Attorney General Opinions 
Relating to County Government

2007 Law Enforcement

• Holders of handgun carry permits cannot carry handguns into any room where judicial proceedings are being conducted (no posting requirements in statute).  Permit holders can be prosecuted for failure to vacate premises after being told to leave; a property owner has the right to regulate the manner in which the holder of a permit may possess a handgun on the owner’s property.  Opinion No. 07-148 (October 22, 2007).

• The duty of a sheriff in execution of writs of possession is ministerial and the sheriff has a duty to execute those writs that are valid on their face.  A sheriff may not require an indemnity bond from a plaintiff for the execution of a writ of possession unless there is a reasonable basis to believe title to the property is disputed.  Opinion No. 07-129 (August 27, 2007).

• A conflict of interest exists when employees of a Youth Services Office and of a Juvenile Court report to the police chief as their supervisor (or, by analogy, to the sheriff).  A youth services officer’s affiliation with law enforcement, either by direct employment or by supervision, would hurt the perception that the juvenile court is impartial.  Opinion No. 07-115 (August 2, 2007).

• The government’s police power enables it to regulate land use to protect the health, safety, morals, and welfare of the public. There is no formula for determining when the regulation of land use becomes a compensable taking, but the Supreme Court has found a compensable taking when a regulation either (1) denies the owner all economically viable use of his property or substantially interferes with his reasonable investment-backed expectations, (2) is not reasonably related or roughly proportional to the projected impact of the landowner’s proposed use of the property, or (3) closely resembles or has the effect of a physical invasion or occupation of private property.  Opinion No. 07-077 (May 22, 2007).

• A hospital security guard is not authorized to issue a criminal summons or a criminal citation. No local law enforcement agency may independently convey that statutory authority to a private security guard. A security guard, like any private citizen who effects an arrest for a public offense, must take the arrested person before a magistrate or deliver the arrested person to a law enforcement officer without unnecessary delay. Opinion No. 07-02 January 4, 2007).