Senate Bill No. 719
(By Senators Kessler, Williams, Unger, Laird and Deem)
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[Introduced March 23, 2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §8-14-24 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to allowing a police officer
meeting certain requirements to keep, without charge, his or
her service weapon upon retirement.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-14-24 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, 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.
§8-14-24. Right to receive complete standard uniform; right to
acquire badge; and right to keep service weapon.
(a) A police officer, upon honorable retirement, is authorized
to maintain at his or her own cost a complete standard uniform from the law-enforcement agency of which he or she was a member and
shall be issued an identification card indicating his or her
honorable retirement from the law-enforcement agency. The uniform
may be worn by the officer in retirement only on the following
occasions: Police Officer's Memorial Day, Law-Enforcement
Appreciation Day, at the funeral of a law-enforcement officer or
during any other police ceremony. The honorably retired officer is
authorized to acquire a badge of the law-enforcement agency from
which he or she is retired with the word "retired" placed on it.
(b) Upon retirement, a police officer is entitled to keep,
without charge, his or her service
revolver weapon after a
determination by the chief of police:
(1) That the police officer is retiring honorably with at
least twenty years of recognized law-enforcement service; or
(2) That the police officer is retiring with less than twenty
years of service and that he or she is totally physically disabled
as a result of service as a police officer.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (b) of this
section, the chief of police may not award a service
revolver
weapon to any police officer who has been declared mentally
incompetent by a licensed physician or a court of law, or who, in
the opinion of the chief of police, constitutes a danger to any
person or the community.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow a police officer
meeting certain requirements to keep, without charge, his or her service weapon upon retirement. The bill changes "service
revolver" to "service weapon".
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)