Request By:
Mr. Eugene Knuckles
Box 285 - Highway 1032
Beverly, Kentucky 40913
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your letter reads as follows:
I would like to have an opinion as to whether or not a deputy jailer may make arrests of persons within the county where he is serving as deputy jailer for various types of misdemeanors including drunkenness, traffic violations, etc.
The essential facts are: He is deputy jailer and posted bond to the jailer of Clay County; he holds no other official position. He serves as a security guard at a hospital. In areas far from the hospital and within Clay County he is making arrests for various misdemeanors. My question is, is this legal for him to do so?
Under KRS 446.010(24) a peace officer includes "jailers" . KRS 71.060, as amended in 1982 (Ch. 385, § 28), provides in part that " The deputies (deputy jailers) shall have all the powers and be subject to the same penalties as the jailer. " (Emphasis added).
The circumstances under which a "peace officer" can make an arrest are described in detail in KRS 431.005.
The answer to your question is that technically a validly appointed deputy jailer can effect an arrest in the county if he follows the dictates of KRS 431.005. See, as relates to misdemeanors, KRS 431.005(1)(a)(d). Thus a deputy jailer can make an arrest in his county for a misdemeanor in obedience to a warrant or without a warrant when a misdemeanor, as defined in KRS 431.060, has been committed in his presence. An arrest under the special circumstances related in KRS 431.005(2) do not apply to a deputy jailer.
A regular deputy jailer is required to be on duty in connection with the jail operations under a full and regular schedule. See KRS 71.060. However, even if a deputy jailer is remiss in his jail duties, such would not invalidate his arrest actions if properly effected as described above. Since the jailer is liable on his official bond for the conduct of his deputies (KRS 71.060), the jailer has the duty of seeing to it that his deputy performs his usual and normal jail duties required of him under the law.