H. B. 2450
(By Delegates Houston, Fletcher, Hatfield, Susman,
Marshall and Fleischauer)
[Introduced January 28, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization then the
Judiciary.]
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 requiring the
state police and other state law-enforcement agencies to
immediately investigate and search for missing persons who
have Alzheimer's disease.
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. WEST VIRGINIA STATE POLICE.
§15-2-12. Mission of the division; powers of superintendent, officers and members; patrol of turnpike.
(a) The West Virginia
division of public safety 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, 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
state police 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 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
division of public safety 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
division of public safety 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
division of public
safety West Virginia state police." Members of the
division of
public safety 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
division of public safety 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
division of public safety 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
division of public safety 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
division of
public safety 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
division of public safety 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) 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 West Virginia state
police 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 West Virginia state
police 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 West Virginia state police may sell any surplus real
property to which the
division of public safety 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
division of public safety 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
division of
public safety 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.
(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 West
Virginia state police to a special revenue account within the
division of public safety West Virginia state police entitled the
division of public safety 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.
(n) If the state police or any other law-enforcement agency
in the 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 does not apply
in the case of a person who has Alzheimer's disease or other
related dementia.
NOTE: This bill requires the State Police and all other
law-enforcement agencies of the state to immediately investigate
reports of missing persons who have Alzheimer's disease.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.