QUESTION
Will I have to go to court if I make a 'Citizens Arrest' for 'Breach of Peace' on my neighbors ?
Asked on Aug 06th, 2014 on Civil Litigation - California
More details to this question:
My neighborhood has been plagued with a house full of individuals who are oblivious to the needs of individuals to sleep. At least 4 to 5 nights a week we are subjected to screaming, loud music, fighting, hysterical crying, banging, loud vehicles, breaking glass, etc.
This disruption most severely effects the most immediate neighbors, about 5 homes/families. However, it routinely makes its way out into the street were the chaos has also provoked police calls.
For us, the immediate neighbors, there is no sleep. Repeated calls to the police have become a game to them. They settle down until the police leave then they make twice the noise to see if they can get them to come back, literally screaming "I dare you to call the 50 back"!
We've made repeated calls to their landlord, to no avail. The police will still respond but it really has no effect. The police advice was for one of us to make a Citizens Arrest for Breach of Peace in their (the police) presence.
1 ANSWER
I'm neither admitted to practice law in California, nor do I practice criminal law. Nevertheless, for what it's worth, the officer's advice doesn't sound right to me. I would have expected the officer to advise you to sue the offenders in a civil case. However, to answer your question, while I doubt that any "citizen's arrest" will go very far, if it ever reaches court you will have to appear, probably (if the case goes all the way to trial) several times as you will be the primary witness in the case.
Answered on Aug 06th, 2014 at 2:56 PM