Title 38, Prevention And Detection Of Crime

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a chief law enforcement officer of a state or local law enforcement agency may develop and implement policies and guidelines regarding the use of marked law enforcement vehicles by off-duty law enforcement officers for travel to and from …

Pursuant to the sovereign authority of this state, a law, treaty, executive order, rule, or regulation of the United States government that has been found by the supreme court of the United States or the Tennessee supreme court to violate the Constitution of Tennessee, Article I,…

(a) The Tennessee valley authority (TVA) may apply to the commissioner of safety for the appointment and commissioning of such number of its agents, servants, or employees as TVA shall designate to act as peace officers, as provided in this section. The commissioner, upon the app…

A law enforcement officer shall not use a choke hold, as defined in § 38-8-101, with or without the use of a police baton, on any person unless the officer reasonably believes that deadly force is authorized pursuant to § 39-11-620.

(a) (1) It is the duty of every booking agency to take, or cause to be taken, a full set of fingerprints of each person arrested, whether by warrant or capias, for an offense that results in the person's incarceration in a jail facility or the person's posting of a bond to avoid …

(a) No law enforcement officer shall require any victim of a sexual offense, as defined in § 40-39-202, or violent sexual offense, as defined in § 40-39-202, to submit to a polygraph examination or any other test designed to detect deception or verify the truth of statements thro…

No inquest shall be held by the coroner or any court of general sessions over the dead body of any person until an affidavit, in writing, is made and signed by two (2) or more reliable persons, averring the death of the person and that there is good reason to believe that the per…

Any person who falsely, willfully, and corruptly swears out an affidavit as provided for in § 38-5-101 shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and punished as provided for by law for the offense, and in addition to the penalty provided by law for perjury, shall be taxed with all the c…

Courts of general sessions shall have the same power, when called on, to hold juries of inquest over the bodies of deceased persons, as coroners, and have the same fees as are allowed coroners for the same services.

The jury of inquest shall consist of seven (7) jurors who shall be summoned by the coroner and be sworn by such coroner to inquire who the person was, and when, where and by what means that person died, and to render a true verdict on the death, according to the evidence offered …

The coroner may issue subpoenas for witnesses, returnable immediately, or at the time and place as the coroner may appoint, and may enforce witnesses' attendance and punish for contempt and other causes, in like manner as a court of general sessions in a state case.

The coroner shall summon and examine as a witness every person who, in the coroner's opinion, or that of any of the coroner's jury, has any knowledge of the facts.

The coroner may also summon as a witness a surgeon or physician, when requested so to do by the district attorney general, to make examination of the body, including the performing of an autopsy, and give a professional opinion as to the cause of death, whose fee shall not exceed…

The coroner may also, whenever deemed necessary, employ a competent chemist to examine for poison, and make an analysis of suspected substances, whose fee, not exceeding twenty dollars ($20.00), shall be allowed in the bill of costs.

No allowance shall be made under § 38-5-107 or § 38-5-108, except to persons actually summoned by the coroner for the express purpose, and duly reported by the coroner to the court.

The summons for the jurors and the subpoenas for witnesses may be served by the sheriff, or any constable of the county, or by the coroner personally.

The jury, after inspecting the body, hearing the testimony, and making all needful inquiries, shall render a verdict by an inquisition in writing, signed by the jury, setting forth as near as may be, who the person was, when, where, and by what means the person died, and whether …

The inquisition shall be as follows: State of Tennessee, County.An inquisition held at , in the county and state aforementioned, on the day of , 20, before , coroner of such county, upon the body of (or a person unknown), there lying dead, by the jurors whose names are hereto sub…

The coroner shall immediately return the inquisition to the criminal court of the coroner's county, if any, and, if not, to the circuit court of the county, together with a list of the witnesses who testified to material facts.

The coroner shall also require all material witnesses to enter into an undertaking to appear at such court, if in session, or at the next succeeding term, and may require security for such undertaking, and, for this purpose, the coroner is vested with all the powers of a court of…

If the jury finds that the deceased died by the act of another by unlawful means, the coroner may arrest the person implicated, if present, and may make out a warrant requiring an officer, or other person authorized by the officer, to take such person before a magistrate, or may …

If the person charged is not present, the coroner may issue a warrant to the sheriff, or any other lawful officer, requiring the officer to arrest such person and take the person before a magistrate.

The warrant of a coroner in the cases covered by this chapter shall be of equal authority with that of a court of general sessions, and, when the person charged is brought before the court, the person shall be dealt with as a person held under complaint in the usual form.

After the inquisition, the coroner or medical investigator may deliver the body of the deceased to the deceased's relatives, if there are any; but if not, the coroner or the medical investigator shall cause the deceased to be decently buried or cremated in accordance with § 68-4-…

The coroner shall, within forty (40) days after an inquest on a dead body, deliver to the county trustee any money or other property found on the body, unless used for burial, or claimed in the meantime by the legal representatives of the deceased. If the coroner fails so to do, …

Upon receipt of the money by the trustee as provided in § 38-5-119, the trustee shall place it to the credit of the county. If it is other property, the trustee shall, within three (3) months, sell it at the courthouse of the county, at public auction, upon reasonable public noti…

If the property, before sale, or the money in the treasury, is demanded in six (6) years by the legal representatives of the deceased, the trustee shall deliver or pay it to them, after deducting the fees of the coroner, expenses of sale, and three percent (3%) commissions for th…

(a) (1) There is created the Tennessee bureau of investigation, which shall be a separate department of state government.(2) The bureau shall be divided into no less than three (3) divisions, the criminal investigation division, the forensic services division, and the narcotics i…

(a) The criminal investigation division shall consist of not less than six (6) persons who shall be experienced in the detection of crime and in criminal work generally. The director, with the approval of the governor, however, may increase the number of persons employed in the c…

(a) The forensic services division shall consist of experts in the scientific detection of crime. The director is empowered to employ, either upon a temporary or permanent basis, but is not limited to, ballistics experts, pathologists, toxicologists, experts in the detection of h…

(a) The director may employ such clerical and stenographic personnel as may be needed for the efficient operation of the bureau. Salaries of the personnel of the bureau shall be fixed by the director and paid from the funds appropriated to the bureau by the general assembly. Noth…

Any agent or uniformed law enforcement officer of the Tennessee bureau of investigation who retires after twenty-five (25) years of honorable service shall be issued a retired commission card by the bureau. The card shall identify the agent or uniformed law enforcement officer an…

(a) Any request for investigative records by the governor, speaker of the senate, speaker of the house of representatives or supreme court chief justice shall be in writing and shall state specifically the reasons for such request. All such written requests shall be signed by the…

(a) The director is authorized to establish a procedure for the official attestation, sealing and certification of records, reports, documents and actions of the bureau that may be required or authorized by law, and to designate the persons responsible for the certification. (b) …

The Tennessee bureau of investigation is authorized to utilize dogs trained to detect marijuana and other illicit substances in its work, as may be desirable and appropriate.

(a) The Tennessee bureau of investigation shall process requests for criminal background checks from any authorized persons, organizations or entities permitted by law to seek criminal history background checks on certain persons, pursuant to a format and under procedures as it m…

(a) The Tennessee bureau of investigation shall establish a central registry of sexual offenders modeled after statutes enacted in other states. The registry shall include all validated offenders from files maintained by the department of children's services, all persons who have…

Any gambling device confiscated by the Tennessee bureau of investigation pursuant to a lawful order that has become final, including appeals, may, in lieu of destruction, be ordered sold at public sale, after the removal and destruction of the gambling circuitry and mechanisms. T…

The attorney general and reporter is authorized to request the director of the bureau to furnish any assistance that may be required by the attorney general and reporter in the performance of the attorney general and reporter's duties under title 8, chapter 47, regarding the remo…

(a) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires, “DNA analysis” means the process through which deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in a human biological specimen is analyzed and compared with DNA from another biological specimen for identification purposes. (b) The Te…

(a) The Tennessee bureau of investigation shall, by January 1, 2016:(1) Implement a course or courses of instruction, composed of live instruction, telecommunication, video or other medium, or any combination of methods, for the training of law enforcement officers and other gove…

If the bureau is investigating the possible commission of any offense specified in § 38-6-102(b), the bureau may, but is not required to, notify the district attorney general where the investigation is being conducted of the investigation.

(a) The Tennessee bureau of investigation shall create an office within the bureau to be known as the Tennessee internet criminal information center (TICIC). The purpose of the center is the development, maintenance and updating of an online database, toll-free hotline and such o…

(a) The Tennessee bureau of investigation is authorized to create within the bureau a missing children registry. The registry shall contain pertinent information about, a picture of, and the current status of certain children in this state who have been reported missing. (b) The …

(a) (1) The Tennessee bureau of investigation shall establish within the bureau an expunged criminal offender and pretrial diversion database. Such database shall consist of the name, date of birth, social security number, charging offense, date of dismissal and date of expunctio…

(a) The director shall have authority to commission Tennessee bureau of investigation (TBI) uniformed officers in order to protect and provide security for TBI facilities, employees, and grounds. (b) Such uniformed officers shall have full power to carry firearms and make arrests…