Any locality owning and operating an airport, public hospital, sanitarium, nursing home, public water supply or watershed, public park, recreational area, sewage disposal plant or system, public landing, dock, wharf or canal, public school, public utility, public buildings and other public property located beyond the limits of the locality shall have and may exercise full police power over the property, and over persons using the property, and may, by ordinance, prescribe rules for the operation and use of the property and for the conduct of all persons using the property and may, further, provide penalties for the violation of such rules contained in an ordinance; such penalties, however, shall not exceed those provided by general law for misdemeanors. However, no ordinances in conflict with an ordinance of the jurisdiction wherein the property is located shall be enacted.
Any locality which maintains or operates in whole or in part any property enumerated in this section may lawfully send its law-enforcement officers to the property owned beyond the limits of the locality for the purpose of protecting the property, keeping order therein, or otherwise enforcing the laws of the Commonwealth and ordinances of the locality owning the property as such laws and ordinances may relate to the operation and use thereof. The law-enforcement officer shall have power to make an arrest for a violation of any law or ordinance relating to the operation and use of the property. The district court in the city or town where the offense occurs shall have jurisdiction of all cases arising therein, and the district court of the county where the offense occurs shall have jurisdiction of all cases arising therein.
It shall be the duty of the attorney for the Commonwealth for the locality wherein the offense occurs to prosecute all violators of the ordinances of the locality that pertain to the operation and use of the property enumerated in this section.
Code 1950, § 15-560.1; 1952, c. 382; 1962, c. 623, § 15.1-142; 1979, c. 333; 1997, c. 587.
Structure Code of Virginia
Title 15.2 - Counties, Cities and Towns
Chapter 17 - Police and Public Order
§ 15.2-1700. Preservation of peace and good order
§ 15.2-1701. Organization of police forces
§ 15.2-1702. Referendum required prior to establishment of county police force
§ 15.2-1703. Referendum to abolish county police force
§ 15.2-1704. Powers and duties of police force
§ 15.2-1705. Minimum qualifications; waiver
§ 15.2-1707. Decertification of law-enforcement officers
§ 15.2-1708. Notice of decertification
§ 15.2-1710. Fees and other compensation
§ 15.2-1710.1. Arrest or summons quota prohibited
§ 15.2-1712. Employment of off-duty officers
§ 15.2-1713. Localities authorized to offer and pay rewards in felony and misdemeanor cases
§ 15.2-1713.1. Local "Crime Stoppers" programs; confidentiality
§ 15.2-1714. Establishing police lines, perimeters, or barricades
§ 15.2-1715. Authority to declare Intensified Drug Enforcement Jurisdictions; expenditure of funds
§ 15.2-1716. Reimbursement of expenses incurred in responding to DUI and related incidents
§ 15.2-1716.2. Methamphetamine lab cleanup costs; localities may charge for reimbursement
§ 15.2-1717. Preventing interference with pupils at schools
§ 15.2-1717.1. Designation of police to enforce trespass violations
§ 15.2-1718. Receipt of missing child reports
§ 15.2-1718.1. Receipt of missing senior adult reports
§ 15.2-1718.2. Receipt of critically missing adult reports
§ 15.2-1719. Disposal of unclaimed property in possession of sheriff or police
§ 15.2-1721. Disposal of unclaimed firearms or other weapons in possession of sheriff or police
§ 15.2-1721.1. Acquisition of military property by localities
§ 15.2-1722. Certain records to be kept by sheriffs and chiefs of police
§ 15.2-1722.1. Prohibited practices; collection of data
§ 15.2-1723. Validation of certain police forces
§ 15.2-1723.1. Body-worn camera system
§ 15.2-1723.2. (Effective until July 1, 2026) Facial recognition technology; approval; penalty
§ 15.2-1723.2. (Effective July 1, 2026) Facial recognition technology; approval
§ 15.2-1724. Police and other officers may be sent beyond territorial limits
§ 15.2-1725.1. Concurrent jurisdiction; limitations
§ 15.2-1727. Reciprocal agreements with localities outside the Commonwealth
§ 15.2-1728. Mutual aid agreements between police departments and federal authorities
§ 15.2-1730. Calling upon law-enforcement officers of counties, cities or towns for assistance
§ 15.2-1730.1. Authority and immunity of sheriffs and deputies
§ 15.2-1731. Establishment, etc., authorized; powers, authority and immunities generally
§ 15.2-1732. Appropriations for equipment and maintenance
§ 15.2-1735. Acting beyond limits of jurisdiction of locality
§ 15.2-1736. Mutual aid agreements among governing bodies of localities
§ 15.2-1747. Creation of academies
§ 15.2-1748. Powers of the academies
§ 15.2-1750. Governmental units authorized to appropriate or lend funds
§ 15.2-1751. Exemption from taxation