Policy Text
San Francisco Police Department 5.04
GENERAL ORDER Rev. 09/ 04/24
Eff. 10/19/24
Page 1 of 2
Arrests by Private Persons
5.04.01 PURPOSE
This order establishes policies regarding a member ’s obligation to receive a subject arrested by a
private person and procedures regarding the arrest or release of the subject.
5.04.02 DEFINITIONS
Exigent Circumstance Exception - An exigent circumstance exception arises when a member has
specific and articulable facts that a particular action was performed by a member due to a
concern for the safety of others or the safety of the involved member(s).
5.04.03 POLICY
Arrests by private persons may be made in the following circumstances (see Penal Code 837 for
further):
1) A public offense either attempted or committed in the presence of the private person.
2) A misdemeanor or felony committed in the presence of the private person.
3) A felony has been committed and the private person has reasonable cause to believe the
subject committed the felony.
A private person may arrest for public offenses not committed in the member ’s presence, and the
member is required to receive a person so arrested.
5.04.04 PROCEDURES
The following are the resp onsibilities of the Responding Member :
1) Bearing in mind the potential for bias by proxy, d etermine if reasonable suspicion exists
to justify detaining the subject pending further investigation. If reasonable suspicion
does not exist, the subject is free to leave.
2) Member s shall advise private persons about their right to make a private person’s arrest.
When advising any individual regarding the right to make a private person’s arrest, member s should remain neutral when providing guidance to any individual making such
DGO 5.04
Rev. 09/ 04/24
Eff. 10/19/24
Page 2 of 2
an arrest and should limit advice to the legal requirements for such a n arrest as listed
below .
3) Duty to investigate, Decision to Cite, or Cite and Release. When receiving an arrest from
a private person, the decision to cite or book the suspect shall be made upon further
investigation of SFPD and not the arresting person's preference. SFPD has a duty to investigate allegations raised by a private person . When a person is arrested for a
misdemeanor or an infraction and it is later determined that they are eligible for a citation
release, an officer shall promptly cite and release the person at any time prior to the
Sheriff Department assuming custody.
4) If an arrest is made, obtain the signature of the arresting private person on the Private Person ’s Arrest form (SFPD 80) or document the person’s verbal affirmative response to
make a pr ivate person’s arrest on BWC . Note in the incident report that a Private Persons
Arrest form had been documented via BWC or SFPD Form 80.
5) PRIVATE PERSON ARRESTS - An incident report is not required if the officer accepts
all the allegations as true and no crime has been committed , or the allegations are
frivolous or unfounded without the need for further investigation—for example, if a person alleges that an alien abducted them or that a neighbor implanted a chip in their body to control their thoughts.
6) If a copy of the Private Person’s Arrest form is received, it shall be scanned and uploaded
with the incident report.
References :
PC 837
PC 142
DGO 5.03 Investigative Detentions
DGO 5.17 Bias -Free Policing
DGO 5.06 Citation Release