Ark. Code Ann. § 12-9-301 (2026)
Definitions
As used in this subchapter:
- “Auxiliary law enforcement officer” means a person who meets the minimum standards and training requirements prescribed for auxiliary law enforcement officers by law and rules, and who is appointed by a political subdivision or a law enforcement agency as a reserve officer, but does not include any law enforcement officer or deputy county sheriff employed by a planned community property owners' association;
- “Commission” means the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training as established by § 12-9-103;
- “Direct supervision” means having a designated on-duty, full-time certified law enforcement officer responsible for the direction, conduct, and performance of the auxiliary law enforcement officer when that auxiliary law enforcement officer is working an assigned duty, but does not mean that the full-time certified law enforcement officer must be in the physical presence of the auxiliary law enforcement officer when the auxiliary law enforcement officer is working an assigned duty;
- “Honorary police officer” means any person having no law enforcement authority except as a private citizen;
- “Law enforcement agency” means any police force or organization whose primary responsibility as established by statute or ordinance is the enforcement of the criminal, traffic, or highway laws of this state;
- “Law enforcement officer” means any appointed law enforcement officer or county sheriff who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the criminal, traffic, or highway laws of this state;
- “Part-time law enforcement officer” means, as applied to employment and training requirements, a law enforcement officer who works twenty-four (24) hours per week or less and receives a salary from the employing law enforcement agency; and
- “Political subdivision” means any county, municipality, township, or other specific local unit of general government.
History. Acts 1983, No. 757, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 42-1401; Acts 1994 (2nd Ex. Sess.), No. 12, § 1; 2017, No. 497, § 16; 2019, No. 151, § 3.
Amendments. The 2017 amendment, in (1), substituted “auxiliary law enforcement officers” for “such officers” and “rules” for “regulations”, deleted “volunteer officer, or mounted patrol” following “reserve officer”, and inserted “law enforcement” following “but does not include any”.
The 2019 amendment substituted “a law enforcement officer who works twenty-four (24) hours per week or less and receives” for “any officer working less than twenty (20) hours per week and receiving” in (7).
Research References
Ark. L. Rev.
Thomas Christoph Keller, Comment: ABC's and AR-15's: Arming Arkansas's Teachers, 67 Ark. L. Rev. 687 (2014).
Case Notes
Direct Supervision.
The physical presence of a supervising officer is not required at the scene of an arrest made by an auxiliary officer. McAfee v. State, 290 Ark. 446, 720 S.W.2d 307 (1986); Turnbull v. State, 22 Ark. App. 18, 731 S.W.2d 794 (1987).
Direct supervision of an auxiliary law enforcement officer can be provided by radio contact. Turnbull v. State, 22 Ark. App. 18, 731 S.W.2d 794 (1987).
Auxiliary officer was acting under the direct supervision of his supervisor even though the superior was not on duty, where both the officer and his superior were aware of each other's whereabouts at the time of an arrest, and the officer, pursuant to his superior's instructions, phoned the superior from the police station and received further instructions from the superior as to how he should proceed in handling the situation. Martindill v. State, 40 Ark. App. 16, 839 S.W.2d 545 (1992).