                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

WHEN IT MAY ISSUE; WHAT TO RECITE AND REQUIRE (§ 19.2-72)

On complaint of a criminal offense to any officer authorized to issue criminal
warrants he shall examine on oath the complainant and any other witnesses, or
when such officer shall suspect that an offense punishable otherwise than by a
fine has been committed he may, without formal complaint, issue a summons for
witnesses and shall examine such witnesses. A written complaint shall be
required if the complainant is not a law-enforcement officer; however a written
complaint is required for a felony offense, regardless of whether the
complainant is a law-enforcement officer. If no arrest warrant is issued in
response to a written complaint made by such complainant, the written complaint
shall be returned to the complainant. If upon such examination such officer
finds that there is probable cause to believe the accused has committed an
offense, such officer shall issue a warrant for his arrest, except that no
magistrate may issue an arrest warrant for a felony offense upon the basis of a
complaint by a person other than a law-enforcement officer or an animal control
officer without prior authorization by the attorney for the Commonwealth or by a
law-enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the alleged offense. The warrant
shall (i) be directed to an appropriate officer or officers, (ii) name the
accused or, if his name is unknown, set forth a description by which he can be
identified with reasonable certainty, (iii) describe the offense charged with
reasonable certainty, (iv) command that the accused be arrested and brought
before a court of appropriate jurisdiction in the county, city or town in which
the offense was allegedly committed, and (v) be signed by the issuing officer.
If a warrant is issued for an offense in violation of any county, city, or town
ordinance that is similar to any provision of this Code, the warrant shall
reference the offense using both the citation corresponding to the county, city,
or town ordinance and the specific provision of this Code. The warrant shall
require the officer to whom it is directed to summon such witnesses as shall be
therein named to appear and give evidence on the examination. But in a city or
town having a police force, the warrant shall be directed &#8220;To any
policeman, sheriff or his deputy sheriff of such city (or town),&#8221; and
shall be executed by the policeman, sheriff or his deputy sheriff into whose
hands it shall come or be delivered. A sheriff or his deputy may execute an
arrest warrant throughout the county in which he serves and in any city or town
surrounded thereby and effect an arrest in any city or town surrounded thereby
as a result of a criminal act committed during the execution of such warrant. A
jail officer as defined in § 53.1-1 employed at a regional jail or jail farm is
authorized to execute a warrant of arrest upon an accused in his jail. The venue
for the prosecution of such criminal act shall be the jurisdiction in which the
offense occurred.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 19.1-91; 1960, c. 366; 1975, c. 495; 1991, c. 420; 2000,
c. 170; 2007, c. 412; 2009, cc. 291, 344; 2010, c. 240; 2011, cc. 205, 223;
2013, c. 207; 2016, c. 204; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 524, 542; 2024, c. 809.