(a)  Any police officer authorized to make arrests, the director, and conservation officers appointed under the authority of § 20-1-6 shall be empowered:

(1)  To enforce all laws, rules, and regulations relating to this chapter;

(2)  To execute all warrants and search warrants for the violation of laws, rules, and regulations relating to this chapter;

(3)  To serve subpoenas issued for the trial of all offenses hereunder;

(4)  To arrest, without a warrant and on view, any person found violating any law, rule, or regulation relating to this chapter; take that person before a court having jurisdiction for trials; detain that person in custody at the expense of the state until arraignment; and to make and execute complaints within any district, to the justice or clerk of the court, against any person for any of the offenses enumerated under this chapter, committed within the district.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 20-10-17

  • Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
  • 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.
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.

(b)  The director, and the director’s deputies and assistants, may, by virtue of their respective offices, make complaints of any violation of this chapter, and they shall not be required to give recognizance or to furnish surety for costs or be liable for costs on those complaints.

History of Section.
P.L. 1980, ch. 219, § 2; P.L. 2017, ch. 451, § 29.