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Serving City Warrants Outside the City for Municipal Ordinance Violations Committed Within the City

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Reviewed Date: June 15, 2017

Original Author: 
Hemsley, Sid
Date Created: 
Jun 24, 1994


Subjects:
Municipal ordinances
Police--Arrest procedure
Police--Procedures

Serving City Warrants Outside the City for Municipal Ordinance Violations Committed Within the City

Summary: 
MTAS was asked whether the city can serve city warrants outside the city for municipal ordinance violations committed within the city.

Knowledgebase-Serving City Warrants Outside the City for Municipal Ordinance Violations Committed Within the City June 24, 1994

Here is the 1994 Summary of Public Acts you requested.

You also had this question: Can the city serve city warrants outside the city for municipal ordinance violations committed within the city? The answer is yes. Tennessee Code Annotated, section 6-54-302 provides that:

Any duly and regularly appointed police officer of a municipality within the state having a duly constituted city or municipal court shall have authority to serve warrants for the arrest of persons for municipal offenses committed within the municipal limits, at any point within the county wherein the municipality is located.

The City, having a duly constituted municipal court, appears to fall within that statute. I know of no case law interpreting that statute, but it appears straight forward.

The Tennessee Attorney General has opined that a search warrant applying to a premises in the county more than one mile outside the city limits cannot be executed by a city police officer because there is not statute authorizing police officers to execute such warrants. [OAG 56, dated Feb. 14, 1983] However, Tennessee Code Annotated, section 6-54-302 authorizes the execution of arrest warrants by city officers anywhere in the county for municipal ordinance violations.

Sincerely,

Sidney D. Hemsley
Senior Law Consultant
SDH/

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