Senate Bill No. 554
(By Senator Laird)
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[Introduced February 12, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §30-29-1, §30-29-2, §30-29-3 and §30-
29-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to
amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated
§30-29-11
, all relating to law-enforcement certification
generally; expanding the responsibilities of the law-
enforcement training subcommittee and renaming it the law-
enforcement professional standards subcommittee; clarifying
the authority to decertify law-enforcement officers;
establishing a database of law-enforcement officers
disciplined for certain types of misconduct; requesting the
proposal of legislative rules to set standards for law-
enforcement agencies to report certain types of misconduct by
officers to the database; and requiring that law-enforcement
agencies check the database prior to hiring an officer.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §30-29-1, §30-29-2, §30-29-3 and §30-29-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended; and that said code be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §30-29-11, all
to read as follows
:
ARTICLE 29. LAW-ENFORCEMENT TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION.
§30-29-1. Definitions.
For the purposes of this article, unless a different meaning
clearly appears in the context:
"Approved law-enforcement training academy" means any
training facility which is approved and authorized to conduct law-
enforcement training as provided in this article;
"Chief executive" means the Superintendent of the State
Police; the chief conservation officer of the Division of Natural
Resources; the sheriff of any West Virginia county; any
administrative deputy appointed by the chief conservation officer
of natural resources; or the chief of any West Virginia municipal
law-enforcement agency;
"County" means the fifty-five major political subdivisions of
the state;
"Exempt rank" means any noncommissioned or commissioned rank
of sergeant or above;
"Governor's committee on crime, delinquency and correction" or
"Governor's committee" means the Governor's committee on crime,
delinquency and correction established as a state planning agency
pursuant to section one, article nine, chapter fifteen of this
code;
"Law-enforcement officer" means any duly authorized member of
a law-enforcement agency who is authorized to maintain public peace
and order, prevent and detect crime, make arrests and enforce the
laws of the state or any county or municipality thereof, other than
parking ordinances, and includes those persons employed as campus
police officers at state institutions of higher education in
accordance with the provisions of section five, article four,
chapter eighteen-b of this code, and persons employed by the Public
Service Commission as motor carrier inspectors and weight
enforcement officers charged with enforcing commercial motor
vehicle safety and weight restriction laws although those
institutions and agencies may not be considered law-enforcement
agencies. The term also includes those persons employed as rangers
by the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority in accordance
with the provisions of section six, article fourteen, chapter
twenty of this code, although the authority may not be considered
a law-enforcement agency:
Provided, That the subject rangers shall
pay the tuition and costs of training. As used in this article,
the term "law-enforcement officer" does not apply to the chief
executive of any West Virginia law-enforcement agency or any
watchman or special conservation officer;
"Law-enforcement official" means the duly appointed chief
administrator of a designated law-enforcement agency or a duly
authorized designee;
"Municipality" means any incorporated town or city whose boundaries lie within the geographic boundaries of the state;
"Subcommittee" or "law-enforcement
training professional
standards subcommittee" means the subcommittee of the Governor's
committee on crime, delinquency and correction created by section
two of this article; and
"West Virginia law-enforcement agency" means any duly
authorized state, county or municipal organization employing one or
more persons whose responsibility is the enforcement of laws of the
state or any county or municipality thereof
: Provided, That
neither the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority, the
Public Service Commission nor any state institution of higher
education may be deemed a law-enforcement agency.
§30-29-2. Law-enforcement professional standards subcommittee.
(a)
A The law-enforcement training subcommittee of the
Governor's committee on crime, delinquency and corrections is
hereby
created continued and renamed the Law-Enforcement
Professional Standards Subcommittee.
The subcommittee is and
assigned responsibility for review and administration of programs
for qualification, training and certification of law-enforcement
officers in the state.
The subcommittee is assigned responsibility
to receive and review misconduct reports filed as required by
section eleven of this article from law-enforcement entities of
this state by the process created pursuant to subsection (g) of
section three of this article. The subcommittee may recommend to
the Governor's committee de-certification of any law-enforcement officer whose misconduct reports would make them ineligible to
become a new officer under section five of this article.
(b)
The subcommittee has subpoena power to compel the
attendance of witnesses and the production of books, records or
documents anywhere in the state
from law-enforcement agencies of
this state as needed to carry out the duties of the subcommittee.
(c) The subcommittee shall be comprised of ten members of the
Governor's committee including one representative of each of the
following: The Department of Public Safety, West Virginia State
Police the law-enforcement Division of the Department of Natural
Resources, the West Virginia Sheriffs Association, the West
Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, the West Virginia Deputy
Sheriffs Association, the West Virginia fraternal order of police
lodge, the West Virginia Municipal League, the West Virginia
Association of county officials, the Human Rights Commission and
the public at large.
(b)(d) The subcommittee shall elect a chairperson and a vice
chairperson. Special meetings may be held upon the call of the
chairperson, vice chairperson or a majority of the members of the
subcommittee. A majority of the members of the subcommittee
constitutes a quorum.
§30-29-3. Duties of the Governor's committee and the subcommittee.
Upon recommendation of the subcommittee, the Governor's
committee shall, by or pursuant to rule or regulation:
(a) Provide funding for the establishment and support of law-enforcement training academies in the state;
(b) Establish standards governing the establishment and
operation of the law-enforcement training academies, including
regional locations throughout the state, in order to provide access
to each law-enforcement agency in the state in accordance with
available funds;
(c) Establish minimum law-enforcement instructor
qualifications;
(d) Certify qualified law-enforcement instructors;
(e) Maintain a list of approved law-enforcement instructors;
(f) Promulgate standards governing the qualification of law-
enforcement officers and the entry-level law-enforcement training
curricula. These standards shall require satisfactory completion
of a minimum of four hundred classroom hours, shall provide for
credit to be given for relevant classroom hours earned pursuant to
training other than training at an established law-enforcement
training academy if earned within five years immediately preceding
the date of application for certification, and shall provide that
the required classroom hours can be accumulated on the basis of a
part-time curricula spanning no more than twelve months, or a full-
time curricula;
(g) Propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with
the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
based on the recommendation of the law-enforcement professional
standards subcommittee regarding the reporting of complaints and certain disciplinary matters concerning law-enforcement officers
and creating procedures for reviewing the certification of law-
enforcement officers who receive complaints or disciplinary
matters. The subcommittee shall establish and manage a database
that is available to all law-enforcement agencies in the state
concerning internal and external complaints, disciplinary matters,
investigations or actions taken by the agency and actions taken by
an officer or agency in lieu of disciplinary action pursuant to the
reporting requirements set by rule. The procedures shall provide
for preservation of records and access to records by law-
enforcement agencies and conditions as to how the information in
those records is to be used regarding an officer's law-enforcement
employment by another law-enforcement agency. The information in
the database which contains personnel or personal information not
resulting in a criminal charge or conviction are not subject to
the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-b of this code.
(g)(h) Establish standards governing in-service law-
enforcement officer training curricula and in-service supervisory
level training curricula;
(h)(i) Certify or de-certify law-enforcement officers, as
provided in section five of this article;
(i)(j) Seek supplemental funding for law-enforcement training
academies from sources other than the fees collected pursuant to
section four of this article;
(j)(k) Any responsibilities and duties as the Legislature may, from time to time, see fit to direct to the committee; and
(k)(l) Submit, on or before September 30 of each year, to the
Governor, and upon request to individual members of the
Legislature, a report on its activities during the previous year
and an accounting of funds paid into and disbursed from the special
revenue account establish established pursuant to section four of
this article.
§30-29-5. Certification requirements and power to de-certify.
(a) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (g) below, no a
person may not be employed as a law-enforcement officer by any West
Virginia law-enforcement agency or by any state institution of
higher education or by the Public Service Commission of West
Virginia on or after the effective date of this article unless the
person is certified, or is certifiable in one of the manners
specified in subsections (c) through (e) below, by the Governor's
committee as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement
qualification and training program requirements promulgated
pursuant to this article: Provided, That the provisions of this
section shall do not apply to persons hired by the Public Service
Commission as motor carrier inspectors and weight enforcement
officers prior to the July 1, 2007.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (g) below, a person who
is not certified, or certifiable in one of the manners specified in
subsections (c) through (e) below, may be conditionally employed as
a law-enforcement officer until certified: Provided, That within ninety calendar days of the commencement of employment or the
effective date of this article if the person is already employed on
the effective date, he or she makes a written application to attend
an approved law-enforcement training academy. The person's
employer shall provide notice, in writing, of the ninety-day
deadline to file a written application to the academy within thirty
calendar days of that person's commencement of employment. The
employer shall provide full disclosure as to the consequences of
failing to file a timely written application. The academy shall
notify the applicant in writing of the receipt of the application
and of the tentative date of the applicant's enrollment. Any
applicant who, as the result of extenuating circumstances
acceptable to his or her law-enforcement official, is unable to
attend the scheduled training program to which he or she was
admitted may reapply and shall be admitted to the next regularly
scheduled training program. An applicant who satisfactorily
completes the program shall, within thirty days of completion, make
written application to the Governor's committee requesting
certification as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement
qualification and training program requirements. Upon determining
that an applicant has met the requirements for certification, the
Governor's committee shall forward to the applicant documentation
of certification. An applicant who fails to complete the training
program to which he or she is first admitted, or was admitted upon
reapplication, may not be certified by the Governor's committee: Provided, however, That an applicant who has completed the minimum
training required by the Governor's committee may be certified as
a law-enforcement officer, notwithstanding the applicant's failure
to complete additional training hours required in the training
program to which he or she originally applied.
(c) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on
the effective date of this article and is a graduate of the West
Virginia basic police training course, the West Virginia State
Police cadet training program, or other approved law-enforcement
training academy, is certifiable as having met the minimum entry
level law-enforcement training program requirements and is exempt
from the requirement of attending a law-enforcement training
academy. To receive certification, the person shall make written
application within ninety calendar days of the effective date of
this article to the Governor's committee requesting certification.
The Governor's committee shall review the applicant's relevant
scholastic records and, upon determining that the applicant has met
the requirements for certification, shall forward to the applicant
documentation of certification.
(d) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on
the effective date of this article and is not a graduate of the
West Virginia basic police training course, the West Virginia State
Police Cadet Training Program, or other approved law-enforcement
training academy, is certifiable as having met the minimum entry
level law-enforcement training program requirements and is exempt from the requirement of attending a law-enforcement training
academy if the person has been employed as a law-enforcement
officer for a period of not less than five consecutive years
immediately preceding the date of application for certification.
To receive certification, the person shall make written application
within ninety calendar days following the effective date of this
article to the Governor's committee requesting certification. The
application shall include notarized statements as to the
applicant's years of employment as a law-enforcement officer. The
Governor's committee shall review the application and, upon
determining that the applicant has met the requirements for
certification, shall forward to the applicant documentation of
certification.
(e) Any person who begins employment on or after the effective
date of this article as a law-enforcement officer is certifiable as
having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement training program
requirements and is exempt from attending a law-enforcement
training academy if the person has satisfactorily completed a
course of instruction in law enforcement equivalent to or exceeding
the minimum applicable law-enforcement training curricula
promulgated by the Governor's committee. To receive certification,
the person shall make written application within ninety calendar
days following the commencement of employment to the Governor's
committee requesting certification. The application shall include
a notarized statement of the applicant's satisfactory completion of the course of instruction in law enforcement, a notarized
transcript of the applicant's relevant scholastic records, and a
notarized copy of the curriculum of the completed course of
instruction. The Governor's committee shall review the application
and, if it finds the applicant has met the requirements for
certification shall forward to the applicant documentation of
certification.
(f) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on
or after the effective date of this article and fails to be
certified shall be automatically terminated and no further
emoluments shall be paid to such officer by his or her employer.
Any person terminated shall be entitled to reapply, as a private
citizen, to the subcommittee for training and certification, and
upon being certified may again be employed as a law-enforcement
officer in this state: Provided, That if a person is terminated
under this subsection because an application was not timely filed
to the academy, and the person's employer failed to provide notice
or disclosure to that person as set forth in subsection (b) of this
section, the employer shall pay the full cost of attending the
academy if the person's application to the subcommittee as a
private citizen is subsequently approved.
(g) Nothing in this article may be construed as prohibiting
any governing body, Civil Service Commission or chief executive of
any West Virginia law-enforcement agency from requiring their law-
enforcement officers to meet qualifications and satisfactorily complete a course of law-enforcement instruction which exceeds the
minimum entry level law-enforcement qualification and training
curricula promulgated by the Governor's committee.
(h) The Governor's committee may de-certify law-enforcement
officers upon recommendation of the law-enforcement professional
standards subcommittee pursuant to the process detailed in this
article and legislative rules.
(h) (i) The requirement of this section for qualification,
training and certification of law-enforcement officers shall not be
mandatory during the two years next succeeding the effective date
of this article July 9, 1981 for the law-enforcement officers of a
law-enforcement agency which employs a civil service system for its
law-enforcement personnel, nor shall such provisions be mandatory
during the five years next succeeding the effective date of this
article July 9, 1981 for law-enforcement officers of a law-
enforcement agency which does not employ a civil service system for
its law-enforcement personnel: Provided, That such these
requirements shall be are mandatory for all such law-enforcement
officers until their law-enforcement officials apply for their
exemption by submitting a written plan to the Governor's committee
which will reasonably assure compliance of all law-enforcement
officers of their agencies within the applicable two or five-year
period of exemption.
(i) (j) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Governor's
committee made pursuant to this article may contest such the decision in accordance with the provisions of article five, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code.
(j) (k) Any person terminated from employment for not filing
an application to the law-enforcement training academy within
ninety days after commencing employment as a law-enforcement
officer may appeal the termination to the Governor's committee for
reconsideration on an individual basis.
(k) (l) Beginning July 1, 2002 until June 13, 2003, any
applicant who has been conditionally employed as a law-enforcement
officer who failed to submit a timely application pursuant to the
provisions of this section, may be conditionally employed as a law-
enforcement officer and may resubmit an application pursuant to
subsection (b) of this section to an approved law-enforcement
training academy. If the applicant is accepted, the employer shall
pay compensation to the employee for attendance at the law-
enforcement training academy at the rate provided in section eight
of this article.
§30-29-11. Required reporting by law-enforcement agencies of
certain disciplinary information; Legislative
rules; Requirement that database be consulted prior
to the hiring of law-enforcement officers.
(a) All law-enforcement agencies in this state shall provide
to the law-enforcement professional standards subcommittee the name
of, and pertinent facts regarding, any law-enforcement officer charged or for which there has been a judicial or administrative
finding of probable cause to believe that:
(1) He or she has committed a felony or a misdemeanor crime of
violence, moral turpitude or controlled substance offence; or
(2) He or she has been administratively charged with a
violation of any agency, rule, or policy which, if proven, would
result in discharge, demotion or suspension and he or she has
resigned prior to a final determination.
(b) On and after the effective date of this section enacted
during the 2010 regular session of the Legislature, the law-
enforcement professional standards subcommittee shall recommend
legislative rules to the Governor's committee on crime, delinquency
and correction relating to the reporting of certain criminal and
administrative violations by law-enforcement officers, the process
by which all reports are investigated and recorded and the process
by which all law-enforcement agencies can access the records of the
subcommittee.
(c) The legislative rules recommended pursuant to subsection
(b) of this section shall address what violations of agency rules,
regulations or policies will result in a mandatory report to the
subcommittee in addition to the statutorily mandated reports
pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.
(d) The legislative rules recommended pursuant to subsection
(b) of this section shall include a process by which the
subcommittee can receive, review and investigate all reported actions. The recommended legislative rules shall also provide
guidelines for the establishment and use of a database of all
reported actions that is accessible by law-enforcement agencies of
this state.
(e) Prior to hiring any law-enforcement officer, the head of
any law-enforcement agency of this state or any entity or agency of
this state or any political subdivision thereof authorized to
employ or hire a law-enforcement officer shall submit the name of
any prospective law-enforcement hire to the database authorized by
the provisions of section three of this article to determine if
said database contains information regarding said prospective
employee.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to expand the
responsibilities of the law-enforcement training subcommittee and
rename it the law-enforcement professional standards subcommittee;
to clarify the authority to de-certify law-enforcement officers; to
establish a database of law-enforcement officers disciplined for
certain types of misconduct; to request the proposal of legislative
rules to set standards for law-enforcement agencies to report
certain types of misconduct by officers to the database; and to
require that law-enforcement agencies check the database prior to
hiring any officer
.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§30-29-11
is new; therefore strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.
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