ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 399
(Senator Buckalew, original sponsor)
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[Passed March 9, 1995; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact section twelve, article two,
chapter fifteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to mission
of the division of public safety; powers of the
superintendent, officers and members; patrol of turnpike;
sale of surplus property; and use of generated funds.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twelve, article two, chapter fifteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. DIVISION OF PUBLIC SAFETY.
§15-2-12.Mission of the division; powers of superintendent,
officers and members; patrol of turnpike.
(a) The West Virginia division of public safety shall have
the mission of statewide enforcement of criminal and traffic
laws with emphasis on providing basic enforcement and citizen protection from criminal depredation throughout the state and
maintaining the safety of the state's public streets, roads and
highways.
(b) The superintendent and each of the officers and
members of the division are hereby empowered:
(1) To make arrests anywhere within the state of any
persons charged with the violation of any law of this state, or
of the United States, and when a witness to the perpetration of
any offense or crime, or to the violation of any law of this
state, or of the United States, to make arrests without
warrant; to arrest and detain any persons suspected of the
commission of any felony or misdemeanor whenever a complaint is
made and a warrant is issued thereon for the arrest, and the
person arrested shall be immediately brought before the proper
tribunal for examination and trial in the county where the
offense for which the arrest has been made was committed;
(2) To serve criminal process issued by any court or
magistrate anywhere within this state: Provided, That they may
not serve civil process; and
(3) To cooperate with local authorities in detecting crime
and in apprehending any person or persons engaged in or
suspected of the commission of any crime, misdemeanor or
offense against the law of this state, or of the United States,
or of any ordinance of any municipality in this state; and to
take affidavits in connection with any application to the division of highways, division of motor vehicles and division
of public safety of West Virginia for any license, permit or
certificate that may be lawfully issued by these divisions of
state government.
(c) Members of the division of public safety are hereby
designated as forest patrolmen and game and fish wardens
throughout the state to do and perform any duties and exercise
any powers of forest patrolmen and game and fish wardens, and
may apprehend and bring before any court or magistrate having
jurisdiction of these matters, anyone violating any of the
provisions of chapters twenty, sixty and sixty-one of this
code. The division of public safety is at any time subject to
the call of the West Virginia alcohol beverage control
commissioner to aid in apprehending any person violating any of
the provisions of chapter sixty of this code. They shall serve
and execute warrants for the arrest of any person and warrants
for the search of any premises issued by any properly
constituted authority, and shall exercise all of the powers
conferred by law upon a sheriff. They may not serve any civil
process or exercise any of the powers of such officer in civil
matters.
(d) Any member of the division of public safety knowing or
having reason to believe that any person has violated the law
may make complaint in writing before any court or officer
having jurisdiction and procure a warrant for the offender, execute the warrant and bring the person before the proper
tribunal having jurisdiction. The member shall make return on
all warrants to the tribunals and his or her official title
shall be "member of the division of public safety". Members of
the division of public safety may execute any summons or
process issued by any tribunal having jurisdiction requiring
the attendance of any person as a witness before the tribunal
and make return thereon as provided by law. Any return by a
member of the division of public safety showing the manner of
executing the warrant or process has the same force and effect
as if made by a sheriff.
(e) Each member of the division of public safety, when
called by the sheriff of any county, or when directed by the
governor by proclamation, has full power and authority within
the county, or within the territory defined by the governor, to
direct and command absolutely the assistance of any sheriff,
deputy sheriff, chief of police, policeman, game and fish
warden and peace officer of the state, or of any county or
municipality therein, or of any able-bodied citizen of the
United States, to assist and aid in accomplishing the purposes
expressed in this article. When called, any officer or person
is, during the time his or her assistance is required, for all
purposes a member of the division of public safety and subject
to all the provisions of this article.
(f) The superintendent may also assign members of the division to perform police duties on any turnpike or toll road,
or any section of any turnpike or toll road, operated by the
West Virginia parkways, economic development and tourism
authority: Provided, That the authority shall reimburse the
division of public safety for salaries paid to the members and
shall either pay directly or reimburse the division for all
other expenses of the group of members in accordance with
actual or estimated costs determined by the superintendent.
(g) The division of public safety may develop proposals
for a comprehensive county or multicounty plan on the
implementation of an enhanced emergency service telephone
system and may cause a public meeting on the proposals, all as
set forth in section six-a, article six, chapter twenty-four of
this code.
(h) The superintendent may also assign members of the
division to administer tests for the issuance of commercial
drivers' licenses, operator and junior operator licenses as
provided for in section seven, article two, chapter seventeen-b
of this code: Provided, That the division of motor vehicles
shall reimburse the division of public safety for salaries and
employee benefits paid to the members, and shall either pay
directly or reimburse the division for all other expenses of
the group of members in accordance with actual costs determined
by the superintendent.
(i) The superintendent shall be reimbursed by the division of motor vehicles for salaries and employee benefits paid to
members of the division of public safety and shall either be
paid directly or reimbursed by the division of motor vehicles
for all other expenses of the group of members in accordance
with actual costs determined by the superintendent, for
services performed by the members relating to the duties and
obligations of the division of motor vehicles set forth in
chapters seventeen, seventeen-a, seventeen-b, seventeen-c and
seventeen-d of this code.
(j) By the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-three, the superintendent shall establish a network to
implement reports of the disappearance of children by local
law-enforcement agencies to local school division
superintendents and the state registrar of vital statistics.
The network shall be designed to establish cooperative
arrangements between local law-enforcement agencies and local
school divisions concerning reports of missing children and
notices to law-enforcement agencies of requests for copies of
the cumulative records and birth certificates of missing
children. The network shall also establish a mechanism for
reporting the identities of all missing children to the state
registrar of vital statistics.
(k) The superintendent may at his or her discretion and
upon the written request of the West Virginia alcohol beverage
control commissioner assist the commissioner in the coordination and enforcement of article sixteen, chapter eleven
of this code and chapter sixty of this code.
(l) Notwithstanding the provisions of article one-a,
chapter twenty of this code, the superintendent of the division
of public safety may sell any surplus real property to which
the division of public safety or its predecessors retain title,
and deposit the net proceeds into a special revenue account to
be utilized for the purchase of additional real property and
for repairs to or construction of detachment offices or other
facilities required by the division of public safety. There is
hereby created a special revolving fund in the state treasury
which shall be designated as the "surplus real property
proceeds fund". The fund shall consist of all money received
from the sale of surplus real property owned by the division of
public safety. Moneys deposited in the fund shall only be
available for expenditure upon appropriation by the
Legislature: Provided, That amounts collected which are found
from time to time to exceed the funds needed for the purposes
set forth in this subsection may be transferred to other
accounts or funds and redesignated for other purposes by
appropriation of the Legislature.
(m) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, the
agency for surplus property is hereby empowered to transfer
funds generated from the sale of vehicles, other equipment and
commodities belonging to the division of public safety to a special revenue account within the division of public safety
entitled the division of public safety surplus transfer
account. Moneys deposited in the fund shall only be available
for expenditure upon appropriation by the Legislature:
Provided, That amounts collected which are found from time to
time to exceed the funds needed for the purposes set forth in
this subsection may be transferred to other accounts or funds
and redesignated for other purposes by appropriation of the
Legislature. Any funds transferred to this account may be
utilized by the superintendent to defray the cost of normal
operating needs of the division.