COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 89
(By Senator Kessler)
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[Originating in the Committee on Government Organization;
reported February 11, 2010.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §8-14-6 and §8-14-17 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to paid police
departments; and establishing that chiefs or deputy chiefs of
police are to return to their previously held position within
the paid police department following expiration of term as
chief or deputy chief.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-14-6 and §8-14-17 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all 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.
PART V. CIVIL SERVICE FOR CERTAIN POLICE DEPARTMENTS.
§8-14-6. Qualifications for appointment or promotion to positions
in certain paid police departments to be ascertained by
examination; provisions exclusive as to appointments,
etc.; definitions.
(a) All appointments and promotions to all positions in all
paid police departments of Class I and Class II cities shall be
made only according to qualifications and fitness to be ascertained
by examinations, which, so far as practicable, shall be
competitive, as hereinafter provided.
(b) No individual, except the chief
or deputy chiefs of
police,
shall if the position of deputy chief of police has been
previously created by the city council of that Class I or Class II
city, may be appointed, promoted, reinstated, removed, discharged,
suspended or reduced in rank or pay as a paid member of
any a paid
police department, regardless of rank or position, of any Class I
or Class II city in any manner or by any means other than those
prescribed in the following sections of this article:
Provided,
That an individual appointed chief or deputy chief of police who
held a position as a member of a paid police department in that
police department before the appointment as chief or deputy chief
of police shall be reinstated to the officer's previous rank
following his or her term as chief or deputy chief of police.
(c) The term "member of a paid police department", whenever
used in the following sections of this article,
shall mean and include means any an individual employed in a paid police
department who is clothed with the police power of the state in
being authorized to carry deadly weapons, make arrests, enforce
traffic and other municipal ordinances, issue summons for
violations of traffic and other municipal ordinances, and perform
other duties which are within the scope of active, general law
enforcement.
(d) The term "appointing officer", as used in the following
sections of this article,
shall be construed to mean means the
Class I or Class II city officer in whom the power of appointment
of members of a paid police department is vested by charter
provision or ordinance of the city.
§8-14-17. Vacancies filled by promotions; eligibility for
promotion; rights of chief.
(a) Vacancies in positions in a paid police department of a
Class I or Class II city shall be filled, so far as practicable, by
promotions from among individuals holding positions in the next
lower grade in the department.
(b) Promotions shall be based upon experience and by written
competitive examinations to be provided by the Policemen's Civil
Service Commission:
Provided, That except for the chief
or deputy
chiefs of police
, if the position of deputy chief of police has
been previously created by the city council of that Class I or
Class II city, no individual
shall be is eligible for promotion
from the lower grade to the next higher grade until
such
the individual
shall have has completed at least two years of continuous service in the next lower grade in the department
immediately prior to
said the examination:
Provided, however, That
notwithstanding the provisions of section six of this article, any
member of a paid police department of
a Class I or Class II city
now occupying the office of chief
or deputy chief of police of
such
that paid police department, or hereafter appointed to
such the
office
of chief or deputy chief of police,
shall except as
hereinafter provided in this section,
be and shall continue to be
is entitled to all of the rights and benefits of the civil service
provisions of this article, except that he
or she may be removed
from
such the office of chief
or deputy chief of police without
cause, and the time spent by
such the member in the office of
such
chief
or deputy chief of police shall be added to the time served
by
such the member during the entire time he or she was a member of
said that paid police department prior to his
or her appointment as
chief
or deputy chief of police, and shall in all cases of removal,
except for removal for good cause, retain the regular rank within
said that paid police department which he
or she held at the time
of his
or her appointment to the office of chief
or deputy chief of
police or which he
or she has attained during his
or her term of
service as chief
or deputy chief of police.
(c) The provisions of this section
shall be construed to apply
and
to inure to the benefit of all individuals who have ever been
subject to the provisions of this article. The commission
shall
have the power to may determine in each instance whether an
increase in salary constitutes a promotion.