Are police men allowed to arrest someone inside a church?

Question

My Brothers girlfriend just told me that If I was a preacher they could never come inside the church and arrest me. Is this true?

Answer 1

Some laws may not have been repealed (Such as the illigality of mince pies in england), but absolutly no-one would let "They can't arrest me in church" stand in court (Much like "They were eating mince pies!").
They can arrest you as and where they like provided it's in the same country (or state as may be the case in the USA, which amounts to almost the same thing).

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Your brother's girlfriend might be related to or a follower of the late Rev. David Koresh (Vernon Howell), a minister of the Seventh Day Adventist Church and leader of the Branch Davidians of that church. Koresh thought that the Mt. Carmel complex near Waco, which was church property and in fact, contained a church building within it, could not be entered by law enforcement either, with or without a search/arrest warrant. We all know what happened to Koresh and many of his followers!

The fact is, the police and other law enforcement agencies can and do enter places of worship when they are properly authorized by court orders or when innocent lives are being threatened or violated. On the evening of Sept. 15, 1999 a gun man entered the Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth and started shooting at people attending a youth rally therein.

The police/SWAT team rushed to the church immediately upon being notified and entered the sanctuary but the gunman had shot himself by that time.

If a gunman entered your church and did the same thing while you and you family were there; would you have preferred that the police enter the building and take him out or would you feel, according to your brother's girls girlfriend, that police couldn't enter a church? Which way makes more sense to you?

Answer 4

Yes, they can. There may be some individual laws that allow you to claim santuary ( for example, catholic churches could be looked upon as soverieng territory of the vatican, sort of like an embassy). In general, you can be arrested anywhere if the cop has a warrent ( there are some variations for time and place), you can be arrested anywhere if the cop sees you commit a felony( and if you commited a felony in a church shame on you and they probalby won't offer you sancuary), and if you committed a misdemenor, well, if the cop didn't see it you didn't do it, he needs a warrent.

I'm always curuious when I get marked down on a quesion like this, is it becuase I couldn't give a stright yes or no? is it becuase someone doesn't like what I said? Is it becuase they went to a better law school than I did?

Answer 5

If you have committed a crime then you can be arrested anywhere . Being a priest is absolutely no reason why you cant be arrested .

the old claim of sanctuary was used in certain circumstances when Church and State where considered one entity, however that is no longer the case.

Whilst the churches harbor and sanctions the paedophiles, rapists and child molesters within its own ranks they are not impuned and they will be bought to justice, man or gods.With any luck both.

Answer 6

The law veries over this. The catholic church is not a church it is a nation, its buildings are thus part of its embessy and are not subject to any police having power to come into them to make arrest. That is why they can fly pedofiles all over the world and no one can arrest them on church property.
Normal churches are subject to the local laws.

Answer 7

Yes we will arrest you anywhere we need to. Especially if you are a danger to yourself or others. When we can we will try not to arrest in front of children,co-workers,or at home we will let you come outside, if you are cooperative.....That is usually in case of a warrant. If it is a traffic arrest and there are children in the vehicle we will try to contact a family member to come get the children before we make an arrest.

Answer 8

Um, no, sorry, "sanctuary" is something that went out with hair shirts and burning heretics at the stake. If you're running from the police and you run into a church, the police will follow and arrest you anyway. And preachers can be arrested in their own churches, too.

Answer 9

Yup, they are only allowed to shoot you in the head instead!

Actually the rules of Sanctuary vary from place to place, but everywhere set up under British Common Law respects the sanctity of a Church. No arresting etc. of people claiming sanctuary. This dates back to the slaughter of the Archbishop of Canterbury Cathedral (Thomas Beckett) by three knights on the King's Orders.

Answer 10

There was a story on the news where the police stormed a church and arrested a man for burglary while he was saying his wedding vows. That "sanctuary" ruling is old time Europe. The church does not hide criminals.