A city or county may employ officers to assist individuals who are intoxicated in public. Officers employed for this purpose shall be trained to give assistance to those who are intoxicated in public including the administration of first aid. An officer employed by a city or county to assist intoxicated individuals has the powers and duties set out in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 122C-301 within the same territory in which criminal laws are enforced by law-enforcement officers of that city or county. (1977, 2nd Sess., c. 1134, s. 2; 1985, c. 589, s. 2.)