(a) The Chief of Police and each police officer shall have all of the powers, authority, rights and privileges within the corporate limits of the Town with regard to the arrest of persons, the collection of claims, and the execution and return of any search warrant, warrant of arrest or other process, which can legally be exercised or discharged by a constable of a district within the Town. In order to arrest for the violation of Town ordinances and as to all matters arising within the corporate limits and coming within the scope of his official duties, the powers of the Chief of Police and any police officer shall extend anywhere within the County, and shall have the same authority of pursuit and arrest beyond his normal jurisdiction as has the sheriff of Fayette County. For an offense committed in his presence, any such officer may arrest the offender without a warrant and take him before the Mayor to be dealt with according to law. He and his sureties shall be liable to all the fines, penalties and forfeitures which a constable of a district is liable to, for any failure or dereliction in such office, to be recovered in the same manner and in the same courts in which such fines, penalties and forfeitures are recovered against a constable.
(b) It shall be the duty of the Chief of Police and each police officer to aid in the enforcement of the criminal laws of the State within the Town, independently of any provision of the Codified Ordinances or other ordinance or lack of an ordinance with respect thereto, and to cause the arrest of or arrest any offender. Failure on the part of each officer to discharge any duty imposed by the provisions of this section shall be deemed official misconduct for which he may be removed from office. Any such officer shall have the same authority to execute a warrant and the same authority to arrest without a warrant for offenses committed in his presence, as a constable. (1973 Code §20-5)