Who in Tennessee can legally use flashing blue lights on a vehicle, and can funeral escort services run blue lights or sirens?

Subject

Opinion No. 13-52, Authority of Law Enforcement Officers and Funeral Escort Services, July 2, 2013

Plain-English summary

Tennessee tightly controls who can run flashing blue lights, who can run flashing red lights, and what equipment a funeral procession's lead vehicle can carry. Sen. Mae Beavers asked the AG ten questions about how those rules apply to off-duty officers, reserve officers, private security companies, and funeral escort services. The AG's answers:

Personal vehicles and blue lights for full-time officers (Q1). Yes. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414(a)(1) allows full-time, salaried, uniformed law enforcement officers (and TBI commissioned members) to use blue flashing emergency lights "when their official duties so require." The statute doesn't limit use to official vehicles or on-duty hours; it limits use to circumstances where the officer's official duties require it. Off-duty officers can be summoned to duty at any time and have the authority to address a breach of the peace, White v. Revco Discount Drug Centers, Inc., 33 S.W.3d 713, 718, 721 (Tenn. 2000), so they may have blue lights (portable or installed) on their personal vehicles for use when official duties require.

Private security work with a personal vehicle or company vehicle (Q2). Yes for personal vehicles. The Private Protective Services Licensing and Regulatory Act, Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 62-35-101 to -142, exempts "government officer[s] or employee[s] performing official duties" and "full-time sworn peace officer[s] receiving compensation for services as a guard, patrol or watchperson under a contract with a private business" (§§ 62-35-103(a)(1) and (7)). A full-time officer doing off-duty security can keep blue lights on a personal vehicle and use them when their official law-enforcement duties require, even mid-shift for the private employer. But the security company's own vehicles are constrained by § 62-35-127(2)(B), which forbids private security from operating vehicles with "any sign, shield, accessory or insignia that may indicate that the vehicle belongs to a public law enforcement agency." The AG read these provisions together: the officer's personal vehicle can carry blue lights tied to his or her law enforcement role, but the security company's branded vehicles cannot.

Reserve officers (Q3). No to personal vehicles. § 55-9-414(c) and (e) restrict reserve officers to blue lights only "while operating official departmental motor vehicles." A private security vehicle assigned to the reserve officer is not an official departmental vehicle, so no blue lights.

Off-duty officer escorting a funeral on a personal vehicle (Q4). Only when escorting is part of official duties. The reasoning tracks Q1 and Q2: blue lights are authorized only when the officer is performing his or her official law-enforcement duties. A privately-arranged paid funeral escort, without an official assignment from the department, isn't official duty. Cf. Tenn. Att'y Gen. Op. 02-116 (Oct. 18, 2002) (constable doing off-duty funeral escort could not use red or blue lights or a siren).

Funeral escort service (no police escort) (Q5). No to blue lights. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414 bars vehicles in Tennessee from carrying flashing blue lights except in narrow exceptions; a privately-run funeral escort isn't one of them. The lead vehicle of a funeral procession without a police escort is authorized to use a flashing amber light only. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183(a).

Funeral escort service (no police escort) (Q6). No to red lights either. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-402 prohibits front-facing flashing red or white lights on vehicles except for school buses, rural mail carrier passenger vehicles in the course of mail duties, authorized law enforcement vehicles using red only in combination with blue, and emergency firefighting/rescue vehicles. Private funeral escort services don't fit. If a police escort is part of the procession, the escort's law enforcement vehicle can use flashing red in combination with flashing blue under § 55-9-402(d)(1).

Funeral escort sirens/noise devices (Q7). Yes, if locally adopted. The amber-and-auditory-signaling framework in § 55-8-183(c)(3) authorizes sirens and noise devices for funeral escort vehicles, but only if the relevant county or municipality has adopted § 55-8-183(c) by ordinance or resolution. Motorcycle escorts may carry an approved bell, siren, or exhaust whistle under § 55-8-183(b)(2). The motorcycle's auditory equipment must be deactivated except while actively escorting a funeral procession.

General rule on blue lights (Q8). No to any non-government law-enforcement vehicle, with the exceptions listed in Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414.

Conditions of use (Q9). Pretermitted by Q8.

Reserve officer authority while paid to direct traffic in another county (Q10). A reserve officer paid as a security guard or traffic director has the authority of a licensed security officer, any authority conferred by the private employer, the authority vested by his or her government employer, and the rights of a private person. The AG cited prior Opinion 12-77 (July 25, 2012) for this conclusion.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2013. 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.

The Tennessee emergency-lights and funeral-procession statutes have had periodic minor amendments. The general framework (full-time officers may carry blue lights on personal vehicles for official duties; reserve officers limited to official departmental vehicles; funeral escort lead vehicle limited to amber unless a police escort is present) has remained stable, but anyone implementing a current policy should check the current Title 55, Chapter 9 sections for any amendments to the list of exceptions.

Background and statutory framework

Blue light statute. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414(a)(1) restricts the installation, maintenance, or exhibition of flashing blue emergency lights (alone or with red) to:

[F]ull-time, salaried, uniformed law enforcement officers of the state, county, or city and municipal governments of the state, and commissioned members of the Tennessee bureau of investigation when their official duties so require as defined by §§ 38-8-106 and 38-8-107.

Subsections (b)-(e) list narrow additional exceptions. (c) and (e) authorize reserve officer use only on official departmental vehicles. (d) excepts specially commissioned police officers under § 49-7-118(f) operating within five miles of certain colleges or universities or as directed by the chief law enforcement officer of the county.

Red light statute. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-402(d)(1):

Except as provided in this section, …[n]o vehicle operated in this state shall be equipped with any flashing red or white light or any combination of red or white lights that displays to the front of the vehicle except school buses, a passenger motor vehicle operated by a rural mail carrier of the United States postal service while performing the duties of a rural mail carrier, authorized law enforcement vehicles only when used in combination with a flashing blue light, and emergency vehicles used in firefighting, including ambulances, emergency vehicles used in firefighting that are owned or operated by the division of forestry, firefighting vehicles, rescue vehicles, privately owned vehicles of regular or volunteer firefighters certified in § 55-9-201(c), or other emergency vehicles used in firefighting owned, operated, or subsidized by the governing body of any county or municipality.

§ 55-9-402(d)(2) and (3) contain related provisions. There's no exception for non-police funeral escort services.

Funeral procession statute. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183(a):

Funeral processions properly identified by a flashing amber light on the lead vehicle, or identified as a police escort, where the vehicle has visual signals and is equipped with or displays an amber light accompanied by a blue light visible from the front of the vehicle, or led by a properly identified escort, shall have the right-of-way on any street, highway, or road through which they may pass . . . .

§ 55-8-183(b) sets motorcycle-escort requirements; (b)(2) allows a motorcycle in a funeral escort to install an approved bell, siren, or exhaust whistle, deactivated when not escorting. § 55-8-183(c) authorizes auditory signaling devices for funeral escort vehicles only if the county or municipality has adopted the subsection.

Private Protective Services Act. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 62-35-101 to -142 regulates private security companies. § 62-35-127(2)(B) bans security guards/patrol from using vehicles with any "sign, shield, accessory or insignia that may indicate that the vehicle belongs to a public law enforcement agency." § 62-35-103(a)(1) and (7) exempt from the Act's coverage government officers performing official duties and full-time sworn peace officers receiving compensation for services as a guard or patrol under a properly licensed contract.

Statutory construction. In re Estate of Trigg, 368 S.W.3d 483, 490 (Tenn. 2012), and Chapman v. Davita, Inc., 380 S.W.3d 710, 714 (Tenn. 2012), cited for natural-and-ordinary-meaning interpretation and refusal to extend statute by forced construction.

Off-duty officer's official capacity. White v. Revco Discount Drug Centers, Inc., 33 S.W.3d 713, 718 (Tenn. 2000), held that an off-duty officer can act within the scope of public employment while also performing private employer duties. That doctrine underpins the Q1 and Q2 analysis.

Common questions

I'm a full-time deputy. Can I keep a blue light bar on my personal pickup all the time?

Under § 55-9-414(a)(1), the rule isn't about having the lights, it's about using them. You may install or carry blue lights on a personal vehicle, but you may only display or operate them flashing when your official duties require, on or off duty. If you flip on blue lights to get through traffic on a personal errand, you're outside the statute.

If I'm working off-duty security at a mall in uniform and a fight breaks out, can I activate the blue lights on my personal vehicle in the lot?

If responding to the situation falls within your official law enforcement duties (e.g., assuming a duty to address a breach of the peace), yes, per § 55-9-414(a) and White v. Revco. Document the response and follow your department's policy.

I'm a reserve deputy. Can my personal pickup have a blue light at all?

The AG's reading of § 55-9-414(c) and (e) is no. Reserve officers may use blue lights only on official departmental vehicles. A privately-owned vehicle, including one assigned by a private security company, doesn't qualify.

Our funeral home runs an escort service. Can our motorcycles use sirens?

Only if your county or municipality has adopted Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183(c) by ordinance or resolution. Even then, the motorcycle's auditory equipment must be deactivated except when actively escorting a funeral procession, per § 55-8-183(b)(2). Without local adoption, no auditory devices.

Can we put any flashing lights on our funeral escort vehicles?

Without a police escort, only a flashing amber light on the lead vehicle (§ 55-8-183(a)). Not blue. Not red. Not white. Funeral escort vehicles need to be marketed and operated within that constraint.

If we hire an off-duty officer to escort the funeral procession, can the officer use blue lights?

Only if the escort is performed as part of the officer's official duties (e.g., department-assigned escort detail), not as a private commercial arrangement. The AG's earlier Op. 02-116 declined to read off-duty funeral escort as inherently within official duties; the officer's department has to formally authorize the function for blue lights to be permitted.

I'm a reserve officer working paid traffic detail at a private event in another county. What is my authority?

A licensed security officer's authority, plus whatever the private hirer has conferred, plus the authority vested by your government employer (which for a reserve officer doesn't generally extend outside its jurisdiction unless the department's policy and statute permit), plus the rights of a private person. See Tenn. Att'y Gen. Op. 12-77 (July 25, 2012). Practically, that often means you function more like a security officer than a deputy.

Citations

Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414, including (a), (a)(1), (b)-(e), (c), (d), (e). § 55-8-183, including (a), (b), (b)(2), (c), (c)(3). § 55-9-402, including (d)(1), (d)(2), (d)(3). §§ 62-35-101 to -142 (Private Protective Services Act), including § 62-35-103(a)(1), (a)(7), § 62-35-127(2)(B). §§ 38-8-106 and 38-8-107 (defined-duties cross-references). § 49-7-118(f) (specially commissioned campus police). § 55-9-201(c) (certified volunteer firefighters). § 55-8-108(a). Cases: White v. Revco Discount Drug Centers, Inc., 33 S.W.3d 713 (Tenn. 2000); In re Estate of Trigg, 368 S.W.3d 483 (Tenn. 2012); Chapman v. Davita, Inc., 380 S.W.3d 710 (Tenn. 2012). Prior AG opinions: Op. 12-77 (July 25, 2012); Op. 07-74 (May 17, 2007); Op. 04-170 (Dec. 15, 2004); Op. 02-116 (Oct. 18, 2002).

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/opinions.html
• Original PDF: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2013/op13-052.pdf

Original opinion text

S T A T E O F T E N N E S S E E
OFFICE OF THE
ATTORNEY GENERAL
PO BOX 20207
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 37202

July 2, 2013

Opinion No. 13-52

Authority of Law Enforcement Officers and Funeral Escort Services

QUESTIONS

1. May full-time law enforcement officers, whether on or off duty, use flashing blue lights in or on a personal vehicle?

2. May an off-duty law enforcement officer, who is employed by a contract security company and working in the company's assigned law enforcement uniform, employ flashing blue lights in or on a personal vehicle or a vehicle owned by that private security company?

3. May a reserve law enforcement officer use blue lights in or on a personal vehicle while off duty or in an assigned private security vehicle while working as a private security officer in Tennessee?

4. May an off-duty law enforcement officer use flashing blue lights on a personal vehicle while escorting a funeral procession?

5. May a funeral escort service use flashing blue lights on an escort vehicle?

6. May a funeral escort service use flashing red lights on an escort vehicle?

7. May a funeral escort service use sirens and other noise making devices while escorting a funeral procession?

8. May flashing blue lights be used on any vehicle or in any other manner other than a state or local government owned and operated law enforcement vehicle?

9. If the answer to question 8 is yes, when may such blue lights be employed?

10. Does a reserve officer have law enforcement authority to direct traffic and enforce laws, including rules of the road, while off-duty and receiving compensation from a private security company in another county?

OPINIONS

1. Yes. Full-time, salaried, uniformed law enforcement officers may use blue flashing lights on personal vehicles so long as their official duties so require.

2. Off-duty, full-time, salaried, uniformed law enforcement officers receiving compensation from contract security companies may employ blue lights in a personal vehicle so long as their official law enforcement duties so require.

3. No. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 55-9-414(c) and (e) permit reserve officers to exhibit blue flashing lights only while operating official departmental motor vehicles.

4. Law enforcement officers may only use blue lights while escorting a funeral procession when required to do so as part of their official duties.

5. No, unless the funeral procession is accompanied by a police escort and the law enforcement officers in the escort are acting within their official duties. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414 prohibits vehicles operated in Tennessee from being equipped with any flashing blue lights with few exceptions. A funeral escort service without an official police escort is not an exception to this prohibition.

6. No, unless the funeral procession is accompanied by an official police escort in which case the law enforcement vehicles could use red lights in combination with a flashing blue light. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-402 prohibits vehicles operated in Tennessee from being equipped with any flashing red lights with few exceptions. A funeral escort service without an official police escort is not an exception to this prohibition.

7. Yes.

8. No, subject to the exceptions listed by Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414.

9. This question is pretermitted by the response to question 8.

10. While receiving compensation as a security guard or for directing traffic, a "reserve police officer/deputy" has the authority of a licensed security officer, any authority conferred by the agency employing the officer for security or traffic duty, the authority vested in the officer by his respective government employer, and any rights of a private person.

ANALYSIS

1. The use of blue flashing emergency lights on motor vehicles is governed by Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414. Subject to limited exceptions, it is unlawful for anyone to install, maintain, or exhibit blue flashing emergency lights either alone or in combination with red flashing lights except "full-time, salaried, uniformed law enforcement officers of the state, county, or city and municipal governments of the state, and commissioned members of the Tennessee bureau of investigation when their official duties so require as defined by §§ 38-8-106 and 38-8-107." Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414(a)(1). See Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414(b)-(e) (listing exceptions to this prohibition). See also Tenn. Att'y Gen. Op. 07-74 at 1-2 (May 17, 2007); Tenn. Att'y Gen. Op. 04-170 at 1-3 (Dec. 15, 2004) (both discussing use of blue lights on motor vehicles). The statute limits the use of blue flashing emergency lights to circumstances when the officer's official duties so require but does not otherwise impose time restrictions, such as when an officer is working an official duty shift. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414(a). Likewise, the provision does not limit the use of blue lights to an official motor vehicle. Id. In White v. Revco Discount Drug Centers, Inc., 33 S.W.3d 713, 718, 721 (Tenn. 2000), the Tennessee Supreme Court recognized that, while police officers do not continuously function in an official capacity, off-duty officers are not prevented from assuming a duty to remedy a breach of peace and remain capable of being summoned for official duty at any time. Thus, because Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414(a) does not prohibit a law enforcement officer as defined by the statute from having blue flashing emergency lights on the officer's personal vehicle and such officers are capable of being summoned for official duty at any time, such law enforcement officers may use blue lights on personal vehicles, whether on or off duty, so long as the blue lights are used in connection with their official duties. See In re Estate of Trigg, 368 S.W.3d 483, 490 (Tenn. 2012) (stating that in construing a statute a court must "(1) give these [the statute's] words their natural and ordinary meeting, (2) consider them in the context of the entire statute, and (3) presume that the General Assembly intended to give each of these words its full effect"). Such blue lights could be portable or installed on the officer's personal vehicle.

2. As set forth above, Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414(a) permits full-time, salaried, uniformed law enforcement officers to employ blue lights when their official duties so require. Full-time law enforcement officers may be required to discharge their official duties while performing off-duty work as security guards for private companies. As the Tennessee Supreme Court has recognized, "[t]he special status of peace officers in this state permits an off-duty officer to act within the scope of his or her public employment, even while otherwise performing duties for a private employer." White v. Revco Discount Drug Centers, Inc., 33 S.W.3d at 718. Thus, full-time, salaried, uniformed law enforcement officers may use blue flashing lights in their own private vehicles while working off-duty as security guards if necessary to perform their official duties as law enforcement officers.

A contract security company regulated under the Private Protective Services Licensing and Regulatory Act ("Act"), which is codified at Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 62-35-101 to -142, generally may not use blue lights on its company vehicles for work performed for the security company. Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-35-127(2)(B) prohibits persons performing any function of a security guard or patrol service from having or using any vehicle or equipment that "[h]as any sign, shield, accessory or insignia that may indicate that the vehicle belongs to a public law enforcement agency." However, the Act specifically exempts from its coverage a "government officer or employee performing official duties" as well as a "full-time sworn peace officer receiving compensation for services as a guard, patrol or watchperson under a contract with a private business that is properly licensed by the state." Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 62-35-103(a)(1) & (7). Thus, reading these provisions together with the previously referenced Tennessee law regulating the use of blue lights, full-time law enforcement officers performing off-duty work as security guards for private companies could use blue lights if they are required to discharge their official duties during the course of their off-duty work as security guards. Compare Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414(a) with Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 62-35-103(a)(1) & (7). These provisions collectively recognize that full-time law enforcement officers even while off-duty may be confronted with situations, such as a breach of the peace, requiring them to immediately reassume their official duties. See White v. Revco Drug Centers, Inc., 33 S.W.3d at 718, 721.

3. Duly authorized and qualified reserve law enforcement officers listed under Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 55-9-414(c) & (e) are only allowed to exhibit blue flashing lights while operating official departmental motor vehicles. These exceptions at Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 55-9-414(c) & (e) to the general prohibition against having blue lights on a motor vehicle are limited to the specific circumstances described. These limited exceptions do not permit part-time or reserve officers to use blue lights while operating privately-owned vehicles, including any vehicle provided by a private security company. Id. See Chapman v. Davita, Inc., 380 S.W.3d 710, 714 (Tenn. 2012) (stating rule of statutory construction that courts will derive legislative intent from the natural and ordinary meaning of the words in the statute without any forced or subtle construction that would extend the statute's meaning). Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414(d) specifically excepts from the prohibition of blue lights on motor vehicles any "motor vehicles of specially commissioned police officers employed pursuant to [Tenn. Code Ann.] § 49-7-118(f) when operating either within five (5) miles of any property owned or operated by the colleges or universities referenced therein, or as may be directed by the chief law enforcement officer of the applicable county."

4 & 5. The conducting of funeral processions in Tennessee is governed by Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183. This statute specifically provides the following requirements for a vehicle in a funeral procession:

Funeral processions properly identified by a flashing amber light on the lead vehicle, or identified as a police escort, where the vehicle has visual signals and is equipped with or displays an amber light accompanied by a blue light visible from the front of the vehicle, or led by a properly identified escort, shall have the right-of-way on any street, highway, or road through which they may pass . . . .

Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183(a). See also Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183(b) (setting forth the requirements for motorcycle escorts of funeral processions). Thus, if there is no police escort of the funeral procession, the lead vehicle is authorized to use a flashing amber light, not flashing blue lights. If the procession has a police escort then flashing blue lights may be used in the procession so long as they are used as part of the official duties of the law enforcement personnel accompanying the procession. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414(a)(1). See also Tenn. Att'y Gen. Op. 02-116 at 2 (Oct. 18, 2002) (opining that a constable performing off-duty work as a funeral escort could not use "red or blue flashing lights and/or a siren").

6. The use of red flashing emergency lights on motor vehicles, including vehicles in a funeral escort, is governed by Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-402, which provides in pertinent part:

Except as provided in this section, …[n]o vehicle operated in this state shall be equipped with any flashing red or white light or any combination of red or white lights that displays to the front of the vehicle except school buses, a passenger motor vehicle operated by a rural mail carrier of the United States postal service while performing the duties of a rural mail carrier, authorized law enforcement vehicles only when used in combination with a flashing blue light, and emergency vehicles used in firefighting, including ambulances, emergency vehicles used in firefighting that are owned or operated by the division of forestry, firefighting vehicles, rescue vehicles, privately owned vehicles of regular or volunteer firefighters certified in § 55-9-201(c), or other emergency vehicles used in firefighting owned, operated, or subsidized by the governing body of any county or municipality.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-402(d)(1) (emphasis added).

The statute provides no exception for the use of red flashing emergency lights for funeral escort service vehicles not accompanied by an official police escort. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 55-9-402(d)(2) & (3). Furthermore, as previously stated, Tennessee law provides that absent an official police escort the light authorized for the lead vehicle in a funeral procession is a flashing amber light, not flashing red lights. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-108(a). See also Tenn. Att'y Gen. Op. 02-116 at 2. However, if the funeral procession is accompanied by a police escort and the law enforcement officers in the escort are acting within their official duties, then any "authorized law enforcement vehicle" in the escort could use flashing red lights "in combination with a flashing blue light." Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-402(d)(1).

7. A funeral escort service may use sirens or other noise making devices while escorting a funeral procession, to the extent such devices are considered "auditory signaling" devices authorized by Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183(c)(3). See also Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183(b)(2) (allowing a motorcycle in a funeral escort to "install a bell, siren, or exhaust whistle of a type approved by the sheriff of the county in which the motorcycle is to be operated; provided, that the system is deactivated at all times the motorcycle is not escorting a properly identified funeral procession"). The provisions of Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183(c), to be effective in a county or municipality, must be adopted in the manner set forth by Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183(c). If a county or municipality has not adopted Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183(c), then no authority exists for a motor vehicle in a funeral escort to use auditory signaling devices. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-183.

8. Subject to the exceptions discussed above, flashing blue lights generally may not be used on any vehicle other than state or local government owned and operated law enforcement vehicles. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-414. See also Tenn. Att'y Gen. Op. 04-170 at 1-3.

9. Question 9 is pretermitted by the response to question 8.

10. This Office has previously opined that a "reserve police officer/deputy," when receiving compensation as a security guard or for directing traffic, has the authority of a licensed security officer, any authority conferred by the agency employing the officer for security or traffic duty, the authority vested in the officer by his respective government employer, and any rights of a private person. Tenn. Att'y Gen. Op. 12-77 at 1-4 (July 25, 2012).

ROBERT E. COOPER, JR.
Attorney General and Reporter

WILLIAM E. YOUNG
Solicitor General

TROY A. MCPEAK
Assistant Attorney General

Requested by:

The Honorable Mae Beavers
State Senator
7 Legislative Plaza
Nashville, TN 37243-0223