| House Bill 466 sponsored by Rep. Craig Dally, would give sheriffs and deputy sheriffs the statutory authority to perform as “law enforcement officers” and perform duties based on the needs of their communities.
The bill would allow there to be more law enforcement on the street, with no additional cost to taxpayers, since the sheriffs have already been trained and outfitted.
House Bill 466 would not work to expand the powers of the sheriff, but rather to reinstate powers.
In February 2006, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in a case known as Kopko that sheriffs "are not 'investigative or law enforcement officers'" under the Pennsylvania Wiretapping Act. In that decision, the Court restated that the sheriffs' common law authority allows only for arrests for breaches of the peace and felonies committed in their presence - authority "no different than a private citizen."
View House Bill 466
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