Singleton v. United States

• Decision Date: 06 January 1967
• Docket Number: No. 4027.,4027.
• Citation: 225 A.2d 315
• Parties: Earl C. SINGLETON, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

225 A.2d 315

Earl C. SINGLETON, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.

No. 4027.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued October 31, 1966.

Decided January 6, 1967.

Laurens H. Silver, Washington, D. C., for appellant.

Theodore Wieseman, Asst. U. S. Atty., with whom David G. Bress, U. S. Atty., and Frank Q. Nebeker and Geoffrey M. Alprin, Asst. U. S. Attys., were on the brief, for appellee.

Before HOOD, Chief Judge, and QUINN and MYERS, Associate Judges.

QUINN, Associate Judge:

Appellant entered a local department store, walked behind the counter of the men's hat department, bent down, and then stood up and looked at several caps. After looking around for a few minutes, he left the store with his right hand in his coat pocket. A special policeman, observing all of these actions, followed appellant outside and saw him enter a dime store. As appellant came out of the dime store, he took a plaid cap from underneath his coat and placed it on his head. The officer, now satisfied that appellant had stolen the cap from the department store, placed him under arrest. Appellant was subsequently convicted of petit larceny. This appeal questions the arrest powers of special policemen commissioned under D.C.Code Section 4-115.¹

Police officers may arrest without a warrant when there is probable cause to believe that a felony has been committed and that the arrested person committed it, Smith v. United States, 103 U.S.App.D.C. 48, 254 F.2d 751, cert. denied, 357 U.S. 937, 78 S.Ct. 1388, 2 L.Ed.2d 1552 (1958), and when a misdemeanor has been committed in their presence or view, Maghan v. Jerome, 67 App.D.C. 9, 88 F.2d 1001 (1937). They may also arrest for certain misdemeanors, including petit larceny, using the probable cause standard. E. g., D.C. Code § 23-306 (1961). Although conceding there was probable cause to arrest him, appellant claims his arrest was unlawful since a special policeman is not a "police officer" within the meaning of Section 23-306(c).

The law regarding the status of special policemen is sparse. The Supreme Court stated in National Labor Rel. Bd. v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 331 U.S. 416, 67 S.Ct. 1274, 91 L.Ed. 1575 (1947):

"It is a common practice in this country for private watchmen or guards to be vested with the powers of policemen, sheriffs or peace officers to protect the private property of their private employers. And when they are performing their police functions, they are acting as public officers and assume all the powers and liabilities attaching thereto." 331 U.S. at 429, 67 S.Ct. at 1281.

"[S]pecial policemen are public officers when performing their public duties." 331 U.S. at 431, 67 S.Ct. at 1282.

Accord, Barnard v. Wabash R. R., 208 F.2d 489 (8th Cir. 1953); Frank v. Wabash R. R., 295 S.W.2d 16 (Mo.1956). We are convinced of the soundness of this view and hold that while on duty and in his prescribed area of authority, a special policeman may arrest when he has probable cause to believe that the arrested person has perpetrated the crime of petit larceny on the merchandise of his employer. Our opinion in McKenzie v. United States, D.C.Mun. App., 158 A.2d 912 (1960), is not to the contrary. We there held that a special policeman, who was neither on duty nor on his way to or from his duty station, was not a police officer and could be convicted of carrying a concealed weapon. The corollary is also true, namely, that if he had been on duty or on his way to or from his duty station he would have had the right, as a police or other law-enforcement officer, to carry the weapon.²

If, as appellant contends, special policemen have the power to arrest only for misdemeanors committed in their presence or view, their status would be little more than that of private citizens,³ although they are authorized to wear uniforms...