PosseComitatis

Posse Comitatus Act - Important Read!With riots destroying our cities in the late 1960s’ there was a case made in the form of a law suit that went to the supreme court called “Baltimore V. Silver”, 263 Md. 439 (1971). Business owners sued for damages the city of Baltimore for failure to suppress the riot. Baltimore said that they were not responsible for damages because of the nature of the destruction. Maryland Supreme Court held that the city was responsible for damages because they failed to use the power of “Posse’” to suppress the rioters. “…any official responsible to conserve the peace must raise the posse’, if necessary, in order to suppress rioting.”In Michigan the Sheriff has the power and duty to make “hue and cry” to the posse’ to ferret out all criminal activity. The correct term is “Posse’ Comitatus” which is “the power of the county”. The Sheriff may command to duty any able-bodied men age 15 and older. The Sheriff possesses this power at the “common law” from centuries of history.The Posse’ is not to be confused with the Militia. The Posse’ derives its power from the county through the Sheriff while the Militia is a subset of the people alone. I recite these powers to educate my readers of the importance of local control. There are a few news medias’ out there that claim “Constitutional Sheriffs’ “are seeking alliances with anti-government extremists. This is made up in an attempt to undermine sheriffs. The fact is that our Posse’ and Militia have the same lawful character as the news media. Now to add to this, the Posse’ and Militia have more lawful character than the agencies that have recently arrested the Militia. Most of those agencies involved were created through acts by congress. Moreover, the Posse’ and Militia existed long before our state and federal governments were even thought of.So, if in the future rioting becomes a threat or an Attorney General calls it an ideology, you will better understand our duty as a county and as a people.Sheriff Dar LeafBarry County