ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 654
(By Senator Jenkins)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported March 1, 2006.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §62-1-1a, relating to
the temporary detention of criminal suspects by
law-enforcement officers to inquire on commission of a crime
where probable cause appears to exist.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §62-1-1a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 1. PRELIMINARY PROCEDURE.
§62-1-1a. Temporary detention by law-enforcement officer of
person suspected of criminal behavior or violating
conditions of parole or probation; limitations.
(a) Whenever any law-enforcement officer of this state
encounters any person under circumstances which reasonably indicate
that such person has committed, is committing, or is about to
commit a violation of the criminal laws of this state or the criminal ordinances of any municipality, the officer may
temporarily detain such person for the purpose of ascertaining the
identity of the person temporarily detained and the circumstances
surrounding the person's presence in the place which led the
officer to believe that the person had committed, was committing,
or was about to commit a criminal offense.
(b) No person shall be temporarily detained under the
provisions of subsection (a) of this section longer than is
reasonably necessary to effect the purposes of that subsection.
Such temporary detention shall not extend beyond the place where it
was first effected or the immediate vicinity thereof:
Provided,
That no detention undertaken pursuant to subsection (a) of this
section may last more than six hours.
(c) If at any time after the onset of the temporary detention
authorized by subsection (a) of this section, probable cause for
arrest of person shall appear, the person shall be arrested. If,
after an inquiry into the circumstances which prompted the
temporary detention, no probable cause for the arrest of the person
shall appear, the person shall be released.
(d) Whenever any law-enforcement officer authorized to detain
temporarily any person under the provisions of subsection (a) of
this section has probable cause to believe that any person whom the
officer has temporarily detained, or is about to detain
temporarily, is armed with a dangerous weapon and therefore offers
a threat to the safety of the officer or any other person, the
officer may search such person so temporarily detained only to the
extent necessary to disclose, and for the purpose of disclosing,
the presence of such weapon. If such a search discloses a weapon or any evidence of a criminal offense, it may be seized.
(e) No evidence seized by a law-enforcement officer in any
search under this section shall be admissible against any person in
any court of this state or political subdivision thereof unless the
search which disclosed its existence was authorized by and
conducted in compliance with the provisions of this section.