H. B. 3170
(By Delegate Stalnaker)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §8-14-3 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to noncivil service employment
protection for chiefs of police.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-14-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14. LAW AND ORDER; POLICE FORCE OR DEPARTMENTS; POWERS,
AUTHORITY AND DUTIES OF LAW-ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS
AND POLICEMEN; POLICE MATRONS; SPECIAL SCHOOL ZONE
AND PARKING LOT OR PARKING BUILDING POLICE
OFFICERS; CIVIL SERVICE FOR CERTAIN POLICE
DEPARTMENTS.
§8-14-3. Powers, authority and duties of law-enforcement
officials and policemen.
The chief and any member of the police force or department of
a municipality and any municipal sergeant shall have all of the
powers, authority, rights and privileges within the corporate limits of the municipality 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 deputy sheriff of a county.
In order to arrest for the violation of municipal ordinances and as
to all matters arising within the corporate limits and coming
within the scope of his official duties, the powers of any chief,
policeman or sergeant shall extend anywhere within the county or
counties in which the municipality is located, and any such chief,
policeman or sergeant shall have the same authority of pursuit and
arrest beyond his normal jurisdiction as has a sheriff. For an
offense committed in his presence, any such officer may arrest the
offender without a warrant and take him before the mayor or police
court or municipal court to be dealt with according to law. He and
his sureties shall be liable to all the fines, penalties and
forfeitures which a deputy sheriff 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 deputy sheriff. In addition to the mayor,
or police court judge or municipal court judge, if any, of a city,
the chief of police of any municipality and in the absence from the
station house of the chief of police the captains of police and
lieutenants of police shall each have authority to administer oaths
to complainants and to issue arrest warrants thereon for all
violations of the ordinances of such municipality.
It shall be the duty of the mayor and police officers of every municipality and any municipal sergeant to aid in the enforcement
of the criminal laws of the state within the municipality,
independently of any charter provision or any ordinance or lack of
an ordinance with respect thereto, and to cause the arrest of or
arrest any offender and take him before a magistrate to be dealt
with according to the law. Failure on the part of any such
official or 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 official or officer shall
have the same authority to execute a warrant issued by a
magistrate, and the same authority to arrest without a warrant for
offenses committed in his presence, as a deputy sheriff.
No officer or member of the police force or department of a
municipality may aid or assist either party in any labor trouble or
dispute between employer and employee. They shall in such cases
see that the statutes and laws of this state and municipal
ordinances are enforced in a legal way and manner. Nor shall he or
she engage in off-duty police work for any party engaged in or
involved in such labor dispute or trouble between employer and
employee.
The chief of police shall be charged with the keeping and
security of the jail and at any time that one or more prisoners are
being held in the jail, he shall require that the jail be attended
by a police officer or other responsible person.
Chiefs of police certified as law-enforcement officers and
appointed in noncivil service agencies shall have the same employment protection as civil service chiefs of police and shall
be entitled to all of the rights and benefits of the civil service
provisions of this article, except that he or she may be removed
from such office of chief of police without cause, and the time
spent by the member in the office of the chief of police shall be
added to the time served by such member during the entire time he
or she was a member of the paid police department prior to his or
her appointment as chief, and shall in all cases of removal, except
for removal for good cause, retain the regular rank within the paid
police department which he or she held at the time of his or her
appointment to the office of chief of police or which he or she has
attained during his or her term of service as chief of police.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide noncivil service
employment protection for chiefs of police.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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