Manual of the St. Paul Police Department, 1923 — 8

LEGAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF POLICE

P. 213. General Duties.—They shall at all times of the day and night, within the boundaries of the city, as well on water as on land, preserve the public peace; prevent crimes and arrest offenders; protect the rights of persons and property; guard the public health; preserve order at every public election and at all public meetings and places, and on all public occasions; prevent and remove nuisances on all streets, alleys, highways, waters and other places; protect firemen and property in cases of fire; protect emigrants and travelers at steamboat landings and railroad stations; enforce all laws relating to elections, lotteries and lottery policies, and to the observance of Sunday, and relating to pawnbrokers, intemperance, vagrants, disorderly persons, gambling and bawdy houses, and every other kind and manner of disorder and offense against the public health and good order of society.

P. 214. Conservators of the Peace.—Police officers are conservators of the peace and as such have the power to arrest any person they shall have reason to believe has committed, within the city, or intends to commit, any breach of the peace or violation of law and order within the city limits, or to arrest any person found within the city who is charged with the commission of crime in the city or in the State of Minnesota, against whom criminal proceedings shall have been issued, or to arrest any person who may have committed an offense within view of any member of the Police Department.

P. 215. Persons Arrested, Before Whom Brought.—All persons arrested by members of the police force shall be brought before the Municipal Court of St. Paul when arrested for the violation of any ordinance of said city.

P. 216. Power to Arrest and Hold Fugitives from Justice.—The members of the police force shall have power to arrest and hold, without warrant, for a period of time not exceeding twenty-four hours, persons found within the city charged with felonies in other states and who are reported to be fugitives from justice.

P. 217. A Felony, Definition of.—A felony is a grave crime, for which the offender may, on conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary, such as murder, rape, arson, forgery, grand larceny, burglary, etc.

P. 218. A Misdemeanor, Definition of.—A misdemeanor is any offense less than a felony.

P. 219. Justifiable Homicide by Public Officers.—Homicide is justifiable when committed by a public officer, or person acting under his command and in his aid, in the following case. When necessary in retaking an escaped or rescued prisoner who has been committed, arrested for, or convicted of a felony, or in arresting a person who has committed a felony and is fleeing from justice, or in attempting by lawful ways or means to apprehend a person for a felony, actually committed.

ARRESTS

P. 220. Chapter 9062 of the General Statutes of Minnesota provides: Arrests Defined, by Whom Made, Aiding Officer.

An arrest is the taking of a person into custody that he may be held to answer for a public offense and may be made (1) by a peace officer under a warrant; (2) by a peace officer without a warrant; (3) by a private person. Every person shall aid an officer in the execution of a warrant whenever requested so to do by such officer who is himself present and acting under its execution.

P. 221. Chapter 9063. When Made.—If the offense charged be a felony, arrest may be made on any day and at any time of the day or night. If it be a misdemeanor, arrest shall not be made on Sunday or at night unless upon the direction of the magistrate endorsed upon the warrant.

P. 222. Chapter 9064. How Made, Restraint, Show Warrant.—An arrest is made by the actual restraint of the person of the defendant or by his submission to the custody of the officer but he shall not be subjected to any more restraint than shall be necessary for his arrest and detention and the officer shall inform the defendant that he is acting under the authority of a warrant and shall show him the warrant if so required.

P. 223. Chapter 9065. Means Used.—If after notice of intention to arrest defendant he shall, flee or forcibly resist the officer may use all necessary means to effect his arrest. He may break open an inner or outer door or window of a dwelling house to execute the warrant, if after notice of his authority and purpose he shall be refused admittance or when necessary for his own liberation or for the purpose of liberating another person who having entered to make an arrest shall be detained there.

P. 224. Chapter 9066. Without Warrant, When; Breaking Doors, etc., When.—A peace officer may, without warrant, arrest a person: (1) for a public offense committed or attempted in his presence; (2) when the person arrested has committed a felony although not in his presence; (3) when a felony has in fact been committed and he has reasonable cause for believing the person arrested to have committed it; (4) upon a charge made upon reasonable cause of the commission of a felony by the person arrested. To make such arrest the officer may break open an outer or inner door or window of a dwelling house if after notice of his office and purpose he shall be refused admittance.

P. 225. Chapter 9067. Arrest at Night, When; Disclosing Authority, Exception.—He may at night, without a warrant, arrest any person whom he has reasonable cause for believing to have committed a felony and shall be justified in making such arrest though it shall afterwards appear that no felony has been committed but when so arresting a person without a warrant, the officer shall inform him of his authority and the cause of the arrest, except when he shall be in the actual commission of a public offense or shall be pursued immediately after his escape.

P. 226. Chapter 9068. Arrest by Bystander; Magistrate May Command Arrest, When.—He may take before a magistrate a person who being engaged in a breach of the peace shall be arrested by a bystander and delivered to him and whenever a public offense shall be committed in the presence of a magistrate he may by written or verbal order command any person to arrest the offender and thereupon to proceed as if the prisoner had been brought before him upon a warrant of arrest.

P. 227. Chapter 9069. Private Person May Arrest, When.—A private person may arrest another: (1) for a public offense committed or attempted in his presence; (2) when such person has committed a felony although not in his presence; (3) when a felony has in fact been committed and he has reasonable cause for believing the person arrested to have committed it.

P. 228. Chapter 9070. Disclosure of Cause. Means Used.—Before making an arrest he shall inform the person to be arrested of the cause thereof and require him to submit except when he is in the actual commission of the offense or when he shall be arrested on pursuit immediately after its commission. If such person has committed a felony such private person after notice of his intention to make the arrest, if he shall be refused admittance, may break open an outer or inner door or window of a dwelling house for the purpose of making the same.

P. 229. Chapter 9071. Proceedings by Private Person Making Arrest.—Every private person who shall have arrested another for the commission of a public offense shall, without unnecessary delay, take him before a magistrate or deliver him to a peace officer. If a person arrested shall escape or be rescued, the person from whose custody he has escaped may immediately pursue and retake him at any time and in any place in the State and for that purpose, after notice of his intention and refusal
of admittance, may break open an outer or inner door or window of a dwelling house.

P. 230. Chapter 9074. Warrant Executed, Where.—If any person against whom a warrant is issued for an alleged offense committed in any county, either before or after the issue of such warrant, shall escape from or be out of the county, the Sheriff or other officer to whom such warrant is directed may pursue and apprehend the party charged in any county in this State and for that purpose may command aid and exercise the same authority as in his own county.

P. 231. Chapter 9077. Procedure in Case of Felony.—Whenever the offense charged in any warrant is punishable by imprisonment in the State Prison, the officer making the arrest in some other county shall convey the prisoner to the county where the warrant is issued and take him before the magistrate who issued the same, or in case of his inability to attend, before some other magistrate of the same county and also deliver to such magistrate the warrant with the proper return thereon signed by him.