Does the "Fellow Officer" Rule Apply to Auxiliary Police Officers?
The "Fellow Officer" rule entitles police officers and police agencies to pass along information used to make an arrest from one police officer to another. To find out more about what the "Fellow Officer" rule is, read the article "Fellow Officer" Rule. The question here is whether the "Fellow Officer" rule applies to an auxiliary police officer who may not be a police officer or a peace officer while on routine patrol. Auxiliary Police Officers exist in different variations and may also be called Reserve Police Officers; Reserve Deputy Sheriffs and other names. Depending upon the state, auxiliary police officers may or may not have peace officer status during routine patrols and other duties. Because auxiliary police officers often assist regular police officers and have passed information used to make an arrest to regular police officers, the answer to this question can determine whether a defendant was properly arrested. This issue was considered by the New York State Court of Appeals in THE PEOPLE &C., RESPONDENT, v. WILFREDO ROSARIO, APPELLANT, 78 N.Y.2d 583, 585 N.E.2d 766, 578 N.Y.S.2d 454 (1991). In that case, a New York City Auxiliary Police Officer, while on routine patrol, received a radio transmission about a murder suspect and upon spotting the murder suspect, advised a regular police officer who then made the arrest. The arrest was based upon information obtained from an auxiliary police officer who obtained the information from a radio transmission by the New York City Police Department. The New York State Court of Appeals found, as mentioned above, that the auxiliary police officer received extensive training which was sufficient to pass along probable cause under the "fellow officer" rule and decided that lack of peace officer status did not prevent the rule from applying to a New York City Auxiliary Police Officer.
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