Refusing to assist a police officer, peace officer or other law enforcement officer is an offence in various jurisdictions around the world, and some jurisdictions use the wording refusing to aid a police officer or failure to aid a police officer. The principle originates from Norman England, where the local sheriff was the only peace officer in an area and would summon local people to help enforce the king's laws or apprehend an offender. It later became part of the common law that all persons must assist a constable or peace officer when asked to do so. It remains one of the few common law offences that still exist in England and Wales and in some other states and countries.
Facts
Classification
Doctrine Category Connections
In Area Of Law
Entity-backed identity for the doctrine category value this doctrine already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a doctrine entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
In Legal System
Source Refusing to assist a police officer (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Refusing to assist a police officer
an offence in various jurisdictions... one of the few common law offences which exist in England/WalesView the Source Refusing to assist a police officer (Wikipedia)
In Legal System: English Law, Wikipedia lead paragraphQuote, In Legal System: English Law, Wikipedia lead paragraph
a police officer". This principle originates from Norman England, where local Sheriffs in England would be the onl
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