Jurisdiction Question : TVA Police and Metro Nashville Park Police

[monkeylizard]

vontar's question on small city police patrolling interstates made me want to ask if anyone knows the jurisdiction of the following:

TVA Police. Do they only have jurisdiction on TVA land/waterways?

Metro Nashville Park Police. Do they have any jurisdiction in Metro Davidson County outside of the city parks?

Just curious. I see their cars/SUVS on the road around town and have always been curious where their areas start and stop.

[Guest Jamie]

Police commissions are good anywhere in the state they're issued... so I would imagine "jurisdiction" is simply a matter of departmental policy, and any agreement(s) between agencies.

With the TVA police though, I have no clue. If they're commissioned officers meeting state requirements, then the same would apply to them, I would think.

[monkeylizard]

Are you saying that any police officer in the state technically has jurisdiction anywhere in the state? That a Knoxville PD officer can write a traffic citation in Clarksville, even though they probably never would?

[Guest Jamie]

Are you saying that any police officer in the state technically has jurisdiction anywhere in the state? That a Knoxville PD officer can write a traffic citation in Clarksville, even though they probably never would?

Absolutely.

Go see the other thread for details. Kb spells it out about as well as it can be done.

And I can tell you that I've personally chased folks all the way into Dickson to catch 'em. And brought 'em back here when we did. ( No, I've never worked as a Dickson Co. officer of any kind. )

A Tennessee LEO is just that; a Tennessee LEO. And he or she can bust your ass anywhere within the state, if they catch you breaking the law. ( Won't be for a local ordinance where they're employed though, since that wouldn't necessarily be the law where they catch you, if that makes sense. )

Edited January 2, 2011 by Jamie

[TNRobocop]

Well this is somewhat correct.

Violations of criminal law, TN LEO's can enforce law throughout the state.

Traffic citations are dicated by jurisdiction. Dickson police for example can't write tickets in say Clarksville, nor enforce city ordnances outside of their city either.

[Guest Jamie]

Again, go read Kb's post HERE.

A TN police officer could legally cite you for speeding, running a traffic light, etc... But it would get complicated by paperwork, court date, and a few other items. ( THP does this all the time, but they have a system set up to take their citations through local courts. )

They wouldn't be enforcing some local ordinance like "no parking facing west on the third Monday of the month" ( Yes, I made that up ). The typical Tn traffic laws though, yes they could... it's just easier to stop and hold you while calling for a local officer and letting them do the writing.

Driving erratically and/or being a danger to other drivers and people will likely get you stopped and questioned by any officer that sees you, whether it's his "home turf" or not.

BTW, Robo... If you think traffic laws are dictated by jurisdiction, you might ought'a go look at TCA Title 55 - Motor and Other Vehicles - Chapter 8. Yeah, there are places like Coopertown that go nuts with the fines for certain traffic laws, but they aren't making the laws themselves up.

Edited January 2, 2011 by Jamie

[BrasilNuts]

It's my understanding that TVA police are federal and they have jurisdiction everywhere.

[leroy]

....It's my understanding that TVA police are federal and they have jurisdiction everywhere. ...

I believe Brazil is right on this. TVA Police are federally commissioned officers.

Leroy

[kb4ns]

OK, I'll try to help in this one best I can. I was doing a public relations event with a TVA officer at the local utility company's annual employee picnic and I asked about their jurisdiction.

IIRC, he said that they are Federal police officers and carry a federal commission, but they carry state commissions as well (TN POST issues a POST certificate after they finish their academy at FLETC). I think he said as long as they have one state commission, it's reciprocal in other states while they're in performance of their TVA duties.

For a uniformed officer like TVA, it's pretty much necessary to have a state commission as well. A federal commission would work for some offenses, but not all. The federal commission only allows them to enforce US laws. If they wanted to arrest for an offense that there's no federal law for (maybe DUI or simple assault?), they have to carry a state commission that allows them to charge people for breaking state laws and send those charges through state court. I know that he said they carry the TN uniform citation (like THP) that allows them to charge any misdemeanor (including traffic violations) and send them through whichever county court the offense occurred in.

Y'all are getting into some really confusing stuff!

[kb4ns]

Traffic citations are dicated by jurisdiction. Dickson police for example can't write tickets in say Clarksville, nor enforce city ordnances outside of their city either.

This brings up another point I didn't address in the other jurisdiction thread - ordinances. Only officers/deputies commissioned by the local body can enforce those ordinances. For example, if I stopped a car in Memphis for speeding, I could charge them for the county ordinance for speeding since I have a county commission and the offense occurred within the county's limits, or I could charge them for violation of the TCA for speeding, but I could not charge them with Memphis's city ordinance for speeding. I could, however, stop them and call a Memphis officer down who could write the violator a citation for Memphis's ordinance for speeding based off of my observation (if I felt like waiting 45 minutes for a MPD car to show up).

Confused yet?

[Guest Jamie]

Confused yet?

Nah... 'cause the moral of the story is still that if it has blue lights on it, you're pretty much had for whatever ya did, one way or the other.

BTW, our city officers here still work well outside that 1 mile limit, when required. And also in neighboring counties, on occasion.

[kb4ns]

Metro Nashville Park Police. Do they have any jurisdiction in Metro Davidson County outside of the city parks?

Not 100% about these guys, but my money would be on them having a MNPD commission and the same general jurisdiction as the regular MNPD officers. Again, as long as they're certified LEO's (which they have to be), they can enforce state laws anywhere in the state.

[Guest Rodslanger]

A tva officer is federal marshall he has jurisdiction everywhere.And I know this because that's whom I am employed by hauling extremely oversized loads on a lowboy traveling throughout the eastern part of the country having dealt with some nit shi* traffic cops and troopers.Then having to call a tva officer to sort matters out.Even if I get involved in a traffic altercation no one can lay hands on or fill out a report on my truck,trailer or load unless he is federal.

Edited January 2, 2011 by Rodslanger

[Pain103]

Metro Park Police have a Metro PD Special Police Commission. Vanderbilt University PD carries the same. This gives them the same power of a Metro Officer while working.

Edited January 2, 2011 by Pain103