Do Tennessee bailiffs and court officers have to be POST-certified peace officers?

Plain-English summary

A general sessions judge from DeKalb County asked whether bailiffs and court officers must be certified by Tennessee's Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission. The question mattered because some sheriffs were appointing personnel to the courtroom under titles like "court officer" rather than "deputy sheriff," and people inside the system wondered whether that distinction allowed sheriffs to bypass the training and certification requirements that applied to deputies.

AG Robert E. Cooper, Jr. closed the loophole. Sheriffs in every county except Davidson County are statutorily responsible for providing bailiffs and court officers (Davidson County allows local judges to appoint their own court officers under § 8-8-201(a)(2)(B)(i)). The legislature requires that personnel performing this function be deputy sheriffs, that all deputy sheriffs be POST-certified within one year of employment, and that any deputy newly assigned to court duty after July 1, 2008 also complete 40 hours of courthouse security training. Reading these statutes together (in pari materia), the AG concluded a sheriff cannot avoid the certification and training requirements by giving courthouse security personnel a different title; doing so would defeat the legislative intent.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2010. 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.

Common questions

Q: What's POST certification?
A: The Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission's certification program for Tennessee peace officers. Statutory authority comes from Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 38-8-102 to 38-8-122. Certification involves training, testing, and ongoing requirements, and is the baseline for serving as a deputy sheriff or other peace officer.

Q: What does the 40-hour courthouse security training cover?
A: The opinion did not detail the curriculum, but the requirement comes from § 5-7-108(a)(2), which mandates that deputy sheriffs newly assigned to courts after July 1, 2008 complete 40 hours of POST-approved courthouse security training within twelve months and an additional 16 hours of POST-approved training every year thereafter.

Q: What's special about Davidson County?
A: Section 8-8-201(a)(2)(B)(i) lets Davidson County (Nashville) judges appoint their own court officers separately from the sheriff's deputies. The opinion expressly did not address those Davidson County court officers, so the certification analysis above applies in 94 of Tennessee's 95 counties.

Q: Can a sheriff use civilians to provide courthouse security?
A: Not under this opinion's reading. The statute assigns the duty of providing bailiffs and court officers to the sheriff's office, and the sheriff fulfills that duty through deputies who are required to be POST-certified. Renaming a position to dodge those requirements would, the AG concluded, "result in an absurd outcome" and would be contrary to legislative intent.

Q: What about general sessions and juvenile courts?
A: Same rule. Sheriffs are required to provide bailiffs to general sessions courts under § 16-15-715 and deputies/special deputies to juvenile courts under § 37-1-213. Both fall under the deputy sheriff framework with the same certification requirements.

Q: Why did the AG read these statutes "in pari materia"?
A: It's a canon of statutory construction (statutes on the same subject should be read together to advance their common purpose). Wells v. Tenn. Bd. of Regents (Tenn. 2007) is the standard cite. The cluster of statutes on courthouse security (§§ 5-7-108(a)(2), 8-8-201(a)(2)(A), 16-15-715, 37-1-213, 38-8-102 to 38-8-122) all point to a single legislative purpose: trained, certified personnel in the courtroom.

Background and statutory framework

Tennessee's courthouse security framework rests on three intertwined statutory tracks. First, Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-8-201(a)(2)(A) imposes the underlying duty: sheriffs must attend the courts and provide bailiffs and court officers (Davidson County excepted). Second, the deputy-sheriff certification regime in §§ 38-8-102 to 38-8-122 requires every deputy sheriff to be POST-certified within one year of employment. Third, § 5-7-108(a)(2), enacted in 2008, layered courthouse security training on top of POST: deputies newly assigned to courts after July 1, 2008 must complete 40 hours of POST-approved courthouse security training within their first year of court duty, plus 16 hours of additional training annually.

The opinion's analysis depends on these three tracks fitting together. If the sheriff could discharge the § 8-8-201(a)(2)(A) duty using personnel who weren't deputy sheriffs, the certification and training requirements would slip out of the picture. The AG read that result as contrary to legislative intent, citing the canon against absurd outcomes (Dellinger v. State (Tenn. 2009)) and the canon of pari materia construction (Auto Credit v. Wimmer (Tenn. 2007); Wells v. Tenn. Bd. of Regents (Tenn. 2007)). The earlier Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. 10-77 had already established that sheriffs are responsible for providing court bailiffs; Opinion 10-107 added that the personnel they use must meet the deputy-sheriff training and certification requirements.

Citations and references

Statutes (as of 2010):

• Tenn. Code Ann. § 5-7-108 (courthouse security training)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-8-201 (sheriff's court attendance duties)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-8-213 (sheriffs as peace officers)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-15-715 (general sessions bailiffs)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-213 (juvenile court deputies)
• Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 38-8-102 to 38-8-122 (POST certification)

Cases (Tennessee Supreme Court):

• Auto Credit v. Wimmer, 231 S.W.3d 896 (Tenn. 2007)
• Wells v. Tenn. Bd. of Regents, 231 S.W.3d 912 (Tenn. 2007)
• Dellinger v. State, 279 S.W.3d 282 (Tenn. 2009)

Prior opinions referenced:

• Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. 10-77 (sheriff's duty to provide bailiffs)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/opinions.html
• Original PDF: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2010/op10-107.pdf

Original opinion text

POST Certification Of Bailiffs and Court Officers

QUESTION

Must a bailiff or court officer be certified by the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission ("POST")?

OPINION

With the exception of court officers in Davidson County, a bailiff or court officer must be a deputy sheriff, must obtain POST certification within one year of employment, and, if newly assigned to the courts after July 1, 2008, must also complete 40 hours of basic training in courthouse security within twelve months of that assignment.

ANALYSIS

In Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. 10-77 (copy attached), this office opined that the county sheriff is responsible for providing bailiffs or court officers for the county's courts. You have asked whether a bailiff or court officer must be certified by POST. Because all deputy sheriffs must be certified by POST, your question raises by implication the issue of whether a sheriff may avoid such POST certification and other training requirements by assigning personnel who do not hold the title of deputy sheriff to serve as a bailiff or court officer.

In Davidson County only, local judges are authorized to appoint their own court officers. Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-8-201(a)(2)(B)(i). This opinion therefore does not address the appointment, training, and certification of Davidson County court officers. Sheriffs in all other counties are also required to supply court officers to attend to the General Sessions Courts and Juvenile Courts. Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-15-715; Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-213.

As discussed in Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. 10-77, deputy sheriffs who are assigned to the courts must successfully complete POST-approved training in courtroom security, in addition to their basic training required to become a certified peace officer.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-8-213 states that sheriffs are peace officers and have a duty to enforce laws and preserve order. Sheriffs are also under a duty to provide courtroom security, attend to the courts, and obey the lawful orders and directives of the courts. Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-8-201(a)(2)(A).

Sheriffs are also under a duty to provide bailiffs to serve the general sessions courts, Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-15-715, and deputies and special deputies to attend and dispense with the business of juvenile courts. Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-213.

Deputy sheriffs are required to be certified as peace officers within one year of employment. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 38-8-102 to 38-8-122. The legislature has also imposed training requirements for deputy sheriffs who serve as bailiffs. Deputy sheriffs who are newly assigned to the courts after July 1, 2008, must also complete 40 hours of training in courthouse security and every year complete an additional 16 hours of POST-approved training in courthouse security. Tenn. Code Ann. § 5-7-108(a)(2) (Supp. 2009).

The primary objective of statutory construction is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the legislature. Auto Credit v. Wimmer, 231 S.W.3d 896 (Tenn. 2007). Statutes that have a common purpose or are related to the same subject matter must be construed in pari materia to advance the common purpose or intent. Wells v. Tenn. Bd. of Regents, 231 S.W.3d 912 (Tenn. 2007). Statutes should not be construed in a manner that would result in an absurd outcome. Dellinger v. State, 279 S.W.3d 282, 291 (Tenn. 2009).

Reading Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 5-7-108(a)(2), 8-8-201(a)(2)(A), 16-15-715, 37-1-213, and 38-8-102 to 38-8-122 in pari materia indicates that the legislature intended to impose certification and training requirements upon the persons a sheriff assigns to serve as bailiffs and court officers. To construe such statutes as authorizing a sheriff to circumvent such express requirements by assigning persons who do not possess the title of deputy sheriff to serve as bailiffs or court officers would be contrary to that intent.

For example, as noted above, Tenn. Code Ann. § 5-7-108(a)(2) requires that "deputy sheriffs newly assigned to courts pursuant to §§ 8-8-201(a)(2)(A), 16-15-715, and 37-1-213" must participate in regular training in "courthouse security." If sheriffs could appoint persons under those statutes to serve as bailiff or court officer who do not hold the title of deputy sheriff, then such appointees would be exempt from this critical courtroom security training that the legislature has mandated.

ROBERT E. COOPER, JR.
Attorney General and Reporter

GORDON W. SMITH
Associate Solicitor General

BENJAMIN A. WHITEHOUSE
Assistant Attorney General

Requested by:
The Honorable Bratten Hale Cook II
Judge, DeKalb County General Sessions Court
104 North Third Street
Smithville, TN 37166