No municipal corporation shall employ private detectives in the investigation or detection of crime at an expense of more than five hundred dollars unless a specific appropriation therefor has been made, nor unless the authorities thereof have first applied to the state police for assistance in such investigation and waited a reasonable time for said state police to act. Any municipal official who violates any provision of this section shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars and shall be liable to such municipality in a civil action for the amount expended in excess of such sum as has been appropriated for such investigation.
(1949 Rev., S. 664; P.A. 77-614, S. 486, 587, 610; P.A. 78-303, S. 85, 136.)
History: P.A. 77-614 and P.A. 78-303 made state police a division within the department of public safety rather than a separate department, effective January 1, 1979.
Cited. 104 C. 15.