The following document is provided by the LAW AND LEGISLATIVE DIGITAL LIBRARY at the Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library http://legislature.maine.gov/lawlib Reproduced from scanned originals with text recognition applied (searchable text may contain some errors and/or omissions) RICHARD s. COHEN ATTORNEY GENERAL STATE OF MAINE DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AUGUSTA, l\lAlNE 04333 March 26, 1979 The Honorable Glen Torrey Maine House of Representatives State House Augusta, Maine 04333 Dear Representative Torrey: STEPHEN L. DIAMOND JOJ-IN S. GLEASON JOHN M. R. PATERSO:S- ROHERT J. STOLT DEPUTY ATTORNEYS GENERAL #-79-57 You have requested an opinion as to whether or not Section 1002 of Title 30 requires a sheriff's office to provide aid to a local law enforcement agency upon the request of a local officer. For the reasons stated be- low, we answer in the negative. Section 1002 of Title 30 constitutes a statutory version of the common law doctrine of posse comitatus. That doctrine empowered the sheriff of a county to summon the aid of bystanders for the arrest or apprehension of persons subject to criminal process, usually in the form of an arre~t warrant. While there is some authority, based on the history of the statute, for the pr,oposition that lo- cal law enforcement officers may also avail themselves of this power, the authorities indicate that the law of posse comitatus applies to such requests only for the aid of pri- vate citizens. The effect of a request for aid is to em- power private citizens to act in concert with the officer; other officers are already so empowered. Village of Scho- field v. DeLisle, 204 Wis. 84, 235 N.W. 396 (1931); Fisher, Laws of Arrest §160 (1967). There is an additional reason why the statute would be inapplicable to most situations in which a local a9ency requests the aid of a sheriff 1 s office. 'rhat reason stems from the fact that most such requests would probably be com- municated by telephone or radio.· At common law the authority of a sheriff or other officer to request aid was limited to The Honorable Glen Torrey March 26, 1979 Page 2 the area within hearing distance of the requesting officer. 4 Wharton's Criminal Law and Procedure §1582 (1957); Fisher, Laws of Arrest §158 (1967). Thus any request to a person outside that area, whether or not that person is a law en- forcement officer, is not within the authority granted by the law of posse comitatus. Since Section 1002 of Title 30 is the current statutory version of the common law doctrine of posse comitatus, we con- clude that the statute does not encompass the situation which you describe. Please let us know if we may be of any further service. Very ~ruly yours, ~~ER7'L_ Assistant Attorney General JRE:njm