Could Blackville police patrol or enforce traffic law on a highway segment entirely outside town limits?

Plain-English summary

A Blackville officer asked about police authority on a stretch of Highway 61 that the officer’s map showed entirely outside town limits. The July 2001 informal letter said Blackville police did not have general jurisdiction on that stretch, absent some separate express authority such as an agreement or hot-pursuit exception.

The statute discussed by the AG covered roads partly within a municipality and rights of way that touched its boundary; it also addressed roads that formed a boundary between municipalities. Earlier AG opinions read that rule as excluding roads wholly beyond the boundary. This letter applied that distinction to the mapped highway segment, rather than announcing that town police could never act outside limits under any other authority.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2001. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Historical summary

Municipal police officers

The opinion limited ordinary municipal jurisdiction to the road situations described by the statute. It identified an agreement and hot pursuit as possible separate bases for acting beyond town limits.

Drivers and local officials

The letter distinguished a road touching the municipal boundary from the highlighted segment completely outside it. The town’s general jurisdiction did not reach the latter on the facts given.

Common questions

Did the town’s authority extend to every nearby highway segment? A: No. The AG said the wholly outside segment lacked general Blackville police jurisdiction under the boundary-road statute.

What if a road touched the town line?
A: The cited statute treated certain touching rights of way as within the town for police-jurisdiction purposes.

Could an officer ever act outside town limits?
A: The letter expressly left room for separate authority, including an agreement or hot pursuit.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion quoted §5-7-155 and enclosed three earlier AG letters on municipal police jurisdiction. It applied their reading of the statute to the road segment shown on the officer’s map.

Citations and references

• §5-7-155: jurisdiction on streets and highways at a municipal boundary.

Official title

Concerning municipal police jurisdiction on portions of roadways completely outside the municipal limits.

Requester

Officer Jeremy M. Keller, Blackville Police Department

Source

• Landing page: https://www.scag.gov/opinions/opinions-archive/july-30-2001/
• Original PDF: https://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/01july30keller.pdf

Original opinion text

The State of South Carolina

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
CHARLIE CONDON

July 30, 2001

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Officer Jeremy M. Keller
Blackville Police Department
5997 Lartigue Street
Blackville, South Carolina 29817

Re: Your Letter of July 20, 2001
Dear Officer Keller:
In your above-referenced letter, you request a prior opinion from this Office concerning municipal police jurisdiction on portions of roadways completely outside the municipal limits. To illustrate your question, you provided a map of Blackville, highlighting a portion of Highway 61 which is entirely outside the city limits of Blackville. I have enclosed copies of three previous opinions from this Office which I believe answer your question (OPS. ATTY. GEN. (Dated October 15, 1996; January 19, 1998[A.G. Dantzler]; January 19, 1998 [Mark Mims]). These opinions would indicate that an officer with the Blackville Police Department, absent some express authority, would not have general jurisdiction on the portion
:Jf the highway ccmp!etely outside the city limits. Specifically, the relevant statute for revieu.ring your question is S.C. Code Ann. §5-7-155. That Section is titled "[p ]olice jurisdiction over certain streets and highways along which municipal boundaries run" and provides: If any portion of a street or highway is within the boundary of a municipality, the right of way of the street or highway not within the municipal boundary but touching the boundary is nevertheless considered to be within the boundary of that municipality for purposes of its police jurisdiction.

A street or highway which serves as the boundary between municipalities is under the police jurisdiction of both municipalities regardless of the municipality in which the street or highway is located. As this Office has previously opined, "The necessary inference of §5-7-155 is that the police jurisdiction over streets or highways would be those streets or highways located in the municipality

l~R:f(_;;=ILDING

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POST 0FACE Box 11549

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COLUMBIA,

s.c. 29211-1549

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TELEPHONE: 803-734-3970

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FACSIMILE: 803-253-6283

Officer Keller
Page 2
July 30, 2001
and those streets or highways touching the municipal boundary, but not those streets otherwise beyond the municipal boundary." See OP. ATTY. GEN. (Dated October 15, 1996). Accordingly, without some express authority such as an agreement or hot pursuit exception, the Blackville Police Department would not have jurisdiction on the portions of the roadways completely outside the municipal limits.

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This letter is an informal opinion only. It has been written by a designated Assistant Attorney General and represents the position of the undersigned attorney as to the specific question asked. It has not, however, been personally scrutinized by the Attorney General and not officially published in the manner of a formal opinion.

Assistant Attorney General
DKA/an
Enclosures

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