Senate Bill No. 214
(By Senators Bailey, Jenkins, Love and Hunter)
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[Introduced January 11, 2008; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §15-2-12 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to powers of the West Virginia
State Police.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §15-2-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WEST VIRGINIA STATE POLICE.
§15-2-12. Mission of the State Police; powers of superintendent,
officers and members; patrol of turnpike.
(a) The West Virginia State Police 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,
including any person for violations of United States
Immigration and Enforcement Laws, 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 of West Virginia State Police for any license, permit
or certificate that may be lawfully issued by these divisions of state government.
(c) Members of the West Virginia State Police 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 West Virginia State Police
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 West Virginia State Police 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 West Virginia State Police". Members of the West Virginia State
Police 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 West Virginia State Police
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 West Virginia State Police, 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 West Virginia State
Police 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 West Virginia State Police 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 West Virginia State Police 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) 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.
(i) 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.
(j) Notwithstanding the provisions of article one-a, chapter
twenty of this code, the Superintendent of the West Virginia State
Police may sell any surplus real property to which the West
Virginia State Police 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 West Virginia State Police. 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 West Virginia State Police. 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.
(k) 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 West Virginia State Police to a special revenue account within the West Virginia State Police
entitled the West Virginia State Police 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.
(l) If the State Police or any other law-enforcement agency in
this state receives a report that a person who has Alzheimer's
disease and related dementia is missing, the State Police or any
other law-enforcement agency shall immediately open an
investigation for the purpose of determining the whereabouts of
that missing person. Any policy of the State Police or any other
law-enforcement agency relating to a waiting period prior to
initiation of an investigation of a missing person shall not apply
in the case of a person who has Alzheimer's disease or other
related dementia of the type referred to in this subsection.
(m) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, effective on and after the first day of July, two
thousand seven, the expenses and salaries paid to the members of
the West Virginia State Police for the monitoring and enforcement duties defined in chapter seventeen-c of this code may not be paid
from the State Road Fund or subject to reimbursement from the
Division of Motor Vehicles but shall be subject to appropriation by
the Legislature.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide state police with
power to enforce United States immigration laws.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.