ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 704
(By Senators Hunter, Oliverio, Wooton, Ball, Dittmar, McCabe,
Minard, Mitchell, Redd, Ross, Snyder, Deem and McKenzie)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported March 4, 1999.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twelve, article two, chapter
fifteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring the
state police and other state law-enforcement agencies to
immediately investigate and search for missing persons who
have a significant mental impairment.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twelve, 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. WEST VIRGINIA STATE POLICE.
§15-2-12. Mission of the state police; powers of superintendent, officers and members; patrol of turnpike.
(a) The West Virginia division of public safety state police
shall have the mission of statewide enforcement of criminal and traffic laws with emphasis on providing basic enforcement and
citizen protection from criminal depredation throughout the state
and maintaining the safety of the state's public streets, roads and
highways.
(b) The superintendent and each of the officers and members of
the division are hereby empowered:
(1) To make arrests anywhere within the state of any persons
charged with the violation of any law of this state, or of the
United States, and when a witness to the perpetration of any
offense or crime, or to the violation of any law of this state, or
of the United States, to make arrests without warrant; to arrest
and detain any persons suspected of the commission of any felony or
misdemeanor whenever a complaint is made and a warrant is issued
thereon for the arrest, and the person arrested shall be
immediately brought before the proper tribunal for examination and
trial in the county where the offense for which the arrest has been
made was committed;
(2) To serve criminal process issued by any court or
magistrate anywhere within this state: Provided, That they may not
serve civil process; and
(3) To cooperate with local authorities in detecting crime and
in apprehending any person or persons engaged in or suspected of
the commission of any crime, misdemeanor or offense against the law
of this state, or of the United States, or of any ordinance of any
municipality in this state; and to take affidavits in connection
with any application to the division of highways, division of motor
vehicles and division of public safety of West Virginia state
police for any license, permit or certificate that may be lawfully
issued by these divisions of state government.
(c) Members of the division of public safety West Virginia
state police are hereby designated as forest patrolmen and game
and fish wardens throughout the state to do and perform any duties
and exercise any powers of forest patrolmen and game and fish
wardens, and may apprehend and bring before any court or magistrate
having jurisdiction of these matters, anyone violating any of the
provisions of chapters twenty, sixty and sixty-one of this code.
The division of public safety West Virginia state police is at any
time subject to the call of the West Virginia alcohol beverage
control commissioner to aid in apprehending any person violating
any of the provisions of chapter sixty of this code. They shall
serve and execute warrants for the arrest of any person and
warrants for the search of any premises issued by any properly constituted authority, and shall exercise all of the powers
conferred by law upon a sheriff. They may not serve any civil
process or exercise any of the powers of such officer in civil
matters.
(d) Any member of the division of public safety West Virginia
state police knowing or having reason to believe that any person
has violated the law may make complaint in writing before any court
or officer having jurisdiction and procure a warrant for the
offender, execute the warrant and bring the person before the
proper tribunal having jurisdiction. The member shall make return
on all warrants to the tribunals and his or her official title
shall be "member of the division of public safety West Virginia
state police". Members of the division of public safety West
Virginia state police may execute any summons or process issued by
any tribunal having jurisdiction requiring the attendance of any
person as a witness before the tribunal and make return thereon as
provided by law. Any return by a member of the division of public
safety West Virginia state police showing the manner of executing
the warrant or process has the same force and effect as if made by
a sheriff.
(e) Each member of the division of public safety West Virginia
state police, when called by the sheriff of any county, or when directed by the governor by proclamation, has full power and
authority within the county, or within the territory defined by the
governor, to direct and command absolutely the assistance of any
sheriff, deputy sheriff, chief of police, policeman, game and fish
warden and peace officer of the state, or of any county or
municipality therein, or of any able-bodied citizen of the United
States, to assist and aid in accomplishing the purposes expressed
in this article. When called, any officer or person is, during the
time his or her assistance is required, for all purposes a member
of the division of public safety West Virginia state police and
subject to all the provisions of this article.
(f) The superintendent may also assign members of the division
to perform police duties on any turnpike or toll road, or any
section of any turnpike or toll road, operated by the West Virginia
parkways, economic development and tourism authority: Provided,
That the authority shall reimburse the division of public safety
West Virginia state police for salaries paid to the members and
shall either pay directly or reimburse the division for all other
expenses of the group of members in accordance with actual or
estimated costs determined by the superintendent.
(g) The division of public safety West Virginia state police
may develop proposals for a comprehensive county or multicounty plan on the implementation of an enhanced emergency service
telephone system and may cause a public meeting on the proposals,
all as set forth in section six-a, article six, chapter twenty-four
of this code.
(h) The superintendent may also assign members of the division
to administer tests for the issuance of commercial drivers'
licenses, operator and junior operator licenses as provided for in
section seven, article two, chapter seventeen-b of this code:
Provided, That the division of motor vehicles shall reimburse the
division of public safety West Virginia state police for salaries
and employee benefits paid to the members, and shall either pay
directly or reimburse the division for all other expenses of the
group of members in accordance with actual costs determined by the
superintendent.
(I) The superintendent shall be reimbursed by the division of
motor vehicles for salaries and employee benefits paid to members
of the division of public safety West Virginia state police and
shall either be paid directly or reimbursed by the division of
motor vehicles for all other expenses of the group of members in
accordance with actual costs determined by the superintendent, for
services performed by the members relating to the duties and
obligations of the division of motor vehicles set forth in chapters seventeen, seventeen-a, seventeen-b, seventeen-c and seventeen-d of
this code.
(j) By the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-three, the superintendent shall establish a network to
implement reports of the disappearance of children by local
law-enforcement agencies to local school division superintendents
and the state registrar of vital statistics. The network shall be
designed to establish cooperative arrangements between local
law-enforcement agencies and local school divisions concerning
reports of missing children and notices to law-enforcement agencies
of requests for copies of the cumulative records and birth
certificates of missing children. The network shall also establish
a mechanism for reporting the identities of all missing children to
the state registrar of vital statistics.
(k) The superintendent may at his or her discretion and upon
the written request of the West Virginia alcohol beverage control
commissioner assist the commissioner in the coordination and
enforcement of article sixteen, chapter eleven of this code and
chapter sixty of this code.
(l) Notwithstanding the provisions of article one-a, chapter
twenty of this code, the superintendent of the division of public
safety West Virginia state police may sell any surplus real property to which the division of public safety West Virginia state
police or its predecessors retain title, and deposit the net
proceeds into a special revenue account to be utilized for the
purchase of additional real property and for repairs to or
construction of detachment offices or other facilities required by
the division of public safety West Virginia state police. There is
hereby created a special revolving fund in the state treasury which
shall be designated as the "surplus real property proceeds fund".
The fund shall consist of all money received from the sale of
surplus real property owned by the division of public safety West
Virginia state police. Moneys deposited in the fund shall only be
available for expenditure upon appropriation by the Legislature:
Provided, That amounts collected which are found from time to time
to exceed the funds needed for the purposes set forth in this
subsection may be transferred to other accounts or funds and
redesignated for other purposes by appropriation of the
Legislature.
(m) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, the
agency for surplus property is hereby empowered to transfer funds
generated from the sale of vehicles, other equipment and
commodities belonging to the division of public safety West
Virginia state police to a special revenue account within the division of public safety West Virginia state police entitled the
division of public safety West Virginia state police surplus
transfer account. Moneys deposited in the fund shall only be
available for expenditure upon appropriation by the Legislature:
Provided, That amounts collected which are found from time to time
to exceed the funds needed for the purposes set forth in this
subsection may be transferred to other accounts or funds and
redesignated for other purposes by appropriation of the
Legislature. Any funds transferred to this account may be utilized
by the superintendent to defray the cost of normal operating needs
of the division.
(n) If the state police or any other law-enforcement agency in
this state receives a report that a person who has Alzheimer's
disease and related dementia or other mental impairment which precludes the person from caring for his or her own needs is missing, the state police or any other
law-enforcement agency shall immediately open an investigation for
the purpose of determining the whereabouts of that missing person.
Any policy of the state police or any other law-enforcement agency
relating to a waiting period prior to initiation of an
investigation of a missing person shall not apply in the case of a
person suffering an impairmentwho has Alzheimer's disease or other related dementia of the
type referred to in this subsection.
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(NOTE: This bill requires the State Police and all other law- enforcement agencies of the state to immediately investigate
reports of missing persons who have dementia causing Alzheimer's
disease or a mental impairment which precludes the person providing
for his or her own needs.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)