§373b Law Enforcement Authority at Bureau of Reclamation Facilities

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must make rules to keep order and to protect people and property on Reclamation projects and Reclamation lands. If someone knowingly breaks those rules, they can be fined under chapter 227, subchapter C of title 18, jailed for up to 6 months, or both. A person charged may be tried and sentenced by any U.S. magistrate judge designated for that purpose, in the same way as under section 3401 of title 18. The Secretary can let Interior law enforcement work there and can also authorize other federal (except the Department of Defense), state, local, or tribal officers to act as law enforcement on those lands under agreements or contracts and, when needed, pay them back for costs. Authorized officers may carry firearms, make warrantless arrests for U.S. offenses committed in their presence or for felonies they reasonably believe were committed (if on or fleeing from the lands), serve warrants and court orders there, and investigate federal crimes there if the federal agency with primary responsibility declines. State or local officers authorized this way are not federal employees except while under federal supervision and control and carrying out federal duties; in that situation they are treated as federal employees for the Federal Tort Claims Act and for federal workers’ compensation (with benefits reduced by any state/local workers’ comp). These rules do not limit other federal agencies’ investigations or state, local, or tribal civil and criminal authority. Except for the authority in subsection (c)(1), these law enforcement powers can only be used under regulations the Secretary issues and the Attorney General approves.