                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

AGREEMENTS FOR CONSOLIDATION OF POLICE DEPARTMENTS OR FOR COOPERATION IN
FURNISHING POLICE SERVICES (§ 15.2-1726)

Any locality may, in its discretion, enter into a reciprocal agreement with any
other locality, any agency of the federal government exercising police powers,
the police of any public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth
appointed pursuant to subsection B of § 23.1-812, the Division of Capitol
Police, any private police department certified by the Department of Criminal
Justice Services, or any combination of the foregoing, for such periods and
under such conditions as the contracting parties deem advisable, for cooperation
in the furnishing of police services. Such agreements may include designation of
mutually agreed-upon boundary lines between contiguous localities for purposes
of organizing 911 dispatch and response and clarifying issues related to
coverage under workers&#8217; compensation and risk management laws. Such
agreements may also include provisions allowing for the loan of unmarked police
vehicles. Such localities also may enter into an agreement for the cooperation
in the furnishing of police services with the Department of State Police. The
governing body of any locality also may, in its discretion, enter into a
reciprocal agreement with any other locality, or combination thereof, for the
consolidation of police departments or divisions or departments thereof. Subject
to the conditions of the agreement, all police officers, officers, agents and
other employees of such consolidated or cooperating police departments shall
have the same powers, rights, benefits, privileges and immunities in every
jurisdiction subscribing to such agreement, including the authority to make
arrests in every such jurisdiction subscribing to the agreement; however, no
police officer of any locality shall have authority to enforce federal laws
unless specifically empowered to do so by statute, and no federal
law-enforcement officer shall have authority to enforce the laws of the
Commonwealth unless specifically empowered to do so by statute.
		The governing body of a county also may enter into a tripartite contract with
the governing body of any town, one or more, in such county and the sheriff for
such county for the purpose of having the sheriff furnish law-enforcement
services in the town. The contract shall be structured as a service contract and
may have such other terms and conditions as the contracting parties deem
advisable. The sheriff and any deputy sheriff serving as a town law-enforcement
officer shall have authority to enforce such town&#8217;s ordinances. Likewise,
subject to the conditions of the contract, the sheriff and deputy sheriffs while
serving as a town&#8217;s law-enforcement officers shall have the same powers,
rights, benefits, privileges and immunities as those of regular town police
officers. The sheriff under any such contract shall be the town&#8217;s chief of
police.

HISTORY: 1970, c. 271, § 15.1-131.3; 1978, c. 9; 1984, c. 622; 1989, c. 294;
1994, c. 268; 1997, c. 587; 2008, c. 437; 2013, cc. 250, 472, 594, 775; 2014, c.
581.