COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 386

(By Senators Snyder, Schoonover and Mitchell)

____________

[Originating in the Committee on Education;

reported February 19, 1999.]

____________




A BILL to amend and reenact section five, article four, chapter eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring any security officer or campus police officer at a state higher education institution who fulfills the certification requirement for law-enforcement officers to carry a gun.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article four, chapter eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
 ARTICLE 4. GENERAL ADMINISTRATION.
§18B-4-5. Security officers; appointment; qualifications; authority; compensation and removal.

The governing boards are hereby authorized to appoint bona fide residents of this state to act as security officers or campus police officers upon any premises owned or leased by the state of West Virginia and under the jurisdiction of the governing boards, subject to the conditions and restrictions hereinafter imposed. Before performing duties as a security officer or campus police officer in any county, each person so appointed shall qualify therefor in the same manner as is required of county officers by the taking and filing of an oath of office as required by article one, chapter six of this code and by posting an official bond as required by article two, chapter six of this code. No A security officer or campus police officer shall have authority to shall at the request of the presidentor or may at their==his or her own descretiondiscretion carry a gun or and may carry any other dangerous weapon until a license therefor has been obtained in the manner prescribed by section two, article seven, chapter sixty-one of this code, if the security officer or campus police officer fulfills the certification requirement for law-enforcement officers under section five, article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of this code.
It shall be the duty of any person so appointed and qualified to preserve law and order on any premises under the jurisdiction of the governing boards and on any other street, road or thoroughfare, except controlled access and open country highways, adjacent to or passing through such premises, to which the person may be assigned by the president or other administrative head of the state institution of higher education. For this purpose the security officer shall be deemed to be a law-enforcement officer in accordance with the provisions of section one, article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of this code and, as to offenses committed within any area so assigned, have and may exercise all the powers and authority and shall be subject to all the requirements and responsibilities of a law-enforcement officer: Provided, That the supervisor of any security officer employed on the effective date of this section may exempt such officer from any law-enforcement training required in said article. The assignment of security officers to the duties authorized by this section shall not be deemed to supersede in any way the authority or duty of other peace officers to preserve law and order on such premises. In addition, the security officers appointed under provisions of this section shall have authority to assist local peace officers on public highways in the control of traffic in and around premises owned by the state of West Virginia whenever such traffic is generated as a result of athletic or other activities conducted or sponsored by a state institution of higher education and when such assistance has been requested by the local peace officers.
The salary of all such security officers shall be paid by the appropriate governing board. Each state institution may furnish each such security officer with an official uniform to be worn while on duty and shall furnish and require each such officer while on duty to wear a shield with an appropriate inscription and to carry credentials certifying to the person's identity and authority as a security officer.
The governing boards may at their pleasure revoke the authority of any security officer. The president or other administrative head of the state institution of higher education shall report the termination of employment of a security officer by filing a notice to that effect in the office of the clerk of each county in which the security officer's oath of office was filed, and in the case of a security officer licensed to carry a gun or other dangerous weapon, by notifying the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which the license therefor was granted.