Mara Gorman
- Democratic
- Representative
- District 23
Primary
This Act prohibits arrest or detention by any person who does not have explicit statutory authority to carry out an arrest or detention. The intent of this provision is to eliminate any doubt that a “citizen’s arrest” is not permitted in Delaware. Peace officers have statutory authority to make arrests, as do federal law enforcement agents and out-of-state police under some circumstances. There is also limited authority to detain a person suspected of shoplifting provided to a merchant, store supervisor, agent or employee of a merchant in § 840 of Title 11; to detain a person suspected of unlawful recording by a motion picture theater owner, supervisor, agent or employee under § 858 of Title 11; and to detain a person suspected of unlawful acts with a video lottery machine by a video lottery agent or any of its officers, employees or agents under § 1474 of Title 11. This Act also deletes two outdated provisions of Chapter 65 of Title 11 that reference the exercise of arrest by private detectives. At the present time, private investigators do not have authority to make arrests in Delaware.
Signed by Governor
Passed By Senate. Votes: 17 YES 4 NO
Lifted From Table in Senate
Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits
Amendment HA 1 to HB 153 - Passed In House by Voice Vote
Passed By House. Votes: 24 YES 12 NO 5 ABSENT
Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 4 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits
Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House
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| Bill Text | PDF HTML |
| HA 1 to HB 153 | HTML PDF |
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| No related documents. |
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