Even then the use of force may be inadvisable, since the person you arrest may be able to sue you if you are wrong about his guilt or if you use excessive force. As a result, few law enforcement officers recommend a citizen's arrest. Usually, no one sees the illegal dumping. A farmer, while checking her fences, discovers a pile of garbage someone has dumped on her land. A businessman comes home to find that someone has stacked garbage by his disposal cans.
Travelers notice garbage alongside a public highway.
It is difficult to figure out who dumped the garbage unless someone saw it happen. If you do find garbage that was illegally dumped, check for envelopes or other papers that might indicate who owned it. The police can take fingerprints from items in the garbage. However, most police laboratories spend their limited resources and time on more serious offenses. Fingerprinting and other scientific techniques are generally not used until the littering has become a serious problem.