Samuel Williams Cooper

“ A police officer has little more right than the citizen. It is true that, while the law only allows the latter to arrest in ordinary cases, it makes it the duty of the former in every case where he sees an offence committed. And where it is felony that is charged, the right of the officer is higher than that of the citizen, for he may make the arrest without warrant, upon information, and may use his revolver in case the criminal attempts to escape. ”

“ He has no right to interfere at all, and if he does so, the citizen may defend himself at the unlawful attempt at arrest, and provided he does not go to wicked excess, may kill the officer without being guilty of crime.
The people should be fully protected from the abuse of power on the part of the police, who are, for the most part, ignorant men of violent passions, placed in positions of seemingly high authority, and often disposed or tempted to outrage the laws and the liberty of the public. If resisted, they are often the accusers and the sole witnesses. ”

“ In general, it may be said that every citizen, under the common law, is expected to preserve the peace of the community, and may, without a warrant, make arrests for offences which he sees committed. Indeed, if the crime be extreme and be a felony under the law, he is bound to arrest the offender, under pain of fine and imprisonment. He may not make any arrests, however, unless he is an actual witness of the offence. ”

“ This submissiveness on the part of the public has rendered the police, particularly in large cities, arrogant and brutal, and these supposed conservators of the peace are frequent law-breakers.
That a man is under the influence of liquor is not enough to justify interference and found a charge of "drunk and disorderly;" to sustain an accusation, there must, in addition, be annoyance to others. So creating a disturbance does not consist in unusual noise, but in acts tending to a breach of the peace. ”

“ Arrests for trivial causes, without warrant, not only tend to create breaches of the peace, but render the law and its ministers the subject of public contempt. Citizens must prompt to resent the unlawful attacks of officers, and should pursue offenders by complaints to the appointing powers, by criminal prosecutions and civil suits for damages. ”

“ Policemen are supposed to be keepers of the peace, but they have enlarged their fancied duties until they seem to have quite forgotten that they are merely citizens appointed to maintain order, and pose as regulators of the social economy of the streets, even in the most trifling matters. ”

“ Their power should be carefully confined to the preservation of the public peace, and any attempt to go beyond this limit should be promptly punished. The correction of the evil is to be found in the exact determination of their authority. ”

“ In a narrower and, perhaps, seemingly less important branch of these powers, however, the rights of the people are constantly made the subject of outrage, and little attention is paid to it by the reformers. ”

“ Quarantine regulations, and license or prohibitory laws, where the state assumes full control of the individual and the destruction of his effects for the safety of society, may be cited as instances of the evil. ”