Cops can only operate within their own borders (like a NY cop cannot enforce the law in Canada) unless they’re granted special permission from Ottawa to the White House on catching high profile fugitives, even then: their powers are limited in order not to violate their sovereignty. Would their badge hold any weight while they are overseas (who have their own judiciary)?
That’s only speaking on official terms: but, what happens if an American on vacation (like off duty sheriff) witnesses or encounters criminal activity while they’re abroad? Are they allowed to detain that person or do they have to eventually turn them over to local authorities? For instance, they could flex a LAPD badge in Japan, but is that valid or considered null?
It would generally be considered null. Most interfacing between police departments is through Interpol, the FBI, or the State Department. There is almost no reason for a local cop to have any standing in a foreign country.
That said, for some strange reason, the New York Police Department has an intelligence arm that works in foreign countries and is coordinated at the city level. Because of that, it is possible that New York City has independent relationships with foreign countries that doesn’t go through the US State Department. This came up as former mayor Eric Adams was caught getting bribes by Turkish officials for leniency in permitting for its NYC embassy. So, it is possible that a NYPD cop could have more pull than the average American local cop because of these relationships.
Something about this question rankles me.
It feels like there’s some underlying assumption of superiority of US law enforcement over that of the rest of the world. Even just by asking the question the way it is asked, “…flex a LAPD badge”, like anyone outside the US would even know what it was.
Flip the question around, could a Romanian cop who didn’t speak English, or one from the DRC maybe, “flex” his badge in Wyoming? It’s laughable. The OP probably wouldn’t ever consider the possibility that anyone in the US would ever care about a foreign police badge.
I dunno. The whole question smacks of, “Team America. World Police”.
Comin’ again to save the mutherfuckin’ day-e-yay!
Think of cops as the HR of the city/county/country. Wallmart HR can’t walk into Costco and apply their policies and reprimand someone working at Costco. In the same way, a NY cop can’t willy nilly walk in the streets of LA or Japan and arrest someone.
It’s for the best that American cops have no authority abroad. Imagine one of them choking to death a black man on the streets of London because the man was walking across the road
Just claim the man was trans and you’d probably get away with it 💀
Imagine one of them choking to death a black man on the streets of London
…or in Nigeria…
They’re just tourists in other countries. Just like if a Japanese cop goes to visit the USA.
Cops aren’t superhuman. They are people, just with extra rights given to them by some authority (a city, a district, a country). Their extra rights end where this authority ends.
In the UK anybody can make a citizen’s arrest if it isn’t reasonably practicable for a constable to do so.
However it can only be for a crime that is indictable (can be tried at a crown court). So things like significant theft, burglary and assault.
A US cop has no additional rights to enforce the law than anyone else.
Cops don’t even have the ability to enforce laws of the United States outside their jurisdiction. That New York cop you mentioned couldn’t arrest/detain/engage a criminal if they were on vacation in LA. Depending on the place some departments might allow it, but just as often they get annoyed.
There used to be a retired sheriff in my neighborhood growing up who maintained his peace officer license. He had lights and a siren on his personal vehicle and would pull people over and ticket them. The local court though would just dismiss everything he issued.
Abroad it would depend heavily on the location, but it seems unlikely many countries would tolerate a foreign law enforcement officer doing anything related to police work. There are all sorts of treaties and agreements about that sort of thing so likely a vacationing cop would create an international incident if they tried anything. I’m sure in some situations like murder or sexual assault they might get a pass, but it seems unlikely.
Tell that to John McClane. /s
Hans shot first!
Cops don’t even have the ability to enforce laws of the United States outside their jurisdiction. That New York cop you mentioned couldn’t arrest/detain/engage a criminal if they were on vacation in LA.
Well, lack of jurisdiction doesn’t make bullets or gravity less effective. A NY cop in LA is still perfectly capable of murder.
*self defense
I assume cops are guilty until proven innocent.
In Germany everybody, this includes foreigners, has the right to detain a criminal. But there are some things to consider. First you are endangering yourself by engaging with a criminal. Second if you are wrong and the person you are detaining hasn’t committed a crime but, lets say, just a petty offence, you yourself can get in trouble for unlawful detainment and assault.
In Germany, anyone has the right to provisionally detain a perpetrator caught in flagranti until police arrives. This would also apply to the US sherrif on vacation.
This would also apply to the US sherrif on vacation.
And this would also create an incredibly dangerous situation for everybody.
The Us cop would act according to his own (non-German) training and daily routine, which includes lots of violence that he uses (because he would have the right to do this at home) on the suspected person and maybe on other persons standing in his way. The US cop would also expect and fear violent reactions. But people would react very differently. He would surely misread most people’s reactions and then probably escalate his violence far too much, and far beyond all that is allowed for such an “everybody detainment”. In the end he could be the only one charged with crime, and pay for other people’s hospital bills.
Usually those requests go through the state department and if the us has an extradition treaty, the extradition is handled by the country they’re residing in.
If there is none, it’s more murky and usually handled case by case. (Or just ignored.)
If we do the asshole thing and ignore all that, it’s going to be the military, not cops. (See Maduro’s “arrest”)
Generally, cops only have authority within specific jurisdictions, sheriff’s the counties they work in and cops the cities, though if there’s a justification, they can go outside that, but it’s kinda frowned on without that justification.
Cops travelling, like on vacation have no special powers. Their authority comes from the states they work in, not even the us federal government, and not from just being cops. Few countries would allow foreign cops to just operate like that. (Actually probably none.)
