HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 829        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1377

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Nine

_______________

An Act to the arrest powers of municipal police officers..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Chapter 41 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended after Section 98G by inserting the following new section:—

Section 98H. Extraterritorial Arrests By Police Officers.

Police officers shall have the authority to exercise arrest powers anywhere in the Commonwealth for any offense committed in his presence for which he would have the right to arrest without a warrant if he were a police officer of the city or town in which the arrest was made. Any officer who makes an arrest outside his territorial jurisdiction shall allow the police department of the city or town in which the arrest was made to take custody of the arrested person. Nothing in this section shall authorize a police department to perform investigations or provide other police services outside its territorial jurisdiction.