For purposes of sections 79-2701 to 79-2704, unless the context otherwise requires:

Terms Used In Nebraska Statutes 79-2702

  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Peace officer: shall include sheriffs, coroners, jailers, marshals, police officers, state highway patrol officers, members of the National Guard on active service by direction of the Governor during periods of emergency, and all other persons with similar authority to make arrests. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Person: shall include bodies politic and corporate, societies, communities, the public generally, individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, and associations. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • School: means a school under the jurisdiction of a school board authorized by Chapter 79. See Nebraska Statutes 79-101
  • State: when applied to different states of the United States shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories organized by Congress. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801

(1) Department means the State Department of Education;

(2) Law enforcement agency means an agency or department of this state or of any political subdivision of this state that is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime, the enforcement of the penal, traffic, or highway laws of this state or any political subdivision of this state, and the enforcement of arrest warrants. Law enforcement agency includes a police department, an office of a town marshal, an office of a county sheriff, the Nebraska State Patrol, and any department to which a deputy state sheriff is assigned as provided in section 84-106 ;

(3) Peace officer has the same meaning as in section 28-109 ;

(4) School resource officer means any peace officer who is assigned, as his or her primary duty, to any school district to provide law enforcement and security services to any public elementary or secondary school and does not mean a peace officer responding to a call for service, providing proactive enforcement, providing law enforcement or traffic direction for a school-related event, or providing temporary services as a school resource officer when the assigned school resource officer is not available;

(5) Security agency means a contractor that employs security guards used by a school district; and

(6) Security guard means a person who is contracted or employed by a security agency to protect buildings and people and who does not have law enforcement authority or the power to arrest under any apparent authority in the jurisdiction where such person is contracted or employed as a security guard. A security guard may be an off-duty peace officer.