Senate Bill No. 261
(By Senator Plymale)
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[Introduced February 3, 1994; referred to the Committee
on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-four, article two,
chapter fifteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to authorizing
the forensic laboratory of the criminal identification
bureau to establish and collect fees for DNA and other
innovative scientific analyses; and establishing the
"forensic laboratory analysis fund."
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-four, article two, chapter fifteen of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY.
ยง15-2-24. Criminal identification bureau; establishment;
supervision; purpose; fingerprints, photographs, records and
other information; reports by courts and prosecuting
attorneys; offenses and penalties.
(a) The superintendent of the department shall establish,equip and maintain at the departmental headquarters a criminal
identification bureau, for the purpose of receiving and filing
fingerprints, photographs, records and other information
pertaining to the investigation of crime and the apprehension of
criminals, as hereinafter provided. The superintendent shall
appoint or designate a supervisor to be in charge of the criminal
identification bureau and such supervisor shall be responsible to
the superintendent for the affairs of the bureau. Members of the
department assigned to the criminal identification bureau shall
carry out their duties and assignments in accordance with
internal management rules and regulations pertaining thereto
promulgated by the superintendent.
(b) The criminal identification bureau shall cooperate with
identification bureaus of other states and of the United States
to develop and carry on a complete interstate, national and
international system of criminal identification.
(c) The criminal identification bureau may furnish
fingerprints, photographs, records or other information to
authorized law-enforcement and governmental agencies of the
United States and its territories, of foreign countries duly
authorized to receive the same, of other states within the United
States and of the state of West Virginia upon proper request
stating that the fingerprints, photographs, records or other
information requested are necessary in the interest of and will
be used solely in the administration of official duties and the
criminal laws.
(d) The criminal identification bureau may furnish, with the
approval of the superintendent, fingerprints, photographs,
records or other information to any private or public agency,
person, firm, association, corporation or other organization,
other than a law-enforcement or governmental agency as to which
the provisions of subsection (c) of this section shall govern and
control, but all requests under the provisions of this subsection
(d) for such fingerprints, photographs, records or other
information must be accompanied by a written authorization signed
and acknowledged by the person whose fingerprints, photographs,
records or other information is to be released.
(e) The criminal identification bureau may furnish
fingerprints, photographs, records and other information of
persons arrested or sought to be arrested in this state to the
identification bureau of the United States government and to
other states for the purpose of aiding law enforcement.
(f) Persons in charge of any penal or correctional
institution, including any city or county jail in this state,
shall take, or cause to be taken, the fingerprints and
description of all persons lawfully committed thereto or confined
therein and furnish the same in duplicate to the criminal
identification bureau, department of public safety. Such
fingerprints shall be taken on forms approved by the
superintendent of the department of public safety. All such
officials as herein named may, when possible to do so, furnish
photographs to the criminal identification bureau of such personsso fingerprinted.
(g) Members of the department of public safety, and all
other state law-enforcement officials, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs,
and each and every peace officer in this state, shall take or
cause to be taken the fingerprints and description of all persons
arrested or detained by them, charged with any crime or offense
in this state, in which the penalty provided therefor is
confinement in any penal or correctional institution, or of any
person who they have reason to believe is a fugitive from justice
or an habitual criminal, and furnish the same in duplicate to the
criminal identification bureau of the department of public safety
on forms approved by the superintendent of said department. All
such officials as herein named may, when possible to do so,
furnish to the criminal identification bureau, photographs of
such persons so fingerprinted. For the purpose of obtaining data
for the preparation and submission to the governor and the
Legislature by the department of public safety of an annual
statistical report on crime conditions in the state, the clerk of
any court of record, the magistrate of any magistrate court and
the mayor or clerk of any municipal court before which a person
appears on any criminal charge shall report to the criminal
identification bureau the sentence of the court or other
disposition of the charge and the prosecuting attorney of every
county shall report to the criminal identification bureau such
additional information as the bureau may require for such
purpose, and all such reports shall be on forms prepared anddistributed by the department of public safety, shall be
submitted monthly and shall cover the period of the preceding
month.
(h) All persons arrested or detained pursuant to the
requirements of this article shall give fingerprints and
information required by subsections (f) and (g) of this section.
Any person who has been fingerprinted or photographed in
accordance with the provisions of this section, who is acquitted
of the charges upon which he or she was arrested, and who has no
previous criminal record, may, upon the presentation of
satisfactory proof to the department, have such fingerprints or
photographs, or both, returned to them.
(i) All state, county and municipal law-enforcement agencies
shall submit to the bureau uniform crime reports setting forth
their activities in connection with law enforcement. It shall be
the duty of the bureau to adopt and promulgate rules and
regulations prescribing the form, general content, time and
manner of submission of such uniform crime reports. Willful or
repeated failure by any state, county or municipal law-
enforcement official to submit the uniform crime reports required
by this article shall constitute neglect of duty in public
office. The bureau shall correlate the reports submitted to it
and shall compile and submit to the governor and the Legislature
semiannual reports based on such reports. A copy of such reports
shall be furnished to all prosecuting attorneys and law-
enforcement agencies.
(j) Neglect or refusal of any person mentioned in this
section to make the report required herein, or to do or perform
any act on his or her part to be done or performed in connection
with the operation of this section, shall constitute constitutes
a misdemeanor, and, such person shall upon conviction thereof,
shall be punished by a fine of fined not less than twenty-five
dollars nor more than two hundred dollars, or by imprisonment
imprisoned in the county jail for a period of not more than
sixty days, or both fined and imprisoned. Such This neglect
shall constitute constitutes misfeasance in office and such
subject subjects the persons to removal from office. Any person
who willfully removes, destroys or mutilates any of the
fingerprints, photographs, records or other information of the
department of public safety, shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor,
and, such person shall upon conviction thereof, shall be punished
by a fine of fined not more than one hundred dollars, or by
imprisonment imprisoned in the county jail for a period of not
more than six months, or both fined and imprisoned.
(k) The forensic laboratory of the criminal identification
bureau is authorized to establish and collect a reasonable fee
for DNA and other innovative scientific analyses to be utilized
by the superintendent of the division to defray the costs
incurred for the analyses. The division shall deposit the fees
into the state treasury and credit the moneys collected to the
forensic laboratory analysis fund established in this section.
(l) There is hereby created a special revolving fund in thestate treasury which shall be designated as the "forensic
laboratory analysis fund." The fund shall consist of all moneys
received from the fees collected for innovative scientific
analyses performed by the laboratory of the criminal
identification bureau and any other moneys specifically allocated
to the fund. The fund shall not be treated by the auditor or
treasurer as part of the general revenue of the state. The fund
shall be a special revolving fund to be used and paid out upon
order of the superintendent of the division solely for the
purposes specified in this section. However, the fees collected
may also be used for the general enhancement of the forensic
laboratory.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the forensic
laboratory of the criminal identification bureau to establish and
collect reasonable fees for DNA and other innovative scientific
analyses. The money collected is to be deposited in the
"Forensic Laboratory Analysis Fund" created by this bill to be
used to defray costs of laboratory services and for the general
enhancement of the forensic laboratory.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.