175.46 Mutual aid agreements.

(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.

History: 1993 a. 49; 1993 a. 490 s. 154; Stats. 1993 s. 175.46; 1997 a. 39.