Title 8, Public Officers And Employees

No sheriff or deputy sheriff shall become the purchaser, either directly or indirectly, of any property by such sheriff or deputy exposed to sale under any process of law, and every such purchase shall be absolutely void.

A sheriff's disobedience of the command of any process is a contempt of the court from which it issued, and may be punished accordingly; and such sheriff is further liable to the action of the party aggrieved.

No sheriff shall return upon any writ that the person upon whom it is to be served is not to be found in the county, unless such sheriff has actually been at the place of abode of such person.

Where such person is a known inhabitant of another county, the sheriff shall return the truth of the case.

On levying an execution for money, the sheriff, if required, shall make out a bill of the sheriff's own and all other fees endorsed thereon, giving the items separately and distinctly, and give a receipt therefor to the party paying them, under a penalty of one hundred twenty-fiv…

Any sheriff who, either negligently or willfully, or by want of proper diligence, firmness, and promptness in the use of all the powers with which the sheriff is vested by law, allows a prisoner to be taken from the jail of the sheriff's county, or to be taken from the sheriff's …

(a) The sheriff may appoint as many special deputies as the sheriff may think proper, on urgent occasions, or when required for particular purposes. (b) The sheriff may appoint as many private special deputies as qualify for appointment pursuant to § 38-8-118. (c) (1) The sheriff…

(a) The sheriff and the sheriff's deputies are conservators of the peace, and it is the sheriff's duty to suppress all affrays, riots, routs, unlawful assemblies, insurrections, or other breaches of the peace, detect and prevent crime, arrest any person lawfully, execute process …

The sheriff, when going out of office, shall deliver to the successor all books and papers pertaining to the office, and all property attached and levied on and in the sheriff's hands, unless authorized by law to retain the same, and all prisoners in the jail, and take a receipt …

The sheriff is allowed two (2) years from the time of going out of office to close unsettled business, with all the power and subject to all the limitations and restrictions of the actual sheriff.

(a) It is unlawful for any sheriff, deputy sheriff or constable to serve any summons, writ, process or other proceeding in any civil action when such officer is a salaried or commissioned employee of any party to the action or suit wherein any such summons, writ, process or other…

Any summons, writ, process or other proceeding in a civil action which was served in violation of § 8-8-216 is void.

(a) Upon completion of honorable service by a full-time sheriff or deputy sheriff, the sheriff or deputy sheriff, upon retirement, may retain the sheriff's or deputy sheriff's service weapon in recognition of many years of good and faithful service. A sheriff or deputy sheriff wh…

(a) White patrol cars which have a green stripe running horizontally along the upper portion of each side may be used exclusively for county sheriffs' patrol cars, and this color scheme shall not be used by any other law enforcement official or agency. When adopted for use by a c…

In any civil action when the service of process is attempted to be served and is subsequently returned unserved, the sheriff of any county may appoint a person, who is a citizen of this state and who is of legal age, to serve such service of process within the prescribed limitati…

(a) The sheriff of each county shall establish regulations governing the acceptance of persons, other than state prisoners, for incarceration in the county jail. Except for state prisoners held in the county jail, no person shall be incarcerated in the county jail without the app…

A sheriff, deputy sheriff, or constable serving an order of protection or ex parte order of protection shall, prior to or at the time of service, make reasonable efforts to determine whether the person being served has an outstanding criminal warrant. If the person being served h…

(a) No sheriff, whether elected or appointed, nor any surety on the sheriff's bonds, shall be liable for any wrongs, injuries, losses, damages or expenses incurred as a result of any act or failure to act on the part of any deputy appointed by the sheriff, whether the deputy is a…

(a) Anyone incurring any wrong, injury, loss, damage or expense resulting from any act or failure to act on the part of any deputy appointed by the sheriff may bring suit against the county in which the sheriff serves; provided, that the deputy is, at the time of such occurrence,…

(a) The governmental immunity of the county in which the sheriff serves is waived for purposes of § 8-8-302, but to an extent not in excess of the minimum amount required for a surety bond applicable to that county's sheriff pursuant to § 8-8-103. This cap, based on the amount re…

This part shall be known as the “County Sheriff's Civil Service Law of 1974.”

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), this part shall be local in effect and shall become effective in a particular county upon the contingency of a two-thirds (⅔) vote of the county legislative body approving this law. (b) On or after June 9, 2010, § 8-8-419(a)(2) shall appl…

As used in this part, “classified service” includes all positions and employees in the sheriff's department, except for the sheriff, the sheriff's personal secretary, and the cook for the jail facility, and, in those counties deciding to do so, the chief deputy sheriff.

There is created a civil service board composed of three (3) members selected by the county legislative body.

(1) The terms of the members of the board shall be three (3) years; provided, that the initial appointments shall be as follows:(1) One (1) member selected by the county legislative body for one (1) year;(2) One (1) member selected by the county legislative body for two (2) years…

All members of the board shall be over eighteen (18) years of age, of good moral character, citizens of the United States and the state of Tennessee, and must reside in the respective county, and they shall not hold any elected or appointed office within the county.

The members of the board shall receive such salary, if any, as determined by the county legislative body in its sound discretion.

The county mayor shall designate, from the three (3) members thus selected, a chair of the board. The sheriff shall appoint from among the sheriff's employees a personnel officer, who shall be the keeper of the sheriff's departmental records, and also shall serve as secretary of …

(1) The board as a body shall:(1) Adopt and amend rules and regulations for the administration of this part;(2) Make investigations concerning the enforcement and effect of this part and require observance of the rules and regulations made thereunder;(3) Hear and determine appeal…

(a) All persons in the employ of the office of the sheriff or classified service positions at the time this part becomes operative, who have served for a period longer than six (6) months, shall be retained without preliminary or performance tests, but shall thereafter be subject…

The board shall, as soon as practical after this part becomes operative, adopt a classification plan and make rules for its administration. The position classification plan may, if desired, create different classes of positions within each position in the classified service. The …

The board may, upon request of and by the advice of the sheriff, create new positions or combine, alter or abolish existing positions in such manner as the board acting under the advice of the sheriff deems necessary for the effective operation of the office of sheriff. No positi…

(a) The board shall formulate reasonable rules governing the granting of leaves of absence to members of the classified service in good standing. The board shall seek the advice of the sheriff upon any request for leave of absence before acting thereon and shall be guided by the …

(a) The sheriff shall keep the board informed by periodic reports of the employment needs of the office. (b) (1) The board shall, as often as necessary, hold tests to establish lists of persons eligible for the various positions in the classified service.(2) Such tests shall be p…

(a) Whenever a vacancy occurs in any position in the classified section of the office of sheriff, the sheriff shall ask the board for the names and addresses of all eligible persons. The board shall certify the names of all persons on the eligible list for that position within th…

Employees in the classified service may be transferred from one position to another in the same class. Transfers may be instituted only by the sheriff and shall be permitted only with the consent of the sheriff.

(a) The practice and procedure of the board with respect to any investigation by the board authorized by this part shall be in accordance with the rules and regulations to be established by the board. The rules shall provide for reasonable notice to all persons affected and for t…

(a) The sheriff shall give an immediate report in writing of all appointments, reinstatements, vacancies, absences or other matters affecting the status of any member of the classified service or the performance of the duties of members of the classified service. The report shall…

(a) (1) No person holding a position in the classified service shall take an active part in any political campaign while on duty.(2) (A) No employee of the sheriff's department shall solicit money for political campaigns; provided, that such restriction shall not prohibit an empl…

The sheriff is hereby authorized to dispose of all abandoned, stolen, and/or recovered or worthless property, other than as provided in § 8-8-504, which remains unclaimed in the sheriff's custody and possession by virtue of confiscation, abandonment or having been stolen and reco…

Prior to disposing of such property, the sheriff shall make a reasonable effort to locate the true owner of the property and notify such owner of the sheriff's possession of the property. The true owner, when located, shall claim the property within a reasonable time.

Prior to disposing of such property under this part, the sheriff shall present to a judge of one of the criminal courts of the county a list of all such property to be disposed of, together with an affidavit that the sheriff has made a reasonable search for the true owner thereof…

Nothing in this part shall be construed as repealing any other law now in effect which provides for the disposition of abandoned, stolen, recovered and/or contraband property; provided, that no such property shall be returned to the owner, even if known, if the return of such pro…

The civil service system of a county having a metropolitan form of government includes an employee of the sheriff's office who is classified as a correctional officer.

Each correctional officer employed by the sheriff's office on March 22, 1993, who has served for a period of not less than six (6) months, shall be retained without preliminary or performance tests, but shall be subject in all other respects to the civil service system.

With the advice and consent of the sheriff, the civil service commission shall adopt a position classification plan for correctional officers and make rules for its administration.