GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2019
SESSION LAW 2019-130
HOUSE BILL 629
AN ACT to authorize mutual aid agreements with out‑of‑state law enforcement agencies.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. G.S. 160A‑288 reads as rewritten:
"§ 160A‑288. Cooperation between law‑enforcement
law enforcement agencies.
(a) Unless specifically
prohibited or limited by an ordinance officially adopted by the governing body
of the city or county by which the person is employed, appointed, or elected to
serve, the head of any law‑enforcement law enforcement agency
may temporarily provide assistance to another agency in enforcing the laws
of North Carolina if so requested in writing by the head of the requesting
agency. The assistance may comprise allowing officers of the agency to work
temporarily with officers of the requesting agency (including in an undercover
capacity) and lending equipment and supplies. While working with the requesting
agency under the authority of this section, an officer shall have the same
jurisdiction, powers, rights, privileges and immunities (including those
relating to the defense of civil actions and payment of judgments) as the
officers of the requesting agency in addition to those the officer normally
possesses. While on duty with the requesting agency, the officer shall be
subject to the lawful operational commands of the officer's superior officers
in the requesting agency, but the officer shall for personnel and
administrative purposes, remain under the control of the officer's own agency,
including for purposes of pay. The officer shall furthermore be entitled to
workers' compensation and the same benefits when acting pursuant to this
section to the same extent as though the officer were functioning within the
normal scope of the officer's duties.
(b) As used in this section:
(1) "Head" means
any director or chief officer of a law‑enforcement law
enforcement agency including the chief of police of a local department,
chief of police of county police department, and the sheriff of a county, or an
officer of one of the above named agencies to whom the head of that agency has
delegated authority to make or grant requests under this section, but only one
officer in the agency shall have this delegated authority at any time.
(2) "Law‑enforcement
agency" "Law enforcement agency" or "agency" means
only a municipal police department, a county police department, or a
sheriff's office. office of this State. Subject to G.S. 15A‑403,
it also includes a municipal police department, a county police department, or a
sheriff's office of another state if the laws of the other state allow for the
provision of mutual aid with out‑of‑state law enforcement officers.
All other State and local agencies are exempted from the provisions of this
section.
(c) This section in no way
reduces the jurisdiction or authority of State law‑enforcement law
enforcement officers.
(d) For purposes of this section, the following shall be considered the equivalent of a municipal police department:
(1) Campus law‑enforcement
law enforcement agencies established pursuant to G.S. 115D‑21.1(a)
or G.S. 116‑40.5(a).
(2) Colleges or universities which are licensed, or exempted from licensure, by G.S. 116‑15 and which employ company police officers commissioned by the Attorney General pursuant to Chapter 74E or Chapter 74G of the General Statutes.
(3) Law enforcement agencies operated or eligible to be operated by a municipality pursuant to G.S. 63‑53(2).
(4) Repealed by Session Laws 2013‑360, s. 16B.4(d), effective July 1, 2013.
(5) A Company Police agency of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services commissioned by the Attorney General pursuant to Chapter 74E of the General Statutes."
SECTION 2. This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 9th day of July, 2019.
s/ Ralph E. Hise
Presiding Officer of the Senate
s/ Tim Moore
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ Roy Cooper
Governor
Approved 1:33 p.m. this 19th day of July, 2019