                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

(EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2026) DEFINITIONS (§ 9.1-101)

As used in this chapter or in Chapter 23 (§ 19.2-387 et seq.) of Title 19.2,
unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#8220;Administration of criminal justice&#8221; means performance of any
activity directly involving the detection, apprehension, detention, pretrial
release, post-trial release, prosecution, adjudication, correctional
supervision, or rehabilitation of accused persons or criminal offenders or the
collection, storage, and dissemination of criminal history record information.
		&#8220;Board&#8221; means the Criminal Justice Services Board.
		&#8220;Conviction data&#8221; means information in the custody of any criminal
justice agency relating to a judgment of conviction, and the consequences
arising therefrom, in any court.
		&#8220;Correctional status information&#8221; means records and data
concerning each condition of a convicted person&#8217;s custodial status,
including probation, confinement, work release, study release, escape, or
termination of custody through expiration of sentence, parole, pardon, or court
decision.
		&#8220;Criminal history record information&#8221; means records and data
collected by criminal justice agencies on adult individuals consisting of
identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments,
informations, or other formal charges, and any disposition arising therefrom.
The term shall not include juvenile record information which is controlled by
Chapter 11 (§ 16.1-226 et seq.) of Title 16.1, criminal justice intelligence
information, criminal justice investigative information, or correctional status
information.
		&#8220;Criminal justice agency&#8221; means (i) a court or any other
governmental agency or subunit thereof which as its principal function performs
the administration of criminal justice and any other agency or subunit thereof
which performs criminal justice activities, but only to the extent that it does
so; (ii) for the purposes of Chapter 23 (§ 19.2-387 et seq.) of Title 19.2, any
private corporation or agency which, within the context of its criminal justice
activities, employs special conservators of the peace appointed under Chapter 2
(§ 19.2-12 et seq.) of Title 19.2, provided that (a) such private corporation
or agency requires its officers or special conservators to meet compulsory
training standards established by the Criminal Justice Services Board and
submits reports of compliance with the training standards and (b) the private
corporation or agency complies with the provisions of Article 3 (§ 9.1-126 et
seq.), but only to the extent that the private corporation or agency so
designated as a criminal justice agency performs criminal justice activities;
and (iii) the Office of the Attorney General, for all criminal justice
activities otherwise permitted under clause (i) and for the purpose of
performing duties required by the Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators
Act (§ 37.2-900 et seq.).
		&#8220;Criminal justice agency&#8221; includes any program certified by the
Commission on VASAP pursuant to § 18.2-271.2.
		&#8220;Criminal justice agency&#8221; includes the Department of Criminal
Justice Services.
		&#8220;Criminal justice agency&#8221; includes the Virginia Criminal
Sentencing Commission.
		&#8220;Criminal justice agency&#8221; includes the Virginia State Crime
Commission.
		&#8220;Criminal justice information system&#8221; means a system including the
equipment, facilities, procedures, agreements, and organizations thereof, for
the collection, processing, preservation, or dissemination of criminal history
record information. The operations of the system may be performed manually or by
using electronic computers or other automated data processing equipment.
		&#8220;Department&#8221; means the Department of Criminal Justice Services.
		&#8220;Dissemination&#8221; means any transfer of information, whether orally,
in writing, or by electronic means. The term shall not include access to the
information by officers or employees of a criminal justice agency maintaining
the information who have both a need and right to know the information.
		&#8220;Law-enforcement officer&#8221; means any full-time or part-time
employee of a police department or sheriff&#8217;s office which is a part of or
administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, or any
full-time or part-time employee of a private police department, and who is
responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the
penal, traffic or highway laws of the Commonwealth, and shall include any (i)
special agent of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority; (ii) police
agent appointed under the provisions of § 56-353; (iii) officer of the Virginia
Marine Police; (iv) conservation police officer who is a full-time sworn member
of the enforcement division of the Department of Wildlife Resources; (v)
investigator who is a sworn member of the security division of the Virginia
Lottery; (vi) conservation officer of the Department of Conservation and
Recreation commissioned pursuant to § 10.1-115; (vii) full-time sworn member of
the enforcement division of the Department of Motor Vehicles appointed pursuant
to § 46.2-217; (viii) animal protection police officer employed under §
15.2-632 or 15.2-836.1; (ix) campus police officer appointed under Article 3 (§
23.1-809 et seq.) of Chapter 8 of Title 23.1; (x) member of the investigations
unit designated by the State Inspector General pursuant to § 2.2-311 to
investigate allegations of criminal behavior affecting the operations of a state
or nonstate agency; (xi) employee with internal investigations authority
designated by the Department of Corrections pursuant to subdivision 11 of §
53.1-10 or by the Department of Juvenile Justice pursuant to subdivision A 7 of
§ 66-3; (xii) private police officer employed by a private police department;
or (xiii) person designated as a sworn unit investigator by the Attorney General
pursuant to subsection A of § 32.1-320.1. Part-time employees are those
compensated officers who are not full-time employees as defined by the employing
police department, sheriff&#8217;s office, or private police department.
		&#8220;Private police department&#8221; means any police department, other
than a department that employs police agents under the provisions of § 56-353,
that employs private police officers operated by an entity authorized by statute
or an act of assembly to establish a private police department or such
entity&#8217;s successor in interest, provided it complies with the requirements
set forth herein. No entity is authorized to operate a private police department
or represent that it is a private police department unless such entity has been
authorized by statute or an act of assembly or such entity is the successor in
interest of an entity that has been authorized pursuant to this section,
provided it complies with the requirements set forth herein. The authority of a
private police department shall be limited to real property owned, leased, or
controlled by the entity and, if approved by the local chief of police or
sheriff, any contiguous property; such authority shall not supersede the
authority, duties, or jurisdiction vested by law with the local police
department or sheriff&#8217;s office including as provided in §§ 15.2-1609 and
15.2-1704. The chief of police or sheriff who is the chief local law-enforcement
officer shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with the private police
department that addresses the duties and responsibilities of the private police
department and the chief law-enforcement officer in the conduct of criminal
investigations. Private police departments and private police officers shall be
subject to and comply with the Constitution of the United States; the
Constitution of Virginia; the laws governing municipal police departments,
including the provisions of §§ 9.1-600, 15.2-1705 through 15.2-1708,
15.2-1719, 15.2-1721, 15.2-1721.1, and 15.2-1722; and any regulations adopted by
the Board that the Department designates as applicable to private police
departments. An authorized private police department may use the word
&#8220;police&#8221; to describe its sworn officers and may join a regional
criminal justice academy created pursuant to Article 5 (§ 15.2-1747 et seq.) of
Chapter 17 of Title 15.2. Any private police department in existence on January
1, 2013, that was not otherwise established by statute or an act of assembly and
whose status as a private police department was recognized by the Department at
that time is hereby validated and may continue to operate as a private police
department as may such entity&#8217;s successor in interest, provided it
complies with the requirements set forth herein.
		&#8220;Private police officer&#8221; means a law-enforcement officer who is
employed by a private police department that has entered into a memorandum of
understanding with a police department or sheriff&#8217;s office and who may
exercise the power and duties conferred by law upon such police officers on real
property owned, leased, or controlled by the employing entity and, if approved
by the local chief of police or sheriff, any contiguous property. Any person
employed as a private police officer pursuant to this section shall meet all
requirements, including the minimum compulsory training requirements, for
law-enforcement officers pursuant to this chapter. A private police officer is
not entitled to benefits under the Virginia Retirement System, is not a
&#8220;qualified law enforcement officer&#8221; or &#8220;qualified retired law
enforcement officer&#8221; within the meaning of the federal Law Enforcement
Officers Safety Act, 18 U.S.C. § 926B et seq., and shall not be deemed an
employee of the Commonwealth or any locality.
		&#8220;School resource officer&#8221; means a certified law-enforcement
officer hired by the local law-enforcement agency to provide law-enforcement and
security services to Virginia public elementary and secondary schools.
		&#8220;School security officer&#8221; means an individual who is employed by
the local school board or a private or religious school for the singular purpose
of maintaining order and discipline, preventing crime, investigating violations
of the policies of the school board or the private or religious school, and
detaining students violating the law or the policies of the school board or the
private or religious school on school property, school buses, or at
school-sponsored events and who is responsible solely for ensuring the safety,
security, and welfare of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors in the
assigned school.
		&#8220;Sealing&#8221; means to prohibit public access to records relating to
an arrest, charge, or conviction, including any ancillary matter ordered to be
sealed, in the possession of (i) the Central Criminal Records Exchange; (ii) any
court; (iii) any police department, sheriff&#8217;s office, or campus police
department; or (iv) the Department of Motor Vehicles unless dissemination is
authorized for one or more of the purposes set forth in § 19.2-392.13 and
pursuant to the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to § 9.1-128 and the
procedures adopted pursuant to § 9.1-134.
		&#8220;Unapplied criminal history record information&#8221; means information
pertaining to criminal offenses submitted to the Central Criminal Records
Exchange that cannot be applied to the criminal history record of an arrested or
convicted person (i) because such information is not supported by fingerprints
or other accepted means of positive identification or (ii) due to an
inconsistency, error, or omission within the content of the submitted
information.

HISTORY: 1981, c. 632, § 9-169; 1982, c. 419; 1983, c. 357; 1984, c. 543; 1989,
c. 233; 1991, c. 338; 1992, cc. 422, 569; 1993, cc. 533, 622, 866; 2000, c. 426;
2001, c. 844; 2002, cc. 789, 836, 868; 2003, cc. 744, 934, 937; 2004, c. 30;
2005, c. 914; 2007, c. 87; 2008, c. 460; 2010, c. 621; 2012, c. 776; 2014, cc.
225, 342, 543; 2015, cc. 38, 195, 224, 730; 2016, cc. 498, 618; 2018, c. 548;
2019, cc. 120, 475, 782, 783; 2020, cc. 90, 958; 2020, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 37, 55;
2023, cc. 619, 619; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 524, 542; 2025, cc. 634, 671.