Federal officers can enforce West Virginia laws in limited situations

Listed federal officers can enforce state laws when a permitted request for help or a qualifying felony situation occurs. This authority covers listed full-time federal officers authorized to carry firearms on duty, including specified military and National Guard personnel conducting policing, corrections, or similar missions. An agency leader or their designee must request temporary help in writing, unless an emergency threatens death or serious injury. An individual state or local officer may request temporary help in urgent circumstances. Either kind of request must stay within the requester's legal authority and area. Without a request, officers may act when a felony occurs in their presence or circumstances indicate one has just occurred. The law took effect June 12, 2026.

Designated National Park Service rangers and United States Forest Service officers and special agents can arrest people, search, and seize property for state-law offenses on covered federal lands. Park powers cover offenses within the National Park System. Forest Service powers cover offenses in national forests or on other property the service manages or oversees. National Park Service rangers must hold a law-enforcement commission. United States Forest Service officers and special agents must hold a commission and act within their official duties on covered lands.

People using these enforcement powers generally cannot start or conduct their own investigations of state-law violations. These limits apply to people exercising the state-law enforcement powers described here. Immediately following a felony situation covered by the law, officers may investigate only as needed to preserve evidence or testimony at risk of loss. National Park Service and United States Forest Service officers may investigate under their federal-land powers. Those investigations cannot concern activities unrelated to lands the services manage or oversee.