I recently got an ordinance violation from a local town. My house is located just outside that towns limits. Is it legal for them to give me that ticket.
2007-02-27 15:15:33 · 3 answers · asked by wilkepep 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
The Ordinance violation was underage drinking if that helps at all.
2007-02-28 02:02:38 · update #1
call the public defender and ask him where their jurisdiction ends. It may be the case that a county or state police officer should have responded only.
2007-02-27 15:22:04 · answer #1 · answered by shane w 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Jurisdictional rules (not laws, mind you) work in two ways: scope and geographical. An example of scope is Border Patrol. They have jurisdiction throughout the entire United States, however, they can only arrest on immigration laws (and some federal laws such as drug importation). They cannot write you a speeding ticket. Geographic jurisdiction is... Well... Exactly what it means. Every once and awhile there are strange geographical jurisdictions like highway patrol whose jurisdiction is primarily on state highways but is also anywhere in the state as they enforce state laws.
Sometimes it gets complicated when law enforcement officers are certified by the state rather than locally (most are certified by the state). While the department may require those officers to only exercise jurisdiction within the department's jurisdiction, their authority is statewide.
As for your question... The problem is what you were cited for. For sanity's sake I'll just assume that the officers are state certified. If the ordinance is a violation of town law only, then they can only cite you while you are in that town. If you were in that town when the violation occurred then yes, they can. If you were not in the town and they attempt to cite you for it, the court would have to dismiss the case because it is outside of the court and officer's jurisdiction. If the ordinance is a county or state ordinance and you were in the county or state when the violation occurred, then yes they can.
2007-02-28 05:17:06 · answer #2 · answered by nightkingdoms3 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Doesn't sound right to me. If your house is just outside the limits then you fall under the counties ordinances.
2007-02-27 23:22:22 · answer #3 · answered by eks_spurt 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋