Tennessee · Snapshot open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-17

Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-1-502: Part definitions

As used in this part: (1) "Law enforcement agency": (A) Means a lawfully established state or local public agency that: (i) Is responsible for preventing and detecting crime and enforcing laws or local ordinances; and (ii) Has employees who are authorized to make arrests for crimes while acting within the scope of their authority; and (B) Includes an institution considered a "law enforcement agency" pursuant to § 49-7-118 ; and (2) "Racial profiling" means the detention or interdiction of an individual in traffic contacts, field contacts, or asset seizure and forfeiture efforts solely on the basis of the individual's actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, or national origin. Added by 2015 Tenn. Acts, ch. 335,s 1, eff. 5/4/2015.
As used in this part:
(1) "Law enforcement agency": (A) Means a lawfully established state or local public agency that: (i) Is responsible for preventing and detecting crime and enforcing laws or local ordinances; and (ii) Has employees who are authorized to make arrests for crimes while acting within the scope of their authority; and (B) Includes an institution considered a "law enforcement agency" pursuant to § 49-7-118 ; and
(A) Means a lawfully established state or local public agency that: (i) Is responsible for preventing and detecting crime and enforcing laws or local ordinances; and (ii) Has employees who are authorized to make arrests for crimes while acting within the scope of their authority; and
(i) Is responsible for preventing and detecting crime and enforcing laws or local ordinances; and
(ii) Has employees who are authorized to make arrests for crimes while acting within the scope of their authority; and
(B) Includes an institution considered a "law enforcement agency" pursuant to § 49-7-118 ; and
(2) "Racial profiling" means the detention or interdiction of an individual in traffic contacts, field contacts, or asset seizure and forfeiture efforts solely on the basis of the individual's actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, or national origin.

Where this section sits in the code

TN Code
Title 38
Chapter 1

As used in this part:

(1) "Law enforcement agency": (A) Means a lawfully established state or local public agency that: (i) Is responsible for preventing and detecting crime and enforcing laws or local ordinances; and (ii) Has employees who are authorized to make arrests for crimes while acting within the scope of their authority; and (B) Includes an institution considered a "law enforcement agency" pursuant to § 49-7-118 ; and

(A) Means a lawfully established state or local public agency that: (i) Is responsible for preventing and detecting crime and enforcing laws or local ordinances; and (ii) Has employees who are authorized to make arrests for crimes while acting within the scope of their authority; and

(i) Is responsible for preventing and detecting crime and enforcing laws or local ordinances; and

(ii) Has employees who are authorized to make arrests for crimes while acting within the scope of their authority; and

(B) Includes an institution considered a "law enforcement agency" pursuant to § 49-7-118 ; and

(2) "Racial profiling" means the detention or interdiction of an individual in traffic contacts, field contacts, or asset seizure and forfeiture efforts solely on the basis of the individual's actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, or national origin.

Collected 2026-09-17T21:51:56Z. Source file · JSON

Compilation CC BY 4.0, Open US Law (Vaquill AI). GroundRules uses only the releases published under CC BY 4.0: from v2026.09 the compilation is licensed CC BY-NC 4.0, and GroundRules does not use those releases. Each affected row names its release in its vintage label. GroundRules parsed and filtered the compilation to retain enacted text. Source · License

Tennessee electronic product files were republished by Public.Resource.Org under a public-domain mark. GroundRules uses enacted text from Release 76 only as a labeled supplement to the newer Open US Law rows. Source

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