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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>54907</law_id><section_number>15.2-1725</section_number><catch_line>Extending police power of localities over lands lying beyond boundaries thereof; jurisdiction of courts</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="15.2">Counties, Cities and Towns</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="II">Powers of Local Government</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="17">Police and Public Order</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="2">Interjurisdictional Law-Enforcement Authority and Agreements</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>Any <span class="dictionary">locality</span> 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 other public property located beyond the limits of the <span class="dictionary">locality</span> shall have and may exercise full police power over the property, and over persons using the property, and may, by <span class="dictionary">ordinance</span>, prescribe rules for the operation and use of the property and for the conduct of all persons using the property and may, further, provide penalties for the violation of such rules contained in an <span class="dictionary">ordinance</span>; such penalties, however, shall not exceed those provided by general <span class="dictionary">law</span> for <span class="dictionary">misdemeanors</span>. However, no <span class="dictionary">ordinances</span> in conflict with an <span class="dictionary">ordinance</span> of the <span class="dictionary">jurisdiction</span> wherein the property is located shall be enacted.
		Any <span class="dictionary">locality</span> which maintains or operates in whole or in part any property enumerated in this section may lawfully send its <span class="dictionary">law</span>-enforcement officers to the property owned beyond the limits of the <span class="dictionary">locality</span> for the purpose of protecting the property, keeping <span class="dictionary">order</span> therein, or otherwise enforcing the <span class="dictionary">laws</span> of the Commonwealth and <span class="dictionary">ordinances</span> of the <span class="dictionary">locality</span> owning the property as such <span class="dictionary">laws</span> and <span class="dictionary">ordinances</span> may relate to the operation and use thereof. The <span class="dictionary">law</span>-enforcement officer shall have power to make an <span class="dictionary">arrest</span> for a violation of any <span class="dictionary">law</span> or <span class="dictionary">ordinance</span> relating to the operation and use of the property. The district <span class="dictionary">court</span> in the <span class="dictionary">city</span> or <span class="dictionary">town</span> where the <span class="dictionary">offense</span> occurs shall have <span class="dictionary">jurisdiction</span> of all cases arising therein, and the district <span class="dictionary">court</span> of the <span class="dictionary">county</span> where the <span class="dictionary">offense</span> occurs shall have <span class="dictionary">jurisdiction</span> of all cases arising therein.
		It shall be the duty of the attorney for the Commonwealth for the <span class="dictionary">locality</span> wherein the <span class="dictionary">offense</span> occurs to <span class="dictionary">prosecute</span> all violators of the <span class="dictionary">ordinances</span> of the <span class="dictionary">locality</span> that pertain to the operation and use of the property enumerated in this section.</p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 15-560.1; 1952, c. 382; 1962, c. 623, &#xA7; 15.1-142; 1979, c. 333; 1997, c. 587.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
