RLSH Legal Risk
Real life superheroes ( RLSH ) are a growing Movement of cyber escapists who crusade only online alongside creative activists hitting the streets with new names and outfits.
It’s an exciting time to help stretch the ( usually, yawn! ) concept of concerned citizenship into broader, bolder forms.
As usual I caution against inevitable cultural blowback. I don’t do it as a kill joy nor being a hater. I just look at trends in related fields and consider us with this in mind.
Because we haven’t amassed a series of high profile civil rights violations like 1990s Bounty Hunter Scare ( a RLSH related field if EVER there were one ), there haven’t been Congressional hearings and states tripping over themselves to slap down varying degrees of regulation.
Currently unlicensed and potentially unlimited, we are largely self-policed and advise ourselves on legal and other vital concerns. While a host of RLSH books have been written with many more pending, we don’t have a hand book per se ( though Knight Owl’s RLSH Manual serves admirably ) or defined industry standards.
As private citizens being conscious of HUGE criminal and civil liabilities this caveat keeps the vast majority of us out of trouble. Related fields like private security and bounty hunting have copious case law chiefly documenting false arrest; impersonation of officers and excessive force cases.
Unlike government counterparts, when a security officer; bail enforcement agent and especially a real life superhero grabs the wrong person or unlawfully inflicts injury, he/she QUICKLY goes to jail and has roughly a year to plan his/her defense before a potentially skeptical court.
There’s very real legal risk in being a RLSH. Keep in mind most of us don’t have official status with the local PD like some versions of Batman or Doc Savage commissions from the NYPD and feds of his pulp novel America. Ideally we can work on establishing relationships with law enforcement to avoid future conflict.
We’re still fleshing this role out. Kinks remain to be smoothed out but a doctrine ahs been established. We’ve also grown to include conventional concerned citizens in what I term RLSH-inspired community coalitions ( RICCS ) to patrol the streets and dispense food supplies alongside our colorful peers.
The devil is in the details and regarding the real life superhero Movement, it remains to be seen what ultimate form our details will assume. We’re still a work very much in progress.
That said, there remains very real legal risk in being a RLSH.
Ask an attorney or visit RLSH sites where you can e-mail or chat with experienced folks about this one-of-a-kind lifestyle.
*Informative RLSH sites include:
Superhero Law
Real Life Superheroes
Superheroes Anonymous
Heroes In The Night
Real life Superhero Project
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-developemnt. http://www.captblack.info.