Bills seek to curtail arrests, detentions

Four House bills aimed to curtail arrests and detentions await action in the House Judiciary Committee.

HB 150, sponsored by Rep. Mara Gorman, D-Newark, with support from Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall, D-Rehoboth Beach, would prohibit civil arrests from being made in courthouses without a judicial warrant. A second bill, HB 151, also with support from Snyder-Hall, would prohibit the operation of private detention facilities in Delaware.

Two other bills also address arrests and detentions. HB 153 would prohibit arrest or detention by any person who does not have explicit statutory authority to carry out an arrest or detention. The intent of the bill is to eliminate any doubt that a citizen’s arrest is not permitted in Delaware. The bill would also delete two outdated provisions regarding arrests by private detectives. At present, the bill states, private investigators do not have authority to make arrests in Delaware.

A warrantless arrest by a private person in the case of an individual accused in the courts of another state of a felony would be eliminated by the bill, and it would strike a provision relating to the authority of an officer to command assistance in making arrests based on charges in another state. This bill is a successor to House Bill 76.

Under the bill, peace officers and federal law enforcement agents would still have statutory authority. Out-of-state police would be allowed under some circumstances. Limited authority to detain a person would still remain for those suspected of shoplifting by a merchant, store supervisor, agent or employee of a merchant. Detention would also be allowed for a person suspected of unlawful recording by a motion picture theater owner, supervisor, agent or employee, and for a person suspected of unlawful acts with a video lottery machine by a video lottery agent or any of its officers, employees or agents.