Title 15.2, Title 15.2. Counties, Cities and Towns

A. The police force of a locality is hereby invested with all the power and authority which formerly belonged to the office of constable at common law and is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of criminals, the safeguard of life and property, …

A. The chief of police and all police officers of any locality, all deputy sheriffs and jail officers in the Commonwealth, and all law-enforcement officers as defined in § 9.1-101 who enter upon the duties of such office after July 1, 1994, are required to meet the following mini…

A. All law-enforcement officers as defined in § 9.1-101 and all jail officers as defined in § 53.1-1 must be certified through the successful completion of training at an approved criminal justice training academy in order to remain eligible for appointment or employment. In orde…

A. The sheriff, chief of police, or agency administrator or their designee shall notify the Criminal Justice Services Board (the Board) in writing within 48 hours of becoming aware that any certified law-enforcement or jail officer currently employed by his agency has (i) been co…

A. Service of notice. The Board shall, within 10 days of decertification, serve notice upon a decertified officer, in person or by certified mail or trackable courier service with signature requirement, and upon the law-enforcement or jail agency employing said officer, by certif…

Any sheriff or chief of police, any director or chief executive of any agency or department employing deputy sheriffs or law-enforcement officers as defined in § 9.1-101 or jail officers as defined in § 53.1-1, and the Director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services or hi…

A police officer shall not receive any fee or other compensation out of the state treasury or the treasury of a locality for any service rendered under the provisions of this chapter other than the salary paid him by the locality and a fee as a witness in cases arising under the …

A. A police force shall not establish a formal or informal quota that requires a police officer to make a specific number of arrests or issue a specific number of summonses within a designated period of time. B. A police force shall not use the number of arrests made or summonses…

If any law-enforcement officer is investigated, arrested or indicted or otherwise prosecuted on any criminal charge arising out of any act committed in the discharge of his official duties, and no charges are brought, the charge is subsequently dismissed or upon trial he is found…

Notwithstanding the provisions of §§ 2.2-3100 through 2.2-3127, any locality may adopt an ordinance which permits law-enforcement officers and deputy sheriffs in such locality to engage in off-duty employment which may occasionally require the use of their police powers in the pe…

When any felony or misdemeanor has been committed, or there has been any attempt to commit a felony in any locality, the governing body of the locality or its duly authorized agent may offer and pay a reward for the arrest and final conviction of the person or persons who committ…

A. As used in this section, a "Crime Stoppers," "crime solvers," "crime line," or other similarly named organization is defined as a private, nonprofit Virginia corporation governed by a civilian volunteer board of directors that is operated on a local or statewide level that (i)…

Whenever fires, accidents, wrecks, explosions, crimes, riots, or other emergency situations where life, limb, or property may be endangered may cause persons to collect on the public streets, alleys, highways, parking lots, or other public area, the chief law-enforcement officer …

Whenever, in the judgment of the Governor or his designee, a locality or multi-jurisdictional area is confronted with a drug trafficking problem of such a magnitude as to warrant additional resources to supplement the efforts of local officials responsible for the apprehension an…

A. Any locality may provide by ordinance that a person convicted of violating any of the following provisions shall, at the time of sentencing or in a separate civil action, be liable to the locality or to any responding volunteer fire company or department or volunteer emergency…

Any locality may provide by ordinance that any person who is convicted of a violation of subsection B or C of § 18.2-46.6, a felony violation of § 18.2-83 or 18.2-84, or a violation of § 18.2-212 or 18.2-461.1, when his violation of such section is the proximate cause of any inci…

Any locality may provide by ordinance that any person who is convicted of an offense for manufacture of methamphetamine pursuant to § 18.2-248 or 18.2-248.03 shall be liable at the time of sentencing or in a separate civil action to the locality or to any other law-enforcement en…

Localities may adopt any reasonable ordinance necessary to prevent any improper interference with or annoyance of the pupils attending or boarding at any schools situated in such locality.

A. Any locality may by ordinance establish a procedure whereby the owner, lessee, custodian, or person lawfully in charge as those terms are used in § 18.2-119, of real property may designate the local law-enforcement agency as a "person lawfully in charge of the property" for th…

No police or sheriff's department shall establish or maintain any policy which requires the observance of any waiting period before accepting a missing child report as defined in § 52-32. Upon receipt of a missing child report by any police or sheriff's department, the department…

A. No police or sheriff's department shall establish or maintain any policy which requires the observance of any waiting period before accepting a missing senior adult report. Upon receipt of a missing senior adult report by any police or sheriff's department, the department shal…

A. No police or sheriff's department shall establish or maintain any policy that requires the observance of any waiting period before accepting a critically missing adult report. Upon receipt of a critically missing adult report by any police or sheriff's department, the departme…

Any locality may provide by ordinance for (i) the public sale in accordance with the provisions of this section or (ii) the retention for use by the law-enforcement agency, of any unclaimed personal property which has been in the possession of its law-enforcement agencies and unc…

Any locality may, by ordinance, (i) provide for the public sale or donation to a charitable organization of any bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, electric power-assisted bicycle, or moped that has been in the possession of the police or sheriff's department, u…

Any locality may destroy unclaimed firearms and other weapons which have been in the possession of law-enforcement agencies for a period of more than 120 days. For the purposes of this section, "unclaimed firearms and other weapons" means any firearm or other weapon belonging to …

A. No locality, sheriff, chief of police, or director or chief executive of any agency or department employing deputy sheriffs or law-enforcement officers as defined in § 9.1-101 or any public or private institution of higher education that has established a campus police departm…

A. It shall be the duty of the sheriff or chief of police of every locality to insure, in addition to other records required by law, the maintenance of adequate personnel, arrest, investigative, reportable incidents, and noncriminal incidents records necessary for the efficient o…

A. No law-enforcement officer shall engage in bias-based profiling as defined in § 52-30.1 in the performance of his official duties. B. The police force of every locality shall collect data pertaining to (i) all investigatory motor vehicle stops, (ii) all stop-and-frisks of a pe…

Any police force in existence on July 1, 1980, whose existence is authorized or was authorized by any provision of law, general or special, that was repealed by Chapter 333 of the Acts of Assembly of 1979 is hereby validated and shall continue. Any police force in existence on De…

A. For purposes of this section, "body-worn camera system" means an electronic system for creating, generating, sending, receiving, storing, displaying, and processing audiovisual recordings, including cameras or other devices capable of creating such recordings, that may be worn…

A. For purposes of this section, "facial recognition technology" means an electronic system for enrolling, capturing, extracting, comparing, and matching an individual's geometric facial data to identify individuals in photos, videos, or real time. "Facial recognition technology"…

Whenever the necessity arises (i) for the enforcement of laws designed to control or prohibit the use or sale of controlled drugs as defined in § 54.1-3401 or laws contained in Article 3 (§ 18.2-47 et seq.) of Chapter 4 or Article 3 (§ 18.2-346 et seq.) of Chapter 8 of Title 18.2…

Any locality owning and operating an airport, public hospital, sanitarium, nursing home, public water supply or watershed, public park, recreational area, sewage disposal plant or system, public landing, dock, wharf or canal, public school, public utility, public buildings and ot…

For the purposes of local public safety regulatory authority and enforcement, the territorial limits of the City of Virginia Beach shall extend from its coastal shorelines, the coastal shorelines of Camp Pendleton, the coastal shorelines of First Landing State Park, and the coast…

A. Any locality may, in its discretion, enter into a reciprocal agreement with any other locality, any agency of the federal government exercising police powers, the police of any public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth appointed pursuant to subsection B of § 2…

A. For the purposes of this section: "Federal immigration enforcement agreement" means an agreement with a federal agency authorizing a law-enforcement officer or employee of the Commonwealth or any of its localities to perform a function of a federal immigration officer or an in…

A locality, public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth, or private institution of higher education in the Commonwealth may, in its discretion, enter into reciprocal agreements for such periods as it deems advisable with any locality outside the Commonwealth, inclu…

In any case where exclusive jurisdiction over any property or territory has been granted by the Commonwealth to the United States government, or to a department or agency thereof, the governing body of any contiguous locality or the Division of Capitol Police may enter into a mut…

A. The governing body of any county may enter into an agreement with the United States government or a department or agency thereof, under the terms of which agreement law-enforcement officers employed by such government, including but not limited to members of the United States …

In case of an emergency declared by the chief law-enforcement officer of a locality, such officer may call upon the chief law-enforcement officer of towns within his county and the chief law-enforcement officer of an adjoining county or city, or towns in adjoining counties for as…

In counties where no police department has been established and the sheriff is the chief law-enforcement officer, the sheriff may enter into agreements with any other governmental entity providing law-enforcement services in the Commonwealth, and may furnish and receive interjuri…

A. Localities, for the further preservation of the public peace, safety, and good order of the community, may establish, equip, and maintain auxiliary police forces that have all the powers and authority and all the immunities of full-time law-enforcement officers, if all such fo…

Localities may make such appropriations as may be necessary to arm, equip, uniform and maintain such auxiliary police force.

The governing body of the locality may appoint or provide for the appointment as auxiliary police officers as many persons of good character as it deems necessary, not to exceed the number fixed by ordinance adopted by the governing body, and their appointment shall be revocable …

A. A locality may call into service or provide for calling into service such auxiliary police officers as may be deemed necessary (i) in time of public emergency; (ii) at such times as there are insufficient numbers of regular police officers to preserve the peace, safety, and go…

The members of any such auxiliary police force shall not be required to act beyond the limits of the jurisdiction of any such locality except when called upon to protect any public property belonging to the locality that may be located beyond its boundaries, or as provided in § 1…