A law enforcement officer (LEO) or peace officer, in North American English, is a public-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws. The phrase can include police officers, municipal law enforcement officers, special police officers, customs officers, state troopers, special agents, special investigators, border patrol officers, immigration officers, court officers, probation officers, parole officers, arson investigators, auxiliary officers, game wardens, sheriffs, constables, corrections, marshals, deputies, and Public Safety Officers (at public institutions). Security guards are civilians and therefore not law enforcement officers, unless they have been granted powers to enforce particular laws, such as those accredited under a Community Safety Accreditation Scheme. Although typically the term "law enforcement officer" refers to those government agents with police powers, prosecutors are also law enforcement officers.
Modern legal codes use the term peace officer (or in some jurisdictions, law enforcement officer) to include every person vested by the legislating state with law enforcement authority--
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Canada
In Canada, the Criminal Code (R.S., c. C-34, s. 2.) 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, (Military Police) 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;
Section (b) allows for designation as a peace officer for a member of the Correctional Service of Canada under the following via the Corrections and Conditional Release Act:
*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
In addition, provincial legislatures can designate a class of officers (i.e. Conservation Officers, Park Rangers and Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement) to be peace officers.
California Peace Officers Standards And Training Video
United States
General
U.S. Law Enforcement Officers include (but may not be limited to) the following:
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) special agents
- Bureau of Diplomatic Security special agents
- Constables and deputy constables
- Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers and U.S. Border Patrol Agents
- District Attorneys (State Prosecutor) and United States Attorneys (Federal Prosecutor)
- Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agents
- Federal air marshals
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agents
- Federal Flight Deck Officer
- Fire Marshals and deputy fire marshals
- Fish and game wardens
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) / Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents
- Natural resources officers (park rangers and forest rangers)
- Office of Mental Health safety/security officers
- Police officers, Inspectors, Investigators, Detectives, Special Police officers, or Railroad Police officers
- Probation officers
- Sheriffs and deputy sheriffs/Special Deputy Sheriffs
- State Detectives, Investigators or Special Investigators
- State troopers/highway patrol officers
- Town Marshals and deputy town marshals
- U.S. Coast Guard Officers, Warrant Officers, and Petty Officers
- United States Marshals and deputy marshals
- United States Postal Service postal inspectors
- United States Secret Service special agents and uniformed officers
- Federal Bureau of Prisons
- United States Military Police including, but not limited to, Military Police Corps, Air Force Security Forces, Navy Master-at-Arms/ Marine Corps Police and United States Department of Defense police were recognized as Qualified Law Enforcement Officers with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013
Arizona
Arizona Revised Statutes defines a peace officer in Title 13, Section 105, as "any person vested by law with a duty to maintain public order and make arrests and includes a constable." Title 1, Section 215(27) enumerates those who are peace officers in the State of Arizona. It includes:
- sheriffs of counties
- constables
- marshals
- policemen of cities and towns
- commissioned personnel of the department of public safety
- personnel who are employed by the state department of corrections and the department of juvenile corrections and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board
- peace officers who are appointed by a multi-county water conservation district and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board
- police officers who are appointed by community college district governing boards and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board
- police officers who are appointed by the Arizona board of regents and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board
- police officers who are appointed by the governing body of a public airport pursuant to section 28-8426 and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board
- peace officers who are appointed by a private post secondary institution pursuant to section 15-1897 and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board
- special agents from the office of the attorney general, or of a county attorney, and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board
Arizona Revised Statutes 41-1823 states that except for duly elected or appointed sheriffs and constables, and probation officers in the course of their duties, no person may exercise the authority or perform the duties of a peace officer unless he is certified by the Arizona peace officers standards and training board.
California
Sections 830 through 831.7 of the California Penal Code list persons who are considered peace officers within the State of California. Peace officers include, in addition to many others,
- Police; sheriffs, undersheriffs, and their deputies. (§ 830.1[a])
- Inspectors or investigators employed in the office of a district attorney. (§ 830.1[a])
- The California Attorney General and special agents and investigators of the California Department of Justice. (§ 830.1[b])
- Members of the California Highway Patrol. (§ 830.2[a])
- Special agents of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. (§ 830.2[d])
- California State Park Peace Officers (§ 830.2[f])
- Investigators of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. (§ 830.2[h])
- Cal Expo Police Officers (§ 830.2[i])
- Certain employees of the California Department of Motor Vehicles. (§ 830.3[c])
- The State Fire Marshal and assistant or deputy state fire marshals. (§ 830.3[e])
- Fraud investigators of the California Department of Insurance. (§ 830.3[i])
- Criminal Investigators of the Employment Development Department. (§ 830.3[q])
- A person designated by a local agency as a Park Ranger (§ 830.31[b])
- Members of the University of California Police Department, California State University Police Department or of a California Community College Police Department. (§ 830.2 [b]&[c]/ 830.32 [a])
- Members of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District Police Department. (§ 830.33 [a])
- Any railroad police officer commissioned by the Governor. (§ 830.33 [e] [1])
- Welfare fraud Investigators of the California Department of Social Services. (§ 830.35[a])
- County coroners and deputy coroners. (§ 830.35[c])
- Firefighter/Security Officers of the California Military Department. (§ PC 830.37)
- Hospital Police Officers with the California Department of State Hospitals (used to be California Department of Mental Health) and the California Department of Developmental Services (§ 830.38)
- County Probation Officers, County Deputy Probation Officers, Parole officers and correctional officers of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. (§ 830.5 [a]&[b])
- A security officer for a private university or college deputized or appointed as a reserve deputy sheriff or police officer. (§ 830.75)
Most peace officers have jurisdiction throughout the state, but many have limited powers outside their political subdivision. Some peace officers require special permission to carry firearms. Powers are often limited to performance of peace officers' primary duties (usually, enforcement of specific laws within their political subdivision); however, most have power of arrest anywhere in the state for any public offense that poses immediate danger to person or property.
A private person (i.e., ordinary citizen) may arrest another person for an offense committed in the arresting person's presence, or if the other person has committed a felony whether or not in the arresting person's presence (Penal Code § 837), though such an arrest when an offense has not actually occurred leaves a private person open to criminal prosecution and civil liability for false arrest. A peace officer may:
- without an arrest warrant, arrest a person on probable cause that the person has committed an offense in the officer's presence, or if there is probable cause that a felony has been committed and the officer has probable cause to believe the person to be arrested committed the felony. (Penal Code § 836).
- Is immune from civil liability for false arrest if, at the time of arrest, the officer had probable cause to believe the arrest was lawful.
Persons are required to comply with certain instructions given by a peace officer, and certain acts (e.g., battery) committed against a peace officer carry more severe penalties than the same acts against a private person. It is unlawful to resist, delay, or obstruct a peace officer in the course of the officer's duties (Penal Code § 148[a][1]).
New York State
New York State grants peace officers very specific powers under NYS Criminal Procedure Law, that they may make warrantless arrests, use physical and deadly force, and issue summonses under section 2.20 of that law.
There is a full list of peace officers under Section 2.10 of that law. Below are some examples.
- That 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 statewide 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.
- 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 may execute Search Warrants.
- The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Division of Field Investigation also employ sworn peace officers as State Investigators. All DMV Investigators carry Glock 23 firearms and enforce New York State Penal Law and New York Vehicle and Traffic Law. The DMV Division of Field Investigation investigates auto theft, odometer tampering, fraudulent documents and identity theft crimes.
Texas
Texas Statutes, Code of Criminal Procedure, Art. 2.12, provides:
Art. 2.12, WHO ARE PEACE OFFICERS. The following are peace officers:
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