# Massachusetts Peace Officer



## lyle22002 (Nov 1, 2006)

I am doing research on Massachusetts legal definitions. I am looking for the MA definition of a peace officer. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.


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## 94c (Oct 21, 2005)

The term peace officer evolved around common law and thus is not written.

Terms such as Night Watchmen, Constables, Sheriffs, and Police have changed over the course of almost two hundred years.

You may however find some case law on it.


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## rg1283 (Sep 14, 2005)

No such thing in MA as a Peace Officer.


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## 94c (Oct 21, 2005)

There are numerous laws on the books that give powers to "police officer or peace officer" which means they are not necessarily one and the same.


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## Edmizer1 (Aug 27, 2006)

There is no official definition of police officer in Mass. Appointment authority and powers vary depending on what law is being enforced and what type of officer is doing the enforcement. Police Magazine listed the amount of police officers per state several years ago. Mass was the only state not listed because no one has any idea how many there are.


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## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

Edmizer1 said:


> There is no official definition of police officer in Mass. Appointment authority and powers vary depending on what law is being enforced and what type of officer is doing the enforcement. Police Magazine listed the amount of police officers per state several years ago. Mass was the only state not listed because no one has any idea how many there are.


Thats because we dont have real police in Massachusetts!


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## Mortal knight (Jun 17, 2003)

http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/mgllink.htm

Go to the above link and enter peace officer or police officer in the search field. When I entered peace officer about 132 hits were found. If you check out the hits you'd get a general idea on the definition of "peace officers".

Good luck, becuase if you do a search on Masscops you will find that we here in Mass can not always agree who's a cop and who's not.


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## OutOfManyOne (Mar 2, 2006)

I think MSP are the only peace officers in MA.


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## Edmizer1 (Aug 27, 2006)

I used to be a campus cop and ocassionally spoke with campus cops down south. Some would ask me if we were police officers or peace officers. In Some states aparently peace officers are sort of watered down cops and can't do everything full police officers can. New York State does this. I saw "Town of Lake George peace officer" in NY a couple of years ago. They were kids like 18 y/o and only carried handcuffs. I looked it up and they can basically only arrest for breaches of the peace.


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