Originally posted by cmd18B
reply to post by JB737
I visit an Army base here in NJ and they have private security but cannot enforce laws or initiate traffic stops or pursue off the reservation and thats a fact so if he was camping on public land and off the Air Forces property then whoever it was had no legal rights to ransack his campsite...Thats my big question. Are the laws in Nevada different?
Yes and no. Private security is probably not an accurate description of these guys' actual legal powers, but it is a fairly good approximation of their outward appearance and rules of engagement when nothing serious is hitting the fan.
It at least used to be true that some?/all? of the border camo dudes were also deputized in the county, so they in fact did have policing and arrest powers outside the line if need be. Even so, they traditionally deferred to the real sherriffs to handle arrests, etc. Mainly it's just one more way they "cross their t's and dot their i's" legally in case of incidents across/outside the line.
Post-9/11 conditions allow them to be given powers like that more secretly and from more sources, I suspect they do have valid policing powers outside the line. I believe someone (probably Glen?) found dozens of deputized-camo-dude names but didn't publish them, pre-9/11. That was back when the military and intelligence services had legal trouble acting as police within our borders, which is far less true today, so maybe they don't still need to do that.
Maybe now they can accomplish the same effect by some sort of MP or federal deputization unbeknownst to county/state officials. Maybe an executive order extends their duties/powers onto BLM federal/public lands. Maybe they take an "all of the above" approach.
It is hard to say what the real limit of their authority is, or where it comes from. I for one do not assume that their rules of engagement have them normally exercising all the powers they actually have. Some are probably reserved for when push comes to shove. That might even include the power to arrest tourists for photographing the "no photography sign" (and hence the military land beyond it) while standing on the BLM side of the BLM/military border doing the same thing 1000 others have done before without being challenged by them. They could be saving it for when someone on a watch list does it, and they take him by surprise.
As far as ransacking a campsite/tent on public BLM land, they stretched their normal rules of engagement, but whether they had the legal right to do it or not, or what triggered them to do it, is unknown. Maybe Ben uttered a "magic word" which coincidentally was a code word used in an intercepted terrorist message. Maybe he had earlier visited an aircraft-photo website where a terrorist had encrypted messages into photos. Many things might bring an innocent person under suspicion. Combine that with hanging out at a sensitive military border, and they probably did have the power to investigate.
I know for certain the camos can always rely upon a cozy relationship with the local court, which basically never allows a court decision to go against them.
I suspect they also rely upon additional legal powers they already have, or have quick access to, but don't invoke often. At least, I hope they have some hidden powers up their sleeve, in case the bad guys arrive.
JB737
