Question regarding "FPS" authority

[101]

I have a friend "Joe" who told me about an event. He lives in my area (cheatham county sticks). We have been noticing more and more those FPS SUV's driving around. We can't figure out why they are in our area. They never have been before until about four years ago.

Anyways, the other day he follows one up the back roads to I24. Once on the on ramp, the FPS guy takes his good old time getting up to speed and tries to merge going like 50. So good old Joe (mustang) decides to blow this guys doors off and pass him getting up to speed with the interstate. My guess is he was going 80'ish being under the same thought as me "they have no jurisdiction or authority to pull me over" being that they are just security police for federal grounds and buildings.

This FPS guy falls in behind my friend and starts tapping his lights and chirping his siren. Joe thinks to himself, f*** off and maintains his speed ignoring FPS guy. FPS guy gives up after a minute and just follows Joe. Joe gets off at next exit and FPS guy keeps going.

Question is....was this guy abusing authority he does not have or was he able to pull Joe over?

My guess is FPS guy was all butt hurt because someone had the audacity to ignore his shiny "police" car.

Thoughts?

[MacGyver]

Make sure someone lets us know if "Joe" gets sent to Guantanamo.

[c.a.willard]

IT was well outside the scope of that FPS officers authority to even attempt to conduct a traffic stop.  They have relatively limited powers outside of their scope of duties about the only time a FPS officer can do anything not related to the security of federal property is if they personally witness a violation of federal law or a felony offense. 

[nightrunner]

What is FPS?

[Hozzie]

Federal Protective Service

[Dolomite_supafly]

Federal Protective Services.

 

I have worked closely with them in the past. Just like any other LE agency they have good officers and bad ones. I will say they try to make themselves kind of shadowy. I can also say that having them monitor your activities is a huge pain because they were sneaky.

[gregintenn]

I've never heard of this organization. What are they supposed to be doing?

[c.a.willard]

FPS is the agency that is overall responsible for the security and protection of certain federal properties and buildings.  Their sworn LE portion of FPS is fairly small, however they oversee several thousand security guard contractors.

[DaveTN]

They probably can’t enforce traffic laws; but if they thought his driving was reckless it sounds like they could stop your friend and call someone that can. Just a WAG though.

 

 

http://www.usacops.com/dc/p20536/

 

FPS' law enforcement officers have some of the broadest jurisdicitonal boundaries in the United States, from state to state and through MOUs with various other agencies.
 

 

 

[101]

Interesting. So the FPS guy was either trying to be friendly and simply warn my friend or he was trying to intimidate him with abuse of authority.

OR

They probably can’t enforce traffic laws; but if they thought his driving was reckless it sounds like they could stop your friend and call someone that can. Just a WAG though.
 
 
http://www.usacops.com/dc/p20536/

If this is the case and the FPS had tried to actually pull him over all official like and he (my friend) was under the assumption that the FPS had no power to do so and refused to pull over, would he be evading or criminally charged? The FPS are hardly known by anyone and their vehicles are poorly marked (it just says simply "police" and anyone can put a sticker that says that) so it could be argued that an reasonable person could believe that vehicle might not be legit?

[DaveS]

Interesting. So the FPS guy was either trying to be friendly and simply warn my friend or he was trying to intimidate him with abuse of authority.

OR


If this is the case and the FPS had tried to actually pull him over all official like and he (my friend) was under the assumption that the FPS had no power to do so and refused to pull over, would he be evading or criminally charged? The FPS are hardly known by anyone and their vehicles are poorly marked (it just says simply "police" and anyone can put a sticker that says that) so it could be argued that an reasonable person could believe that vehicle might not be legit?

Pull over then file an official complaint. He was just probably tapping his lights as a reminder that he may be going a bit fast and acting in a reckless manner.

 

Dave S

[QuietDan]

Another organization to defund to defang. The feds are getting too big for their britches and the Congress should grow a backbone and start trimming their wings.

[c.a.willard]

Id say that FPS is  good example of a reasonable size for their scope and authority.  I want to say they have only somewhere near 1,000 sworn officers for all the federal buildings and properties that they cover.  The majority of security is through contract security companies.  I do think that FPS probably needs to move back under GSA instead of being under DHS.  But that's because GSA is better set up to  handle all the contracting issues.  You cant really defund FPS as they do not get their funding through a line item budget.  They get their funding by charging a fee to the agencies whose buildings they protect.  

[peejman]

So is the FPS different from the US Marshall Service?

[c.a.willard]

yes,  very different than the US Marshalls service.  Although the US Marshall service does have a portion of it that security focused.  Specifically security for federal court buildings and they also handle the majority of the CSO program through contracting.

 

Marshalls do the following:  Judiciary security, witness security, prisoner transport, fugitive apprehension

 

FPS protects around 9,000 different federal buildings and properties.  Most of which are federal office buildings.   

 

 

 

The FPS has been around for over 6 decades now, its just that you very rarely hear about them.  Partly because they are small and partly because it is rare for them to do things like in the OP. 

[Raoul]

I got pulled over by a TVA cop one time on a state roadway that was not anywhere near to a TVA facility.

[DaveTN]

Interesting. So the FPS guy was either trying to be friendly and simply warn my friend or he was trying to intimidate him with abuse of authority.

OR


If this is the case and the FPS had tried to actually pull him over all official like and he (my friend) was under the assumption that the FPS had no power to do so and refused to pull over, would he be evading or criminally charged? The FPS are hardly known by anyone and their vehicles are poorly marked (it just says simply "police" and anyone can put a sticker that says that) so it could be argued that an reasonable person could believe that vehicle might not be legit?

Hard to say; you can be ticketed for anything. Whether or not it would stand up in court is another story. If your friend slows to the speed limit and drives to a safe place or calls 911 to verify it’s a cop; he isn’t fleeing even if it’s a cop that has jurisdiction. I wouldn’t think the Command Officers of one of these agents would be very happy with him stopping someone for simple speeding.

[vontar]

Here in Oak Ridge, we have Security Police Vehicles.  They are security for Y12, I believe contractors.  I have never seen them do anything strange but I figure they don't have power away from the plant to conduct traffic stops.  If one were to try, I would probably just try to the police station and see how long they follow.  However, like I said, never seen them do anything away from the plant.