Powers and duties of police chiefs

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  1. (a) The chief of police in a municipality shall execute all process directed to him or her by the mayor and shall attend by himself or herself or by someone else on the police force on the sitting of the district court to execute its orders and preserve order therein.

  2. (b)

    1. (1) The chief of police has power to appoint one (1) or more deputies from the police force, for whose official acts he or she is responsible, and by whom he or she may execute all process directed to him or her.

    2. (2)

      1. (A) He or she shall have power, by himself or herself or by deputy, to execute all process in any part of the county in which the district court is situated or in which the district court has jurisdiction.

      2. (B) The person executing process under this subdivision (b)(2) shall work in coordination with the sheriff for the unincorporated areas of the county.

    3. (3) For serving city warrants only, the chief of police or his or her deputies shall be entitled to the fees allowed to a sheriff under § 21-6-307 for similar services in similar cases.

    4. (4) All fees collected by the police chief and his or her deputies for similar services shall be deposited into the city treasury.

  3. (c) It is the chief of police's duty to suppress all riots, disturbances, and breaches of the peace. To that end he or she may call upon the citizens to assist him or her to apprehend all persons in the act of committing any offense against the laws of the state or the ordinances of the city, and he or she shall bring them immediately before the proper authority for examination or trial.

  4. (d) The chief of police has power to pursue or arrest any person fleeing from justice in any part of the state and to receive and execute any proper authority for arrest and detention of criminals fleeing or escaping from any other place or state.

  5. (e) In the discharge of his or her proper duties, the chief of police has like powers and is subject to like responsibilities as sheriffs and constables in similar cases and is required by the city council to give a bond for the faithful performance of his or her duties in a sum as the council may require.


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