# Radar across town lines?



## Guest (Oct 16, 2007)

Hey I was wondering what the law is about shooting police radar across town lines. I know some laws apply to town officers but not state officers, also. I've tried looking for this information on my own but haven't had any success finding it. (I'm not an officer nor a lawyer and thus am quite ignorant in the matter of looking up laws :sad: ) 
Thanks in advance for your responses; I've been looking around this forum and it seems like a pretty sweet community!


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## j809 (Jul 5, 2002)

You can shoot your radar beams over town lines as long as you are acting in the performance of your duties, have a valid FCC permit and the radar beam cannot exceed 2800 feet or 20 feet in width with a 20 degree reflection angle that does not interfere with FAA waves. Hope that helps.


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## USMCTrooper (Oct 23, 2003)

Think about your question carefully, within it lies your answer.

Each municipality has jurisdictional limits they must operate within. There are a few exceptions for authority outside their jurisdiction. 

From the US 1st Circuit Court of Appeals:

Under Massachusetts law, a police officer

has no power to make a warrantless arrest outside the

boundaries of the governmental unit by which he was appointed

except for a fresh pursuit arrest for any arrestable offense,

whether it be a felony or misdemeanor, initially committed in

the arresting officer's presence and within his jurisdiction.

Commonwealth v. LeBlanc, 407 Mass. 70, 72 (1990). But, "a
____________ _______

police officer, while unable to act as an officer in an

adjoining jurisdiction, does not cease to be a citizen in

that jurisdiction ... and may lawfully conduct a citizen's

arrest there if he has probable cause to believe that a

felony has been committed and that the person arrested has

committed it." Commonwealth v. Dise, 31 Mass. App. Ct. 701,
____________ ____

704 (1991), further appellate review denied, 412 Mass. 1102
_______________________________

(1992) (footnote omitted) 
____________________

6. Cf. United States v. Foster, 566 F. Supp. 1403, 1411-12 &
___ _____________ ______
n.9 (D.D.C. 1983) (finding a seizure violated the Fourth
Amendment where a Metro Transit police officer's Terry stop
_____
of defendant for an offense occurring on a city street
exceeded the limits of the officer's authority to stop for
offenses originating on or in a Metro station and since the
offense was a misdemeanor, the officer's action could not be
justified as a citizen's arrest).


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## Guest (Oct 16, 2007)

Come on Wolfie............. He/she was cited and is here to snoop and formulate excuses for a ticket appeal. Unlike you to not have their email and MySpace info yet. hahahahahhaa


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## j809 (Jul 5, 2002)

Or the officer could be sworn in both towns.


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## Guest (Oct 17, 2007)

Wolfman said:


> Whatever makes you ask such a curious question?


 Mostly curiosity actually. I had taken part in a conversation a few weeks ago about the difference in enforcement abilities between state police and town officers, during which a few different examples of questionable jurisdiction arose including ability to make arrests, rules of pursuit, and radar usage. I was able to at least make somewhat satisfactory generalizations about the first two (based on random hear-say and episodes of COPS) but I was completely stumped about the radar. I spent quite a while searching mass.gov for any articles about this but between all the "legal" language and vast database I became completely confused. During my search, I stumbled apon this website and thought it might be worth giving it a shot asking the people who'd know the best.

Also, I know it's illegal to resist arrest from a police officer, but is it illegal to resist citizen's arrest? i.e. is it considered resisting arrest if I run from a cop who is out of jurisdiction? or do most officers just cease follow perpetrators out of jurisdiction? Are you allowed to pul someone over (flashy lights, the whole deal) if you are out of jurisdiction?

has anyone ever arrested someone as a citizen (not an officer)? are you required to tell them that "this is a citizen's arrest?"

heh, that's a lot of questions


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