Can an officer issue a valid citation in a different jurisdiction? The answer: It depends.

By Robert Phillips  
Deputy District Attorney (ret.)  

• Cross-Jurisdictional Authority 
• Issue, Background and Case Law  
• Penal Code § 830.1(a) and judicial notice of a peace officer’s authority to cite for offenses occurring in a neighboring jurisdiction. 

I received a complaint recently from an officer about a judge dismissing a traffic citation written for an offense that occurred outside the officer’s jurisdictional limits. The officer commented that writing tickets for offenses occurring outside an officer’s city or county limits is not all that unusual, and he didn’t understand why this ticket was dismissed.  

Fortunately, the judge in this instance cited his authority for the dismissal: People v. Landis (2007) 156 Cal.App.4th Supp. 12. Reading Landis both helped me figure out why the officer’s ticket was dismissed while also providing an important teaching point. 

Let’s Dig into the Relevant Penal Code 

The governing statute on this issue is Penal Code § 830.1(a). This section describes the authority of a peace officer, as listed in paragraph (a), to apply to three different situations. 

Subp. (a)(1) lists any “public offense” (including misdemeanors or infractions), Pen. Code § 16, People v. Tennessee (1970) (4 Cal.App.3rd 788, 791) committed, or for which there is probable cause to believe has been committed, within the political subdivision that employs the peace officer or in which the peace officer serves.” That’s a “gimme.” 

Subp. (a)(2) describes the situation that is relevant in Landis and is likely why the ticket was dismissed in the situation the officer who complained to me found himself. Under this ....

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