3.5 Arrest Without Warrant

• Library: Defending Criminal Cases in Virginia (Virginia CLE) (2018 Ed.)

3.5 ARREST WITHOUT WARRANT

3.501 General Statutory Authority. Members of the state police force of the commonwealth, the sheriffs of the various counties and cities and their deputies, the members of any county police force, the members of any duly constituted police force of any city or town, members of the Division of Capitol Police, other specified law enforcement personnel, and the special police officers of the counties, provided these officers are in uniform, may arrest, without a warrant, any person who commits any crime in their presence and any person whom they have reasonable grounds or probable cause to suspect of having committed a felony not in their presence. ⁵⁹ The general rule that an officer may not arrest for a misdemeanor without a warrant except when the offense is committed in his or her presence means that the officer must have personal knowledge acquired by his or her personal senses that the offense was committed in his or her presence. ⁶⁰

These officers may arrest without a warrant any person whom they have probable cause to suspect of operating a watercraft while intoxicated, in their presence, and may transfer custody of the person suspected of the violation

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to another officer who may obtain a warrant based on statements made to him or her by the arresting officer. ⁶¹ The officer, at the scene of any accident involving a motor vehicle, watercraft, or motorboat, or at any hospital or medical facility to which any person involved in the accident has been transported, or in the apprehension of any person charged with the theft of any motor vehicle, upon reasonable grounds to believe, based on personal investigation including information obtained from eyewitnesses, that a crime has been committed by any person then and there present, may apprehend the person without a warrant of arrest. ⁶² Whether the arrest occurs at the scene of an accident depends upon whether the relevant factors are linked by time and place or by any reasonable temporal or lineal criteria. ⁶³ Furthermore, an officer may, within three hours of an accident involving a motor vehicle, arrest at any location, without a warrant, any person whom the officer has probable cause to suspect of driving while intoxicated. ⁶⁴

An officer may arrest, without a warrant, a person charged with a crime in another jurisdiction upon receipt of a photocopy of a warrant, telegram, computer printout, facsimile printout, or a radio, telephone, or teletype message that gives the name or a reasonably accurate description of the person wanted and the crime alleged. ⁶⁵

An officer may also arrest, without a warrant, for an alleged misdemeanor not committed in the officer's presence when he or she receives a radio message from his or her department or other law enforcement agency within the commonwealth that a warrant for the offense is on file. An officer may also arrest without a warrant for an alleged misdemeanor not committed in his or her presence involving: (i) shoplifting in violation of section 18.2-96 or 18.2-103 of the Virginia Code or similar local ordinance; (ii) carrying a weapon on school property in violation of section 18.2-308.1; (iii) assault and battery; (iv) brandishing a firearm in violation of section 18.2-282; or (v) destruction of property in violation of section 18.2-137 when the property is located on premises used for business or commercial purposes, when the arrest is based on probable cause upon reasonable complaint of the person who observed the alleged offense. ⁶⁶ The arresting officer may issue a summons

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to any person arrested for a misdemeanor violation involving shop-lifting. ⁶⁷

3.502 Authority of Correctional Officers. A correctional officer may arrest without a warrant a person charged with a crime involving: (i) the escape of an inmate from a correctional institution; (ii) assisting an inmate to escape from a correctional institution; (iii) the delivery of contraband to an inmate; and (iv) any other criminal offense that may contribute to the disruption of the safety, welfare, or security of the population of a correctional institution. ⁶⁸ A correctional officer may also detain a person whom the officer reasonably suspects of committing any of the offenses described above for the purpose of summoning a law enforcement officer to arrest the person. ⁶⁹

3.503 Territorial Authority. Under section 19.2-250 of the Virginia Code, the jurisdiction of law enforcement officers of towns and cities, and Chesterfield and Henrico counties, in criminal cases involving offenses against the commonwealth extends one mile beyond the corporate limits of the town, city, or county, subject to certain population and geographical limits. This section, however, does not extend the reach of city ordinances beyond city limits. ⁷⁰ City police have the power to make arrests up to one mile beyond the city limits as long as the arrest is for an offense against either the commonwealth or the jurisdiction in which the arrest is made. ⁷¹

The relevant question for determining whether a police officer exceeded his or her territorial jurisdiction when making an arrest is not where the officer was located when the crime was observed but whether the alleged crime occurred within the jurisdiction of the county, city, or town for which the officer works. ⁷²

An officer acts reasonably in an extraterritorial arrest if his or her actions are consistent with those circumstances under which a private citizen would be authorized to make an arrest. ⁷³

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3.504 Officer May Issue Summons in Certain Cases. Whenever any person is detained by or is in the custody of an arresting officer for any violation committed in the officer's presence which offense is a violation of any county, city, or town ordinance or of any provision of the Virginia Code punishable as a Class 1 or Class 2 misdemeanor or any other misdemeanor for which he or she may receive a jail sentence, except...