COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 399
(By Senator Buckalew)
____________
[Originating in the Committee on
Finance; reported February 28, 1995.]
A BILL 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.
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.