Municipal Corporations - Police Power - Delegation of Power to Patrol Highways to Private Corporation

Authors

George Kircos, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Defendant was stopped for speeding in Comstock Township, Michigan, and given a "violation ticket". by an employee of Charles Services, Inc., a private corporation which patrolled the highway under an arrangement with the township. At the trial defendant objected to the admission of evidence establishing him as the driver of the speeding vehicle on the ground that it was obtained by one not authorized by law to arrest him. On appeal from conviction, held, affirmed. Evidence obtained by the employee of Charles Services, Inc., is admissible because defendant did not sustain the burden of proving that the employee was not a deputy sheriff with proper authority to arrest. Further, the objection to evidence on such grounds is proper only on a motion to suppress in advance of trial. One justice vigorously dissented on the ground that delegation of police power is illegal and evidence made available as a result of such delegation should be suppressed. People v. Robinson, 344 Mich. 353, 74 N.W. (2d) 41 (1955).

Recommended Citation

George Kircos, Municipal Corporations - Police Power - Delegation of Power to Patrol Highways to Private Corporation, 54 Mich. L. Rev. 1016 (1956).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol54/iss7/16