The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-05-16

If in prosecuting your investigations as to specific acts, transactions, or inn puted crimes, or if in prosecuting general investigations as to gaming you dis cover that other indictable offenses have been committed, you will, of course, pro ceed to investigate such specific offenses thus brought to your knowledge.
 ''1 trust. gentlemen, these statements of the law will give you q fair idea of your powers and duties in so far as It is deemed necessary for present purposes. Let us now see what the law Is upon the question of an arrest by an officer and a private citizen.
 ''l take 1t that arrests are always made when possible by an officer when he is armed with valid warrant charging designated person with a violation or some criminal law, and also that arrests are nearly always made, even without a warrant when a felony has been com mitted by the person arrested or there is reasonable cause to believe the person arrested has committed a felony do not think your investigations now call for instructions along those lines. But present conditions probably make It necessary for you to know the law as to the authority of an officer to arrest for a misdemeanor without a warrant; for in-
 stance, arrests for such misdemeanors
 as carrying a weapon concealed about
 the person.
 As to Officers.
 An officer is authorized to arrest 8
 person, without a warrant, when such
 person is guilty of breach of the peace or other violation of the criminal laws
 In his presence An act done in his pres
 ence which is violative of general law,
 or of a municipal ordinance, or which reasonably threatens such violation, au-
 thorzes an arrest without a warrant. A policeman of an incorporated city or
 town, acting within the limits of his county, has the same power as the sheriff to arest without a war rant. In addition to this power un- der the general law, the charter of the city of Birmingham has conferred upon the Mayor and Aldermen the power to pass all laws necessary and proper for the arrest, with or without warrants, of any person against whom there is a charge made by any citizen for violating any city or state law. The Mayor and Aldermen, in attempting to put this power into effect, at first passed ordi-
 nances authorizing arrests in all cases,
 regardless of whether charges had or had not been made by a citizen, and the
 supreme court held that such ordinances
 were beyond corporate capacity and void. You will therefore see, gentlemen, that with the exception of a breach of the peace or a threatened breach of the peace, q policeman of this city has authority to arrest a person for misde-
 meanor, without a warrant, unless such
 misdemeanor is committed in his pres ence, or some citizen prefers charges
 therefor against such person. This Is the
 extent of his authority; If he exceeds it. he himself is guilty of an unlawful ar rest. With these powers of a policeman
 clearly understood. if 1t is made known to you, in the proper way and by sufficient 1 hot kl,4 aIA has neglected to do hls duty, or has neg
 lected to make arrests when he had the
 lawful right to do so, 1t might be well for you to make a report of that fact to
 this court, with a recommendation that such report be forwarded to the board of police commissioners of this city,
 which alone has the power to remove a policeman for a failure to perform a duty required of him by law. l make no
 recommendation as to impeachment pro- ceedings, for while policeman has been held to be a city officer. and the new con- stitution provides for the impeachment
 of officers of incorporated cities and towns for willful neglect of duty and cer-
 tain other causes, by the circuit or other
 courts of like jurisdiction, or a criminal
 court of the county in which such of
 ficers hold their office, under such regula-
 tions may be prescribed by law, yet the legislature has failed to provide such regulations and since the old constitution
 xd not provide for the impeachment of all officers of such cities and towns. the
 old law, passed to put this provision of
 the old constitution into effect. and still
 in force until changed, does not provide any method whereby such municipal of ficers may be removed from office by the courts.
 Can Institute Proceedings.
 Likewise, gentlemen, with the powers
 and duties of county executive officers
 clearly understood as to arrests without
 warrant, if you find that any of them have neglected their duty, or neglected to make arrests when they had the lawful right to do so. you can so report that fact to the court, setting out the facts, and when such report is certified to the attorney general it is made his duty by lay to institute the proper proceedings for the removal of such officer.
 50 much for the neglect of duty or the non-action of such officers. If, on the other hand. you should find affima- tive action, in that certain officers, whether county or city. have afforded protection contrary to the law to a cer
 tain class of people, and that such officer has corruptly accepted. or agreed to ac- cept, any gift, or gratuity, or other thing of value, etc., under an agreement, or with an understanding that his act. etc, is to be given in any particular manner, etc., you can proceed against him under Sec 4410 of the code for accepting a bribe; and under Sec 4409 you can pro-
 ceed against the person who offers or gives such bribes.
 "So much as to the officers; just a ! word as to the citizens. As you have noticed, the authority of an officer is limited. and it is so limited by reason of the fact that the citizen has certain constitutional rights which cannot be vio- l lated, one of these rights being the se- curity In his person against unreasonable seizure. It follows that officers cannot | be clothed with despotic powers. This l is a government of laws, not of despots. And yet, when some killing. either justi- fable or unlawful, shocks the community 1 on account of it's character and the place l where it occurs, good citizens wonder | why the officers do not put stop to ] the pernicious habit of carrying weapons. I The good citizens has just as much power to put a stop to 1t as the officer: l hc has just as much authority, under | the law, to arrest a person without a warrant, for such a misdemeanor when l committed in his presence as the officer | when it is committed in the presence of the officer. It is true a private person acts by permission of the law. while the officer Is compelled to act. Yet there l is no law compelling an officer to arrest person for such a misdemeanor, with 1 out a warrant, unless committed in his | presence, and when good citizens make l no complaint he is powerless to do any | thing. Instead of making the arrests our 1 selves, Or lodging complaints. we seem | to content ourselves with expressing in- dignation because somebody else, some | how, don't do something. and then we | ,rooaad to sOlen,ply DropoSp NariOlS rem