H. B. 2804


(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss)
[Introduced January 31, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions then the Judiciary.]




A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article fourteen, chapter eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to powers, authority and duties of municipal police officers; and providing that a municipal police officer may issue citations for certain misdemeanors committed in his or her presence.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article fourteen, chapter eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, 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 police officers.
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: Provided, That a municipal police officer may issue a citation in lieu of arrest in any county in which the municipality is situate where a misdemeanor is actually committed in his or her presence. 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 or her official duties, the powers of any chief, policeman police officer or sergeant shall extend anywhere within the county or counties in which the municipality is located, and any such chief, policeman police officer or sergeant shall have the same authority of pursuit and arrest beyond his or her normal jurisdiction as has a sheriff. For an offense committed in his or her presence, any such officer may arrest the offender without a warrant and take him or her before the mayor or police court or municipal court to be dealt with according to law. He or she and his or her 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 or her 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 considered official misconduct for which he or she 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 or her 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 or she shall require that the jail be attended by a police officer or other responsible person.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow a municipal police officer to issue citations for misdemeanor offenses committed in his or her presence in the county in which the municipality is located. This will allow municipal police to stop and cite reckless drivers outside the city limits when the officer is driving to or from magistrate court or circuit court. Municipal police are certified law-enforcement officers with the same training as deputy sheriffs.

 Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.