Senate Bill No. 340
(By Senators Anderson, Sharpe Unger, Hunter, Ross and Bowman)
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[Introduced January 31, 2000; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article ten, chapter fifteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
by adding thereto a new section, designated section five,
relating to physical ability tests and academic requirements
for certain returning heads of law-enforcement agencies and
criminal justice enforcement personnel.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article ten, chapter fifteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section five,
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. COOPERATION BETWEEN LAW-ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.
§15-10-5. Exemptions from physical ability tests for certain
returning law-enforcement personnel; academic
requirements for same.
Heads of law-enforcement agencies, as defined in section
three of this article, and all chief field deputies appointed by
a county sheriff, who have been separated from their respective
law-enforcement agencies for a period of twenty-four months or
more, who remain in good standing with their respective agencies,
and who return to employment in a law-enforcement agency are
exempt from the physical ability test as set forth in
administrative rules governing law-enforcement training
standards: Provided, That law-enforcement officers returning to
work are required to meet the academic requirements as set forth
in sections nine, ten and eleven, series two, title one hundred
forty-nine of the governor's committee on crime, delinquency and
correction, law-enforcement training standards.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the heads of
law-enforcement agencies, and certain high-ranking deputies, to
return to work in the law-enforcement field, after an absence of
two years or more, without passing a physical ability test. The
returning law-enforcement officer must be in good standing with
the agency he or she left. The bill provides that such officers would be required to meet the academic requirements for
law-enforcement personnel as set forth in administrative rules.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.