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Oregon Citizen Arrests, Citizen Initiated Tickets, Citizen Prosecution

If you Google the words: Oregon citizen arrest, you?ll get an immediate answer to just about anyone?s question about citizens arrests in Oregon, you?ll get a link to attorney Ray Thomas?s excellent and detailed website posts on the subject and links to the statute, ORS 153.058, and even to my previous OLR posts on citizen arrest rights.

Sarah Mirk wrote a recent article about a "citizens arrest" communication gap, which has nothing to do with a generation gap. I bet all these police officers and bicyclists have Internet at home and if anyone asked them a question, they would imediately go online.

If you walk or bicycle, I highly recommend that you keep a reference to the statute on a sticky note or on your smart-phone, and read the article:

Ticket to the Man: Drivers Can Skip Police, Write Up Each Other, by Sarah Mirk, Portland Mercury, September 30, 2010, excerpt:

'OREGON IS THE ONLY state in the nation that lets its citizens?not just police?write traffic tickets. But more than two years after a notorious case involving a citizen and a cop car brought national attention to the little-known policy, it still seems nearly impossible to actually file a citizen ticket.

In recent weeks, a handful of aggrieved people who tried to write up offenders with so-called "citizen-initiated tickets" told the Mercury they found the process frustrating, running up against police and court officials who said they've never heard of the unique law?'(Link to full article.)

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Full post as published by Oregon Legal Research on October 06, 2010 (boomark / email).