Wisconsin Code § 175.46

Mutual aid agreements
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this section
(1) In this section:
(a) “Border county” means any of the following:
1. Any Wisconsin county that has land that is within 5 miles
from any land of a physically adjacent state, as measured, where
applicable, by any land that is above the ordinary high water
mark.
2. Any county of a physically adjacent state which county
has land that is within 5 miles from any land of Wisconsin, as

measured, where applicable, by any land that is above the ordinary high water mark.
(b) “Law enforcement agency of a physically adjacent state”
means a governmental unit of one or more persons employed by a
physically adjacent state or a political subdivision of a physically
adjacent state for the purpose of preventing and detecting crime
and enforcing state laws or local ordinances, employees of which
unit are authorized to make arrests for crimes while acting within
the scope of their authority.
(c) “Law enforcement officer of a physically adjacent state”
means any person employed by a physically adjacent state or any
political subdivision of a physically adjacent state, for the purpose of detecting and preventing crime and enforcing laws or ordinances and who is authorized to make arrests for violations of
the laws or ordinances he or she is employed to enforce.
(d) “Physically adjacent state” means Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois or Michigan.
(e) “Political subdivision” means a county, city, village or
town.
(f) “Wisconsin law enforcement agency” means a governmental unit of one or more persons employed by this state or a political subdivision of this state for the purpose of preventing and detecting crime and enforcing state laws or local ordinances, employees of which unit are authorized to make arrests for crimes
while acting within the scope of their authority.
(g) “Wisconsin law enforcement officer” means any person
employed by this state or any political subdivision of this state,
for the purpose of detecting and preventing crime and enforcing
laws or ordinances and who is authorized to make arrests for violations of the laws or ordinances he or she is employed to enforce.
(2) Except as provided in sub. (8), a Wisconsin law enforcement agency may enter into a mutual aid agreement with a law
enforcement agency of a physically adjacent state authorizing one
or more of the following:
(a) Law enforcement officers of the law enforcement agency
of the physically adjacent state to act with some or all of the arrest
and other police authority of a law enforcement officer of the
Wisconsin law enforcement agency while within the Wisconsin
law enforcement agency’s territorial jurisdiction and within a
border county.
(b) Law enforcement officers of the Wisconsin law enforcement agency to act with some or all of the arrest and other police
authority of a law enforcement officer of the law enforcement
agency of the physically adjacent state while within that agency’s
territorial jurisdiction and within a border county.
(3) An agreement under this section shall be written and may
be on an individual case-by-case basis or may be on a continuing
basis until terminated by either agency.
(4) An agreement under this section may grant authority to an
officer only to enforce laws and make arrests for violations of
laws that are similar to the types of laws that he or she is authorized to enforce or make arrests for regarding violations of in his
or her home state.
(5) (a) Except as provided in par. (b), any agreement under
this section shall provide that any Wisconsin law enforcement officer, acting under the agreement in another state, shall continue
to be covered by his or her employing agency for purposes of
worker’s compensation, unemployment insurance, benefits under
ch. 40 and civil liability and any officer of another state acting in
Wisconsin under the agreement shall continue to be covered for
worker’s compensation, unemployment insurance, disability and
other employee benefits and civil liability purposes by his or her
employing agency in his or her home state. Any Wisconsin officer acting within an adjoining state, under the agreement, is considered while so acting to be in the ordinary course of his or her
employment with his or her employing Wisconsin law enforcement agency.
(b) An agreement under this section shall provide that any
Wisconsin law enforcement officer, acting under the agreement
in another state, is subject to any immunity from liability or limit
on liability to the same extent as any officer of the other state. An
agreement under this section shall provide that any law enforcement officer of another state, acting under the agreement in Wisconsin, is subject to any immunity from liability or limit on liability to the same extent as a Wisconsin law enforcement officer.
(6) No law enforcement officer of a physically adjacent state,
acting under an agreement under this section, may be considered,
for liability purposes, as an employee or agent of this state or any
Wisconsin law enforcement agency for his or her actions within
this state regardless of the supervision or control of the officer’s
actions while within this state. The officer of the physically adjacent state is considered as continuing to be an employee of the
agency employing him or her in the officer’s home state.
(7) Any agreement under this section entered into by a Wisconsin law enforcement agency may include any terms and conditions considered appropriate by that agency, except the agreement
shall comply with this section.
(8) At least 30 days prior to entering into an agreement under
sub. (2), a Wisconsin law enforcement agency shall submit a copy
of the proposed agreement to the department of justice for the department’s review and comment. The department shall provide
its comments to the Wisconsin law enforcement agency within 21
days after the department receives the proposed agreement. The
Wisconsin law enforcement agency need not have the consent of
the department to enter into the agreement. The Wisconsin law
enforcement agency may revise the proposed agreement without
having to resubmit the proposed agreement to the department.

‹ Prev All Wisconsin sections Next ›


Lexace provides legal information, not legal advice, and no attorney–client relationship is created. Statute text is provided for general information and may not reflect the most recent amendments; verify against the official state code.