"Fellow Officer" Rule
The "Fellow Officer" rule entitles police officers and police agencies to pass along information, based upon probable cause, from one police officer to another where the information is used by the police officer receiving the information to make a warrantless arrest. Under the rule, a police officer is entitled to assume the reliability of information obtained from a radio bulletin, telephone, teletype alert or other method when the source of the information is a "fellow police officer" or police agency and to make a warrantless arrest based upon that information (People v Lypka, 36 NY2d 210, 213). If the probable cause existed prior to being transmitted to the arresting officer, then the arresting officer has probable cause to make the arrest. When a defendant challenges an arresting officer's warrantless arrest, the government must establish that the police officer or agency providing the information, possessed sufficient probable cause to make the arrest just as if they had done so themselves (see, People v Lypka, supra at 214; see also, Whiteley v Warden, 401 US 560, 568; People v Jennings, 54 NY2d 518, 522; see generally, 2 LaFave, Search and Seizure § 3.5). If the police officer who provided the information had sufficient probable cause, then the warrantless arrest by the police officer receiving the information may be deemed lawful. The "Fellow Officer" rule has been applied whether the communication was between different agencies and even between officials in different states as well as between federal and state or local authorities. The "Fellow Officer" rule has even been applied to Auxiliary Police Officers.
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