criminal-law constitutional-law military
Can a soldier enforce federal law?
<p>I was reading a book(fiction) recently and a kidnapping happened. A woman escaped and ran into several people. One of them being a soldier with his wife. As the kidnapper tries to find the escaped woman, he also runs into these people. The wife wants to call the police, but the soldier says he doesn't want the guy leaving before they get there. Then he said "I'm on active duty and I'm tasked with upholding federal law".</p>

<p>Is this in any way true? Can a soldier act as a law enforcement officer in a situation like this? I'm aware there is a law that states the military can't operate on U.S. soil, but I feel like the author of the book knows something I don't.</p>

<p><a href="/questions/tagged/united-states" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;united-states&#39;" rel="tag">united-states</a></p>

<p>Under US law, any citizen may hold a person caught in the process of committing a felony (which kidnapping surely is) for the police. A soldier has no special authority. Indeed under the <em>Posse Comitatus</em> Act, the military has more restricted authority in such matters than citizens in general.  However note that the book doesn't say the soldier was justified. I do not find it implausible that a soldier might have believed that the military had such authority.</p>

<p>In certain situations, military personnel can enforce federal law. For example, MP's enforce laws on military bases and often have agreements with local jurisdictions to do so a short distance around bases. Some other military agencies (Army CID, etc.) also enforce laws, though they generally don't stray into civilian matters. And the National Guard can be authorized to enforce laws. The vast majority of military personnel, though, are certainly not "tasked" to "uphold" (in the sense of "enforce") federal law.</p>
