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Title 54, National Park Service and Related ProgramsRelease 119-110

§102701 Law Enforcement Personnel Within System

Title 54 › Subtitle I — National Park System › CHAPTER 1027 — LAW ENFORCEMENT AND EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE › SUBCHAPTER I — LAW ENFORCEMENT › § 102701

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary can pick certain Interior Department officers and employees to keep order and protect people and property in System units. Those people can carry guns, make arrests without a warrant for crimes they see or for felonies they reasonably believe someone committed (if it happens in the System or the person is fleeing from it), serve warrants and court orders, and investigate federal crimes in the System when no other federal agency is handling the case or when that agency agrees. The Secretary can also name other federal, State, or local law officers as special police when it makes sense and the other agency agrees. Those special officers get the same powers listed above. The Secretary may work with States, waive certain civil claims in agreements, and, when money is available, protect or pay States for agreed activities or losses. These steps add to the Service’s law enforcement, but do not transfer the Service’s core responsibilities to State or local governments. State or local officers acting as special police are not Federal employees except for certain legal claims and for federal work-injury benefits. None of this limits other federal agencies’ investigative powers or a State’s civil or criminal authority in the System.

Full Legal Text

Title 54, §102701

National Park Service and Related Programs, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Officers and Employees of the Department of the Interior.— (b) Special Police Officers.—
(1)Designation authority of secretary.—
The Secretary, pursuant to standards prescribed in regulations by the Secretary, may designate certain officers or employees of the Department of the Interior who shall maintain law and order and protect individuals and property within System units.
(2)Powers and duties of designees.—
In the performance of the duties described in paragraph (1), the designated officers or employees may—
(A)carry firearms;
(B)make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in the presence of the officer or employee, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if the officer or employee has reasonable grounds to believe that the individual to be arrested has committed or is committing the felony, provided the arrests occur within the System or the individual to be arrested is fleeing from the System to avoid arrest;
(C)execute any warrant or other process issued by a court or officer of competent jurisdiction for the enforcement of the provisions of any Federal law or regulation issued pursuant to law arising out of an offense committed in the System or, where the individual subject to the warrant or process is in the System, in connection with any Federal offense; and
(D)conduct investigations of offenses against the United States committed in the System in the absence of investigation of the offenses by any other Federal law enforcement agency having investigative jurisdiction over the offense committed or with the concurrence of the other agency.
(c)Federal Investigative Jurisdiction and State Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction Not Preempted.—
This section and section 100101(b), 100502, 100507, 100751(b), 100754, 100901(b) and (c), 100906(a) and (d), 101302(b)(1) and (c) to (e), 101306, 101702(b) and (c), 101901, 102102, and 102702 of this title shall not be construed or applied to limit or restrict the investigative jurisdiction of any Federal law enforcement agency other than the Service, and nothing shall be construed or applied to affect any right of a State or political subdivision of a State to exercise civil and criminal jurisdiction within the System.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 10270116 U.S.C. 1a–6.Pub. L. 91–383, § 10, as added Pub. L. 94–458, § 2, Oct. 7, 1976, 90 Stat. 1941; Pub. L. 106–437, § 2, Nov. 6, 2000, 114 Stat. 1920; Pub. L. 108–352, § 11, Oct. 21, 2004, 118 Stat. 1397. In subsection (a)(1), the words “In addition to any other authority conferred by law” are omitted as unnecessary.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

54 U.S.C. § 102701

Title 54, National Park Service and Related Programs

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110