Title 52, Title 52. Police (State)

When a county or city merges or consolidates into a city, or when a combination of counties and cities merge into a city, or when any county and all of the incorporated towns located entirely therein merge, consolidate or be annexed or when any county or part thereof be annexed i…

A. The Superintendent of State Police is authorized to apply for and accept grants or loans of personal property from the U.S. Department of Defense for use in the law-enforcement activities of the Department of State Police or any other law-enforcement agency of the Commonwealth…

The Department of State Police may provide for (i) the public sale in accordance with the provisions of this section or (ii) the retention for use by the State Police or other law-enforcement agency of any unclaimed personal property that has been in the possession of the State P…

Subject to the provisions of § 19.2-386.29, the State Police may destroy unclaimed firearms and other weapons that have been in the possession of the Department for a period of more than 120 days and that have been determined by the Superintendent or his designee to be unsuitable…

A. The Department of State Police 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. The Department of State Police shall not use the num…

The Superintendent of State Police shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the General Assembly if in session when such appointment is made, and if not in session, then at its next succeeding session. Such officer shall hold his office at the pleasure of th…

The Superintendent of State Police, before entering upon the discharge of his duties, shall take an oath that he will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties of his office and shall be bonded in accordance with § 2.2-1840. The Superintendent shall receive …

The highway patrol, or state police patrol as it is sometimes called, the police school, the state police radio or communication system, the supervision of inspection stations and of inspectors of motor vehicles, the promotion of highway safety, the establishment and direction of…

(a) The Department of Motor Vehicles shall tabulate and analyze all accident reports and shall publish annually, or more frequently, statistical information based thereon as to the number and circumstances of traffic accidents. (b) Based upon its findings, after analysis, the Dep…

A. There is hereby created in the Department of the Treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Drug Investigation Special Trust Account, consisting of such funds as may be appropriated by the General Assembly from time to time and all interest, dividends and apprecia…

The Superintendent of the Department of State Police shall establish a toll-free telephone number which shall be operational seven days a week between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., except December 25, for purposes of responding to inquiries from licensed firearms dealers…

A. For purposes of this section: "Authorized use" means the use of facial recognition technology to (i) help identify an individual when there is a reasonable suspicion the individual has committed a crime; (ii) help identify a crime victim, including a victim of online sexual ab…

The Superintendent of State Police, with the approval of the Governor, shall have authority to appoint additional police officers, who may or may not be residents of this Commonwealth, to serve for specified periods of time. The police officers so appointed shall receive such com…

All appointments to sworn police positions above the rank of trooper within the Department of State Police shall be made by the Superintendent of State Police from among the sworn police officers of the Department, except for those positions designated in subdivision A 20 of § 2.…

All police officers appointed by the Superintendent of State Police, and engaged in the enforcement of criminal laws and the laws relating to the operation of motor vehicles upon the roads and highways of this Commonwealth, shall, before entering upon or continuing in their dutie…

The Superintendent of State Police, his several assistants and police officers appointed by him are vested with the powers of a sheriff for the purpose of enforcing all the criminal laws of this Commonwealth and for investigating any aircraft accident which occurs in the Commonwe…

In addition to any other powers and duties which may be provided by statute or otherwise, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation shall conduct an investigation into any matter referred to it by the Governor. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation shall, when requested by the Attorney…

A. In addition to any other powers and duties which may be provided by statute or otherwise, it shall be the duty of a division for drug law enforcement and investigation to enforce the laws of the Commonwealth and conduct investigations related to violations of Articles 1 (§ 18.…

A. No investigation of an elected official of the Commonwealth or any political subdivision to determine whether a criminal violation has occurred, is occurring or is about to occur under the provisions of § 52-8.1 shall be initiated, undertaken or continued except upon the reque…

Any person employed by a law-enforcement agency or other governmental agency within the Commonwealth who has or has had access in an official capacity to an official written record or report submitted in confidence to the Department of State Police relating to an ongoing criminal…

A. The Superintendent of State Police, with the cooperation of such other agencies of the Commonwealth as may be necessary, shall promulgate regulations pertaining to commercial motor vehicle safety pursuant to the United States Motor Carrier Act of 1984. These regulations shall …

The Superintendent of State Police shall provide a form for use by promoters of firearms shows for the purpose of notifying the State Police and the chief of police, or the sheriff in localities without police departments, of their intent to conduct a firearms show pursuant to § …

Notwithstanding subsection C of § 52-8.4, any violation of any of the following provisions of the regulations adopted pursuant to § 52-8.4 shall constitute traffic infractions as defined in § 46.2-100 and shall be eligible for designation as traffic infractions for which a pretri…

A. The Superintendent shall establish and maintain within the Department of State Police a central repository for the collection and analysis of information regarding hate crimes and groups and individuals carrying out such acts. B. State, county, and municipal law-enforcement ag…

When it is determined, by a state or local law-enforcement agency, regional jail, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Juvenile Justice, or a regional multijurisdictional law-enforcement task force, that a person is a member of a criminal street gang, as defined in § …

A. All police officers appointed by the Superintendent are vested with the authority and power to administer oaths and take acknowledgments and affidavits incidental to the administration and enforcement of all laws relating to the operation of motor vehicles, applications for dr…

The Superintendent of State Police shall cause to be designed and, with the approval of the Governor, adopt a distinctive uniform with appropriate insignia for the use of the police officers appointed by him. Such uniform, when adopted, shall be worn by all such police officers w…

A. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, on and after July 1, 1978, every State police officer shall upon retirement be awarded his badge or other insignia of his office for permanent keeping; provided, however, the Superintendent of State Police, prior to tenderi…

When such official uniform has been adopted by the Superintendent, no police officer of any county, city or town, special policeman, guard or other person shall wear any uniform identical with such official uniform or so similar in appearance as to be likely to deceive the casual…

There shall be established in the Department of State Police a fully integrated police communication system operating through sending and receiving stations or receiving stations only, and such associated equipment as may be necessary, at the headquarters of the Superintendent of…

The Superintendent of State Police is authorized to install, operate, and maintain the communication system and to employ the necessary personnel for its installation, operation, and maintenance. The persons so employed may be members of the State Police, or other state employees…

The communication system provided for in this chapter may be made available for use by any department or division of state government and by any county, city, town, railroad, or other special police department lawfully maintained by any corporation in the Commonwealth as well as …

The communication system shall remain at all times under the physical and operational control of the Superintendent of State Police, and such control may be exercised by him through such member of the Department of State Police as he shall designate for such purpose. The Superint…

The Governor may establish, purchase, lease, or otherwise acquire all necessary property, real and personal, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a joint state and local police communication system and cause to be constructed, equipped, maintained, and operated, at suc…

In order to make the communication system effective and of greatest benefit to the people of the Commonwealth, the Governor may enter into negotiations with and make contracts and agreements with the counties, cities, and towns of the Commonwealth whereby portions of the cost of …

The Governor may divide the Commonwealth into two or more communication system districts, and, in the event of the proper proportionate monetary cooperation upon the part of localities within any one or more of such districts, may arrange for the establishment, purchase, installa…

The Governor may make and issue reasonable rules and regulations as he may deem necessary for the proper use of such communication system. 1936-7, p. 45; Michie Code 1942, § 2991b; 2022, c. 49.

A. For the purposes of this section, "electronic communication" means the use of technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities to transmit or receive information. B. Members of the State Police force of the Commonweal…

Except in the case of a violation of a provision of Title 46.2, in which case the officer making the arrest shall proceed as provided in § 46.2-936, the officer making the arrest shall forthwith bring the person so arrested before an officer authorized to issue criminal warrants …

The Superintendent of State Police, his assistants, and the State troopers, patrolmen and police officers appointed by him, shall have authority to execute warrants of arrest for violations of ordinances of counties, cities and towns when requested so to do by the county, city or…

The Governor may appoint whenever he deems the same necessary, and may remove at will, investigators and temporary special police officers, who shall be directly responsible to the Governor, be conservators of the peace and have jurisdiction throughout the Commonwealth in the enf…

Such investigators and temporary special police officers shall be paid such compensation as may be allowed by the Governor, such compensation to be paid from such moneys as shall be appropriated to the Governor for the executive control of the Commonwealth, and not otherwise spec…

The Superintendent shall establish, organize, equip, staff and maintain within the Department of State Police, at such departmental locations as the Superintendent may direct, a uniform crime reporting system for the purpose of receiving, compiling, classifying, analyzing and pub…

A. Whenever a law-enforcement agency confiscates a firearm in connection with a criminal investigation or otherwise recovers a firearm, such agency shall immediately take all appropriate steps to identify and trace the history of such firearm. B. The Superintendent shall establis…

The Superintendent is authorized to maintain liaison and to cooperate with law-enforcement and criminal justice agencies of all counties, cities and towns and all other agencies, departments, and institutions of the Commonwealth, other states and of the United States in order to …

The Department shall render all necessary aid and assistance to all reporting agencies in order to fulfill the requirements of the uniform crime reporting program for the Commonwealth.