Request By:
Mr. Earl L. Fowler, Supervisor
Special Law Enforcement
Hall of Justice
Room 309
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Gerard R. Gerhard, Assistant Attorney General
Re: Whether Special Law Enforcement Officers [Associated with Jefferson County Hall of Justice] Have Arrest Powers to Execute All Types of Warrants in Hall Of Justice. AGO Corr. No. 91-(0)-492.
Your letter of March 26, 1991, concerning the above referenced question, was referred to me for review and response.
As explained below, Jefferson County special law enforcement officers employed as security for the County's Hall of Justice do not have arrest powers "to execute all types of warrants in the Hall of Justice."
Statutory provisions regarding "special law enforcement officers" are set forth in KRS 61.900 - 61.930. Their authority is specified in KRS 61.912, 61.914, and 61.920 (copy attached). Those provisions state with particularity, in itemized and restrictive fashion, the authority of such officers. The detailed recitation of their authority upon public property they are hired to protect does not state that such officers have authority to "execute all types of warrants" on protected property. Accordingly, in our view, special law enforcement officers, including those serving the Jefferson County Hall of Justice, do not have such general law enforcement authority. Such view is in keeping with the legal maxim "expressio unius est exclusio alterius" - the expression of one thing is the exclusion of another. Cf., Wade v. Commonwealth, Ky., 303 S.W.2d 905, 907 (1957).
Some might argue that the designation of special law enforcement officers as "peace officers" (KRS 61.926) invests them with the broad authority of what might be termed "general law enforcement officers." That designation, however, expressly relates only to KRS 527.020, regarding authority to carry concealed a deadly weapon on or about one's person.
A rule in construing statutes is that the specific controls over the general. Cf., Com. v. Schindler, Ky., 685 S.W.2d 544, 545 (1984). The specific terms of authority of special law enforcement officers (KRS 61.912, 61.914, and 61.920), control over any general language relating to such officers. The designation of special law enforcement officers as "peace officers" for purposes of KRS 527.020 , does not overcome or broaden the specific terms of authority set out in KRS 61.912, 61.914, and 61.920.
For the reasons indicated, special law enforcement officers serving the Jefferson County Hall of Justice do not have arrest powers "to execute all types of warrants in the Hall of Justice."