DIFFERENT TYPES OF ARREST...

It has come to my attention that not everyone understand what constitutes as an arrest versus being detained while an investigation is being conducted by Law enforcement. That being said, the topic of discussion today will be centered on exactly that, the different types of arrest and how they apply to the person(s) involved. 

There are mainly three types of arrest when it comes to Law enforcement; Summoning, Citing, and Taking into Custody. That being said, no matter what type of arrest a person(s) is subject to, that person should always comply without question with Law enforcement during the incident. 

If any wrong doing is believed to have occurred take it up with either that Officer’s supervisor or the Courts after the incident has concluded. Non-compliance can/will escalate the situation and can result in the person(s) being automatically taken into custody.

The first type of arrest will be Releasing the Offender on a Summons, this is an option that was granted to Law Enforcement Officers by the Courts for lesser type of offenses (i.e. Shoplifting, Petit Larceny, Trespassing, etc.).

Upon the finding of evidence that an offender has committed a lesser crime and said offender is located he/she can be arrested for the crime committed. However, instead of taking them to jail they can be released on a Summons and instructed to be in court on a specified date and time in reference to the incident. 

Now if the offender is believed to be a flight risk or not to obey the Summons if issued they can be taken into custody instead. However, if they appear to be in compliance and doesn’t have a history of not showing up to court they can be released on a Summons. Note, they still are charged with a crime and it will appear on their criminal record as if they were arrested, they just wasn’t taken to jail.

The next type of arrest is being Cited or given a ticket in reference to an offense, not all violations of the law have jail time associated with it. Some violations are just fines, for example; traffic citations or parking tickets. The officer that cites someone presents them with a type of Summons that can be either paid or challenged in court. 

The citation will have a court date on it and instructions on how to go about paying it. These types of arrest normally don’t show up on a criminal record because it is just a fine and considered as much in the eyes of the law.

The final type of arrest is being taken onto custody, this is the traditional action associated with when people think of someone being arrested. The offender is taken into the custody of the LEO and taken to jail in reference to committing a crime. 

Before taking someone into custody, evidence or at least probable cause has to be established to believe that the subject in custody is the offender of the offense being investigated. These type of arrest only show up on a criminal record if the offender is formally charged with committing a crime. If it is found that there isn’t enough probable cause or evidence the subject will be released and the arrest will not show up. 

All major offenses and a few minor offenses require offenders be taken in custody, all Felonies and some Misdemeanors to be specific.

Those are the three types of arrest, every action taken by Law enforcement can be linked to one of these three types of arrest. Not all are major, but all technically count as being arrested in the eyes of the law.

Different Types of Arrest…