R.I. Gen. Laws
Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 12-7-19 (2026)

Arrest after close pursuit by officers from cities or towns

✓ text as last checked Sept. 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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Any member of a duly organized municipal peace unit of another city or town of the state who enters any city or town in close pursuit and continues within any city or town in such close pursuit of a person in order to stop him or her for a suspected violation of any provision of the motor vehicle code committed in the other city or town, shall be vested with all of the same authority as a member of a duly organized municipal peace unit of the city or town.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 7 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 2001–2024 · leading case: State v. Steven B. Morris, 92 A.3d 920 (R.I. 2014).
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State v. Steven B. Morris, 92 A.3d 920 (R.I. 2014). · cites it 3× “See G.L.1956 § 12-7-19. 11 “Second, in emergency situations, it may be necessary and appropriate for the police from one jurisdiction to exercise authority in another jurisdiction.”
State v. Ceraso, 812 A.2d 829 (R.I. 2002). · cites it 3× “He asserted that the Newport police did not have jurisdiction to arrest him under the common law and that neither of the two statutory exceptions applied to the facts in this case because the situation did not involve a close pursuit, as requtred by § 12-7-19, and because the…”
State ex rel. Town of Portsmouth v. Hagan, 819 A.2d 1256 (R.I. 2003). · cites it 3× “Further, G.L.1956 § 12-7-19 7 governs the authority of an officer to make an extraterritorial arrest of a person after “close pursuit.”
State of Rhode Island ex rel. Town of Little Compton v. David Simmons, 87 A.3d 412 (R.I. 2014). · cites it 2× “See G.L.1956 § 12-7-19 (granting authority to arrest in any city or town if police are in close pursuit of a suspect); G.”
State ex rel. Town of Middletown v. Kinder, 769 A.2d 614 (R.I. 2001). · cites it 2× “General Laws 1956 § 12-7-19 provides: “Any member of a municipal peace unit of another city or town of the state who enters any city or town in close pursuit, of a person in order to arrest him or her for a violation of the motor vehicle code in the other city or town and…”
Vincent v. Dolan, 755 F. Supp. 3d 158 (D.R.I. 2024). · cites it 2× “Dolan was off-duty and outside of his jurisdictional authority while in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.”
State v. Wilson Rodriguez, 110 A.3d 1173 (R.I. 2015). · cites it 2× “The defendant argues that G.L.1956 § 12-7-19 and G.L.1956 § 45-42-1 impose an obligation upon police to contact local authorities from the cities and towns when making an arrest outside their jurisdiction.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.