peace officer: Definition, Synonyms and Much More from Answers.com

Wikipedia: peace officer

A peace officer, in North America, is any public-sector person charged with upholding the peace, mainly police officers, constables, customs officers, correction 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 as well as Court Clerks assigned to the 1st and 2nd Judicial Departments are classified as Peace Officers; they are allowed to execute bench warrants, but not arrest warrants.

Canada

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

“

"peace officer" includes

(a) a mayor, warden, reeve, sheriff, deputy sheriff, sheriff’s officer, and justice of the peace,

(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,

(d.1) an officer authorized under subsection 138(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act,

(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 "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 (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.

US

New York State

New York 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. These State Investigators must adhere to the same Bureau of Municipal Police Deadly Force standards that sworn police officers in New York State are subjected to by the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS).

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 are also considered "Police Officers" for purposes in which Search Warrants must be executed.

The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the New York State Department of Insurance also emply sworn Peace Officers as State Investigators. DMV Investigators carry firearms, make arrests, and enforce New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law as well as New York State Penal Law. The DMV Division of Field Investigation investigates auto theft, odometer tampering, fraudulent documents and identity theft crimes. The Department of Insurance investigates crimes related to insurance fraud such as arson, motor vehicle insurance fraud, and other related insurance crimes.

External links

Peace Officer associations

US National associations

US State associations

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		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
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		Law Encyclopedia. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
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		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Peace officer". Read more

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peace officer

Canada

US

New York State

See also

External links

Peace Officer associations

US National associations

US State associations

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