“An off-duty police officer cannot arrest a person.”

Some people subscribe to the myth that an off-duty police officer cannot make an arrest.  Not only can an off-duty officer make an arrest,73 but a person can actually be charged with resisting an officer with violence even when the officer is off-duty and out of his jurisdiction.74

The basis for truth to this myth stems from the fact that in certain instances a police officer who is off-duty and out of his jurisdiction cannot always detain or arrest a person, 75 even if that same person can be charged with resisting an arrest with violence if he hits the officer.  The reason being that a person can never use force to resist an unlawful arrest, detention or investigation unless the officer is using excessive force76 or is acting in bad faith77 or does not reasonably appear to be a police officer.78

An off-duty police officer who is out of his jurisdiction is in no better position than an every-day citizen when it comes to making arrests. A citizen-arrest79 can be made by an off-duty officer out of his jurisdiction or by any citizen when a felony or a crime considered a breach of peace80 is committed in the citizen’s or off-duty officer’s presence.  So it is true that in certain instances a person like Gomer Pyle can make a “Citizen’s arrest! Citizen’s arrest!”81