Hamilton arrest fuels critics' concerns over citizen's arrest

It's a scenario critics of citizen's arrests say they've feared all along with untrained members of the public detaining people.Now, a 19-year-old has appeared in court after an alleged arrest in Hamilton went too far.This comes just weeks after new laws came into effect allowing anyone to use reasonable force to hold someone they suspect has committed a crime.Police were called to a business on Victoria Street around 5.15pm on Saturday following reports of shoplifting.When officers arrived, Hamilton City Area Commander inspector Scott Miller said they found the suspected shoplifter detained.Police alleged the person who detained the suspected shoplifter also assaulted them.A 19-year-old had been charged with common assault and appeared in the Hamilton District Court today, while police said the suspected shoplifter would go through the youth justice process.Retail NZ spokesperson Carolyn Young.SuppliedRetail NZ spokesperson Carolyn Young said her organisation had always been concerned about allowing anyone to use reasonable force when making a citizen's arrest."A citizen like you or I, I don't have any training. I have no capacity other than anything I see on TV and that's probably not very realistic, right?"So being able to understand how you would react in the moment to a situation that is probably inflamed, at a heightened sense of anxiety. Understanding what would be the appropriate thing to do in that situation comes from training."She said de-escalation was the most important thing, and that meant making sure you get enough information to report the crime, keeping yourself and others safe, and letting police deal with the matter."If you don't have the right level of training, you won't know necessarily if you've crossed the line and it looks like in this situation there's a question mark around whether that happened."Human rights lawyer Michael Bott.RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-KingHuman rights lawyer Michael Bott said staying within the law when making an arrest could be extremely nuanced for an untrained civilian."The police have particular training in terms of the use of force and proportionality, whereas the public don't. And so they've been given this carte blanche power and they haven't got the skills to do the job. It's dangerous."Bott said the law allowing civilian arrests was appalling."The power itself is extremely loosely worded and it's fraught with difficulty and you can see that people will tragically get it wrong."He wondered what will happen if the suspected shoplifter in the Hamilton incident was innocent, and there was a mistake."Does that mean that there's going to be some kind of kidnapping where the person was prevented unreasonably from exiting a building or exiting a street? Because some well-meaning shopkeeper or their staff, believe without reasonable evidence that they've committed the crime and they hadn't."Similarly, you can easily imagine a situation where unreasonable force is applied, and the person who is suspected of being a thief is in fact the victim of an assault, and they could be justified in using reasonable force and self-defence."So you have an escalation in terms of potential for violence due to the landscape that's being created by rushed legislation."Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith said he stood by the policy, which was an extension of previous citizens arrest powers - where they were allowed at night and when more serious offences were suspected."We passed a law and we expect people to follow that law. The clear directions in that is if the situation is appropriate, people can hang on to somebody and then call the police and follow the instructions of the police."The minister said he was not aware of the details in the Hamilton case.