Can a Mississippi game warden write you a traffic ticket on a county road?
Plain-English summary
A Yalobusha County justice court judge asked a basic question: do game wardens (the AG calls them "conservation officers" of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks) have authority to write traffic tickets on public county roads? And if so, do they have to use the standard uniform traffic ticket form?
The AG answered yes to both halves, with a wrinkle on the second part.
Conservation officers are state law enforcement officers under Section 49-1-12. Their primary job is enforcing wildlife, bird, and fish laws, but Section 49-1-43(4) gives them other powers too. Subsection (d) is broad: they can arrest, without a warrant, any person committing or attempting to commit a misdemeanor, felony, or breach of the peace in their presence or view, anywhere in the state. Traffic offenses are misdemeanors (and sometimes felonies) under Section 63-9-11. So when a conservation officer sees a traffic violation on a public county road, the broad arrest power lets the officer cite the violator. The AG read that arrest power to include issuing tickets.
On the form question: the Uniform Traffic Ticket Law, Section 63-9-21(3)(a), lists which officers are required to use the uniform ticket: sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, constables, county patrol officers, municipal police officers, and State Highway Patrol officers. Conservation officers are not on that list. So they are not technically required to use the uniform form. But Subsections 63-9-21(3)(b)-(d) require certain content on every traffic ticket regardless of who writes it: the implied-consent attorney-employment notation when applicable, the issuing officer's name, the court and appearance date, the address and phone of the cited person (no SSN), and information sufficient to charge the offense.
The AG also noted that Section 63-9-21(4) lists who issues bound ticket books and to whom (sheriffs and deputies through the chancery clerk, municipal police through the municipal court clerk, Highway Patrol through DPS), and conservation officers are not in that distribution scheme either. But Section 63-9-21(8) allows all law enforcement officers and agencies to file traffic tickets electronically, which closes the procedural gap.
What this means for you
For drivers stopped by a game warden on a county road
If a conservation officer stops you on a public county road and writes you for speeding, careless driving, or another traffic offense, the citation is valid under Section 49-1-43(4)(d). The ticket may not look exactly like the uniform traffic ticket you would get from a sheriff's deputy, but it has to contain all the required information (issuing officer, court, date and time to appear, charge, your address and phone). If any of that information is missing, raise it with the prosecutor or your attorney.
For conservation officers and game wardens
When you cite a traffic offense, document the offense as observed in your presence. Your authority comes from the warrantless-arrest provision in Section 49-1-43(4)(d), which requires presence-or-view. Use a citation form that contains every element required by Section 63-9-21(3)(b)-(d): officer name, court, appearance date, complaint information, address and phone of the defendant, no SSN. If your agency does not currently issue uniform ticket books, the electronic-filing path under Section 63-9-21(8) is available.
For justice court and municipal court judges
When a conservation officer files a citation in your court, the AG has now confirmed the underlying authority. Verify the citation contains the Section 63-9-21(3)(b)-(d) content. If the officer used a non-uniform form, that is not, by itself, fatal; the content requirements are what the statute imposes on tickets generally.
For traffic defense attorneys
Two angles to watch. First, the citation must be supported by a presence-or-view observation; if the conservation officer issued a ticket based on a complaint from a third party rather than personal observation, the warrantless-arrest authority in Section 49-1-43(4)(d) does not directly cover it. Second, audit the citation against the Section 63-9-21(3)(b)-(d) content list; missing required content is a procedural challenge.
For the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks
If your officers regularly cite traffic offenses, this opinion may justify standardizing on a citation format that mirrors the uniform traffic ticket. You are not legally required to use the uniform form, but doing so reduces friction with the courts and avoids ambiguity about whether the content requirements have been met.
Common questions
Can a game warden chase me off the highway and onto private property?
Section 49-1-43(4)(d) lets a conservation officer "pursue and so arrest any person committing an offense in any place in the state where the person may go or be." That language is broad. Pursuit out of the officer's usual work area is statutorily authorized.
Can a game warden ticket me for speeding even if there is no wildlife or hunting issue involved?
Yes. The warrantless-arrest power in subsection (d) is not limited to wildlife offenses. Subsections (a), (b), and (c) of Section 49-1-43(4) deal mostly with wildlife, but (d) is general.
What if the game warden's ticket isn't on the uniform traffic ticket form?
Conservation officers are not on the Section 63-9-21(3)(a) list of officers required to use the uniform form. As long as the citation contains the information required by Subsections (3)(b)-(d), the AG considers it sufficient.
Are conservation officers issued ticket books like sheriffs are?
The Section 63-9-21(4) ticket-book distribution scheme does not include conservation officers. But Section 63-9-21(8) authorizes all law enforcement officers and agencies to file traffic tickets electronically, which provides a workable path.
Does this opinion change anything about wildlife enforcement?
No. It clarifies that traffic enforcement on public roads is within conservation officers' authority. Wildlife enforcement was already clearly within their job description.
Background and statutory framework
Mississippi conservation officers are law enforcement officers of the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. Section 49-1-12 establishes their status. Section 49-1-43(3) gives them the duty to enforce, obey, and carry out department instructions on the laws and regulations relating to wild animals, birds, and fish.
Section 49-1-43(4)(a)-(c) sets out powers focused on wildlife enforcement (inspecting catches, entering vessels and vehicles to check for violations, etc.). Section 49-1-43(4)(d) is broader and not limited to wildlife:
To arrest, without warrant, any person committing or attempting to commit a misdemeanor, felony or a breach of the peace within his presence or view and to pursue and so arrest any person committing an offense in any place in the state where the person may go or be; to aid and assist any peace officer of this state or any other state if requested, in manhunts or natural disasters within the state.
Section 63-9-11(1) makes traffic violations misdemeanors (or, in some cases, felonies). That makes them within the scope of Section 49-1-43(4)(d)'s arrest authority.
The Uniform Traffic Ticket Law, Section 63-9-21(3)(a), lists officers required to use the uniform traffic ticket: sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, constables, county patrol officers, municipal police officers, and State Highway Patrol officers. Conservation officers are not listed. But Subsections (3)(b)-(d) impose content requirements on any traffic ticket, citation, or affidavit regardless of who issues it: implied-consent notations, issuing officer's name, court and appearance information, defendant's address and phone, exclusion of SSN.
Section 63-9-21(4) describes how bound ticket books are distributed (chancery clerks for sheriff personnel, municipal court clerks for city police, DPS Commissioner for Highway Patrol). Conservation officers are not in that distribution. Section 63-9-21(8) authorizes electronic filing of traffic tickets by all law enforcement officers and agencies, which lets conservation officers file even without participating in the bound-book distribution.
Citations
- Miss. Code Ann. § 49-1-12 (conservation officers as law enforcement)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 49-1-43(3) (duty to enforce wildlife laws)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 49-1-43(4)(d) (broad warrantless-arrest authority)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 49-1-44 (additional powers, not relevant here)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 63-9-11(1) (traffic violations as misdemeanors or felonies)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 63-9-21(3)(a) (officers required to use uniform traffic ticket)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 63-9-21(3)(b)-(d) (content requirements for all tickets)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 63-9-21(4) (ticket book distribution)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 63-9-21(8) (electronic filing of traffic tickets)
Source
- Landing page: https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/divisions/opinions-and-policy/recent-opinions/
- Original PDF: https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/T.-Howell-November-8-2024-Conservation-Officers-Authority-to-Issue-Traffic-Tickets.pdf
Original opinion text
November 8, 2024
The Honorable Trent L. Howell
Yalobusha County Justice Court Judge
Post Office Box 947
Water Valley, Mississippi 38965
Re: Conservation Officers' Authority to Issue Traffic Tickets
Dear Judge Howell:
The Office of the Attorney General has received your request for an official opinion.
Questions Presented
- May game wardens/conservation officers write tickets for traffic offenses committed on public county roads?
- If the answer to question one is yes, must the ticket be a uniform traffic ticket?
Brief Response
- Mississippi Code Annotated Section 49-1-43(4)(d) provides conservation officers generally with the power "[t]o arrest, without warrant, any person committing or attempting to commit a misdemeanor, felony or a breach of the peace within his presence or view and to pursue and so arrest any person committing an offense in any place in the state where the person may go or be."
- While Section 63-9-21(3)(a) does not include conservation officers in the list of those required to issue uniform traffic tickets, all traffic tickets, citations, or affidavits issued, by conservation officers or otherwise, must contain the information required by Subsections 63-9-21(3)(b)-(d) of the Uniform Traffic Ticket Law.
Applicable Law and Discussion
A "conservation officer," also known as "game warden," is a law enforcement officer of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (the "department"). Miss. Code Ann. § 49-1-12. It is a conservation officer's duty "to enforce, and to obey and carry out all instructions and directions of the department with respect to the enforcement of the laws and regulations relating to wild animals, birds and fish." Miss. Code Ann. § 49-1-43(3). Conservation officers' powers are set forth in Section 49-1-43(4), with subsection (d) specifically stating that such officers have the power:
(d) To arrest, without warrant, any person committing or attempting to commit a misdemeanor, felony or a breach of the peace within his presence or view and to pursue and so arrest any person committing an offense in any place in the state where the person may go or be; to aid and assist any peace officer of this state or any other state if requested, in manhunts or natural disasters within the state[.]
(emphasis added). While the powers listed in Section 49-1-43(a), (b), and (c) mostly regulate wild animals, birds, and fish, the powers in (d) are broad and not so limited. Section 49-1-44 also sets forth additional powers not relevant to this opinion.
While the specific power to issue traffic tickets is not included in any of the above provisions, conservation officers do have the broad statutory authority to arrest, without warrant, any person committing or attempting to commit a misdemeanor or felony within the officer's presence or view, which, in the opinion of this office, would include issuing tickets for traffic offenses committed on county roads.
You next ask if a traffic ticket issued by a conservation officer must be a uniform traffic ticket. Section 63-9-21 is known as the Uniform Traffic Ticket Law. Subsection (3)(a) states: "[e]very traffic ticket issued by any sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, county patrol officer, municipal police officer or State Highway Patrol officer for any violation of traffic or motor vehicle laws shall be issued on the uniform traffic ticket or uniform implied consent violation ticket." Miss. Code Ann. § 63-9-21(3)(a). Notably, conservation officers are not included in this specific list of law enforcement officers that are required to issue uniform traffic tickets. However, Subsections (3)(b)-(d) further provide:
(b) The traffic ticket, citation or affidavit issued to a person arrested for a violation of the Mississippi Implied Consent Law shall contain a place for the trial judge hearing the case or accepting the guilty plea, as the case may be, to sign, stating that the person arrested either employed an attorney or waived his right to an attorney after having been properly advised of his right to have an attorney. If the person arrested employed an attorney, the name, address and telephone number of the attorney shall be entered or written on the ticket, citation or affidavit.
(c) Every traffic ticket shall show, among other necessary information, the name of the issuing officer, the name of the court in which the cause is to be heard, and the date and time the person is to appear to answer the charge. The ticket shall include information that will constitute a complaint charging the offense for which the ticket was issued, and when duly sworn to and filed with a court of competent jurisdiction, prosecution may proceed thereunder.
(d) The traffic ticket shall contain a space to include the current address and current telephone number of the person being charged. It shall not contain a space to include the social security number of the person being charged.
Miss. Code Ann. § 63-9-21(3)(b)-(d). Accordingly, any traffic ticket, citation, or affidavit issued, by a conservation officer or otherwise, must contain the information required by Subsections (3)(b)-(d) of the Uniform Traffic Ticket Law.
Finally, we note that Section 63-9-21(4) provides:
All traffic tickets, except traffic tickets filed electronically under subsection (8) of this section, shall be bound in book form, shall be consecutively numbered and each traffic ticket shall be accounted for to the officer issuing such book. The traffic ticket books shall be issued to sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, constables and county patrol officers by the chancery clerk of their respective counties, to each municipal police officer by the clerk of the municipal court, and to each State Highway Patrol officer by the Commissioner of Public Safety.
As shown, this provision does not account for conservation officers; however, as mentioned therein, Section 63-9-21(8) allows all law enforcement officers and agencies to file traffic tickets electronically.
If this office may be of any further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
LYNN FITCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL
By: /s/ Maggie Kate Bobo
Maggie Kate Bobo
Special Assistant Attorney General
[Footnote 1: Traffic violations may be either misdemeanors or felonies. Miss Code Ann. § 63-9-11(1) (stating that "[i]t is a misdemeanor for any person to violate any of the provisions of Chapter 3, 5 or 7 of this title [Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulations], unless such violation is by such chapters or other law of this state declared to be a felony.").]