[1] Public Officers—Acts of Subordinates—Liability fob.—A public officer is not responsible for the acts or omissions of subordinates properly employed by or under him, if such subordinates are not in his private service, but are themselves servants of the government, unless he has directed such acts to be done or has personally co-operated therein.

[2] Id.—Chief of Police—Nonliability fob Acts of Subordinates.— While a sheriff is responsible for the acts of his deputies, as they are acting in Ms private service and in his name and stead and are only public officers through him, a chief of a municipal police department, even though he be charged with the duty of selecting the members of the force, is not responsible for their acts, unless he has directed such acts to be done, or has personally co-operated in the offense, for each policeman is, like himself, a .public servant.

[3] Id.—Los Angeles Charter—Chief of Police—Nonliability fob Subordinates.—The chief of police of Los Angeles, in Ms capacity as fixed by the charter, may not be held liable in damages for the unlawful acts and omissions of the - subordinates of the department, selected pursuant to the provisions of the charter, unless it can -be shown that he has directed such acts or personally co-operated therein.

[4] Id. — Sergeant of Police — Nonliability fob Acts of Subordinates.—A sergeant of police of the city of Los Angeles in charge of- a detail of members of the police force, known as the “war squad,” organized to apprehend deserters and offenders against the United States selective service law, is not liable for the acts of members of the squad in making an arrest where he gave no general or specific directions in the matter and had no knowledge of the arrest until he read a report of the occurrence made by the arresting officers.

[5] Id.—Action fob False Abbest—Probable Cause—Sufficiency of Evidence.—Where a young man twenty-four years of age, and unmarried, registered with the local board under the provisions of the Selective Service Act, during the World War, and was entered as a class A-l man, which meant that he was subject to immediate call for service in the United States army at any moment, left the place of his local board and went to a city nearly five hundred miles away, but failed to obtain from his local draft board any evidence that he had notified it of his change of - address, police officers charged with the duty of apprehending deserters had reasonable grounds for arresting and detaining him as a deserter, and are not liable in damages therefor in an action for false arrest.

1. Liability of public officers for acts of subordinates, note, 12 Ann. Cas. 185; 1 A. L. B. 222; 12 A. L. B. 980.

[6] Id. — What Constitutes Probable Cause. — Whether there is probable cause for making an arrest depends upon all the circumstances of each ease, including delay which might enable the guilty person to escape, the nature of the information, the character of the person at whose instance the alleged wrongful arrest is made, and the extent of possible inquiry as to facts and circumstances.

[7] Id. — Definition of Probable Cause. —Probable cause may be defined as a suspicion founded upon circumstances' sufficiently strong to warrant a reasonable man in the belief that the charge is true.

[8] Id,—Question of Law.—In an action for damages for false arrest, the court must determine, as a matter of law, whether the facts and circumstances as they appear, or are found to exist, constitute probable cause.