North Carolina General Statutes 74E-6. Oaths, powers, and authority of company police officers
(a) Requirements. – An individual who is commissioned as a company police officer must take the oath of office required of a law enforcement officer before the individual assumes the duties of a company police officer. The person in each company police agency who is responsible for the agency’s company police officers must be commissioned as a company police officer.
(b) Categories. – The following three distinct classifications of company police officers are established:
(1) Campus Police Officers – Only those company police officers who are employed by any college or university that is a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina or any private college or university that is licensed or exempted from licensure as prescribed by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 116-15, and who are employed by a campus police agency that was licensed pursuant to this Chapter prior to the enactment of Chapter 74G of the N.C. Gen. Stat..
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 74E-6
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- property: shall include all property, both real and personal. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- United States: shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
(2) Railroad Police Officers – Those company police officers who are employed by a certified rail carrier and commissioned as company police officers under this Chapter.
(3) Special Police Officers – All company police officers not designated as a campus police officer or railroad police officer.
(c) All Company Police. – Company police officers, while in the performance of their duties of employment, have the same powers as municipal and county police officers to make arrests for both felonies and misdemeanors and to charge for infractions on any of the following:
(1) Real property owned by or in the possession and control of their employer.
(2) Real property owned by or in the possession and control of a person who has contracted with the employer to provide on-site company police security personnel services for the property.
(3) Any other real property while in continuous and immediate pursuit of a person for an offense committed upon property described in subdivisions (1) or (2) of this subsection.
Company police officers shall have, if duly authorized by the superior officer in charge, the authority to carry concealed weapons pursuant to and in conformity with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-269(b)(4) and (5).
(d) Campus Police. – Campus police officers have the powers contained in subsection (c) of this section and also have the powers in that subsection upon that portion of any public road or highway passing through or immediately adjoining the property described in that subsection, wherever located. The board of trustees of any college or university that qualifies as a campus police agency pursuant to this Chapter may enter into a mutual aid agreement with the governing board of a municipality or, with the consent of the county sheriff, a county to the same extent as a municipal police department pursuant to Chapter 160A.
(e) Railroad Police. – Railroad police officers have the powers contained in subsection (c) and also have the powers and authority granted by federal law or by a regulation promulgated by the United States Secretary of Transportation. Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this Chapter, the limitations on the power to make arrests contained in subsection (c) above, shall not be applicable to railroad police officers commissioned by the Attorney General pursuant to the authority of this Chapter.
(f) Repealed by Session Laws 2005-231, s. 3, effective July 28, 2005.
(g) Exclusive Authority. – Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the authority granted to company police officers shall be limited to the provisions of this Chapter.
(h) Mutual Aid Agreements. – All company police agencies that qualify pursuant to this Chapter may enter into mutual aid agreements with the governing board of a municipality or, with the consent of the county sheriff, a county to the same extent as a municipal police department pursuant to Chapter 160A of the N.C. Gen. Stat..
(i) As-Needed Assistance. – All company police may provide temporary assistance to a law enforcement agency at the request of the head of that agency, or the head of that agency’s designee, such as the sheriff or chief of police, regardless of whether there is an agreement in place under subsection (h) of this section. While acting pursuant to this section, a company police officer shall have the same powers vested in law enforcement officers of the agency asking for temporary assistance, but shall not be considered an officer, employee, or agent of the law enforcement agency asking for temporary assistance. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to expand company police officers’ authority to initiate or conduct an independent investigation into violations of criminal laws outside the scope of their subject matter or territorial jurisdiction. (1871-2, c. 138, s. 53; Code, s. 1990; Rev., s. 2607; 1907, c. 128, s. 2; c. 462; c. 470, ss.3, 4; C.S., ss. 3483, 3485; 1933, c. 134, s. 8; 1941, c. 97, s. 5; 1943, c. 676, s. 2; 1959, c. 124, s. 1; 1963, c. 1165, s. 2; 1965, c. 872; 1969, c. 844, s. 8; 1977, c. 148, s. 4; 1981, c. 884, s. 4; 1987, c. 469; 1989, c. 518, s. 1; 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 1043, s. 1; 1997-441, s. 1; 1999-68, s. 3; 2005-231, s. 3; 2006-259, s. 5(b); 2017-57, s. 17.2(a).)