When Police Are Called To A House
NRS 171.137 — arrest on probable cause of domestic battery, within 24 hours or 7 days, warrant or not
Arrest, unless mitigating circumstances exist. A Nevada peace officer, warrant or not, arrests a person the officer has probable cause to believe committed a battery on a spouse or former spouse, a relative by blood or marriage, a dating partner, the other parent of the person's child, the minor child of any of them, the person's own minor child, or the custodian or guardian of that child, unless mitigating circumstances exist.
| The officer's contact with the person | Within |
|---|---|
| The officer's contact with the personMet face to face long enough to decide probable cause when first responding | WithinThe preceding 24 hours |
| The officer's contact with the personDid not | WithinThe preceding 7 days |
Where both people appear to have committed a battery, the officer tries to decide who was the primary physical aggressor, weighing prior domestic violence, the severity of the injuries, the risk of future injury and whether one acted in self-defense, and need not arrest the other.
The decision may not rest on whether the victim or a witness seems willing to testify. Siblings and cousins are outside the section unless one is the other's custodian or guardian.
The battery offense, protective orders and release conditions are in other sections not reproduced here. Whether an arrest was required in a particular case is a question for a court and a licensed Nevada attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- NRS 171.137 — Arrest required for suspected battery constituting domestic violence; exceptions
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Nevada attorney.