AN ACT relating to public protection.

UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 2197
Page 1 of 1
XXXX 2/24/2026 10:22 AM Jacketed
AN ACT relating to public protection. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 75.160 is amended to read as follows: 3
(1) The chief of the fire department in fire protection districts shall attend all sessions 4
of the board, except executive sessions, and he or she shall execute all the orders of 5
the board. Whenever "chief" is used in KRS 75.100 to 75.260, it shall include the 6
assistant chief when the chief is not on duty. 7
(2) The regular members of the fire department in fire protection districts, except 8
volunteer firemen, shall have the same powers of arrest as now given by la w to 9
sheriffs of this Commonwealth and they are hereby expressly declared conservators 10
of the public peace whose duties, in addition to their other prescribed duties, are to 11
conserve the peace, enforce all laws and preserve order, and they shall have and a re 12
hereby expressly given the same right and the same power to arrest, search and 13
seize as is now given by law to sheriffs of this Commonwealth, and they shall be at 14
all times subject to the orders of the county judge/executive in which the fire district 15
lies while enforcing the provisions of this section. Provided, however, that members 16
of said fire departments shall not have the power to serve subpoenas, summonses 17
and notices in civil cases and they shall receive no fees for performing any of the 18
duties p rescribed in this section as pertains to powers of law enforcement. The 19
members shall constitute a law enforcement agency in addition to the patrol and 20
investigation functions of the sheriff and his or her deputies under KRS 75.150 to 21
75.170. 22