(a) It is an offense for a person to solicit or accept a fee, consideration, donation, or to offer for sale or sell advertising as a representative, or under the guise of representing, a police, judicial or safety association, partnership or corporation unless the person is employed by or is a member of an organization composed of persons elected, employed or appointed pursuant to law, to engage in police, judicial or safety work or activities, except that the commissioner of safety may authorize in writing any person to engage in such activities until the authority is revoked in writing by the commissioner.

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class E felony1 to 6 yearsup to $3,000
class A misdemeanorup to 11 monthsup to $2,500
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 39-14-143

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Government: means the state or any political subdivision of the state, and includes any branch or agency of the state, a county, municipality or other political subdivision. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Person: includes the singular and the plural and means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, copartnership, association, corporation, governmental subdivision or agency, or other organization or other legal entity, or any agent or servant thereof. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Writing: includes printing or any other method of recording information, money, coins, tokens, stamps, seals, credit cards, badges, trademarks, and symbols of value, right, privilege or identification. See Tennessee Code 39-14-114
(b) “Police,” as used in this section, includes any person duly elected, appointed, or employed as provided by law to engage in law enforcement work.
(c) A violation of this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
(d) This section does not apply to any police, judicial or safety association directed or regulated by any agency, department or branch of state government. Neither does this section apply to associations composed of duly constituted law enforcement or judicial officers.
(e) Notwithstanding subsection (c) to the contrary, any person, persons, corporation or corporations violating this section, which violation is accomplished through the use of some form of communication across the boundaries of this state, commits a Class E felony, whether such communication is:

(1) By mail;
(2) By the use of any electronic device, including, but not limited to, the use of a telephone or telegraph; or
(3) By any other means.
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