Senate Bill No. 40
(By Senator White and Rowe)
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[Introduced January 14, 2004; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §30-29-11, relating
to prohibiting law-enforcement surveillance of individuals and
groups of individuals participating in constitutionally
protected activities without a particularized suspicion of
criminal activity unrelated to the protected activity.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §30-29-11
, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 29. LAW-ENFORCEMENT TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION.
§30-29-11. Prohibition on surveillance of constitutionally
protected conduct.
(a) The Legislature finds that the use by a law-enforcement
officer of surveillance tactics on individuals or groups of individuals based on participation in activities protected by the
First Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article III
of the West Virginia Constitution, such as political advocacy or
the practice of a religion, without particularized suspicion of
criminal activity unrelated to the activity protected by the First
Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article III of the
West Virginia Constitution, is prohibited. The reality or public
perception of infringing upon the First Amendment rights set out in
the United States Constitution of any group of people, alienates
people from police, hinders community policing efforts, and causes
law-enforcement agencies to lose credibility and trust among the
people law-enforcement agencies are sworn to protect and serve.
Therefore, the West Virginia Legislature declares that surveillance
of individuals or groups of individuals in a manner that violates
their constitutional rights, is contrary to public policy and
should not be used as a law-enforcement investigative tactic.
(1) For purposes of this section:
(A) The term "law-enforcement officer" means any duly sworn
and authorized member of a law-enforcement agency authorized to
maintain public peace and order, prevent and detect crime, make
arrests and enforce the laws of this state, a county or
municipality.
(B) The term "state and local law-enforcement agencies" means
any duly authorized state, county or municipal organization employing one or more persons whose responsibility is the
enforcement of the laws of this state, a county or municipality.
(2) A law-enforcement officer and a law-enforcement agency may
not engage in surveillance of individuals or groups of individuals
based on participation in activities protected by the First
Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article III of the
West Virginia Constitution, including political advocacy or the
practice of a religion, without particularized suspicion of
criminal activity unrelated to the activity protected by the First
Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article III of the
West Virginia Constitution.
(b) State and local law-enforcement agencies shall adopt
policies and procedures to include the following:
(1) A prohibition on unconstitutional surveillance of citizens
and groups taking part in protected activities;
(2) Independent procedures for receiving, investigating, and
responding to complaints alleging prohibited surveillance;
(3) Procedures to discipline law-enforcement officers who
engage in prohibited surveillance; and
(4) Any other policies and procedures considered necessary by
state and local law-enforcement agencies to eliminate prohibited
surveillance.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit law-enforcement
surveillance of individuals and groups of individuals participating
in constitutionally protected activities without a particularized
suspicion of criminal activity unrelated to the protected activity.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.