H. B. 2471
(By Delegates Modesitt and Faircloth)
[Introduced January 29, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Education.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section five, article four, chapter
eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; to amend and reenact
section five, article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of said
code; and to amend and reenact section five hundred one,
article five, chapter sixty-a of said code, all relating to
extending law-enforcement powers to include certified
law-enforcement officers at state institutions of higher
learning and to require that the law-enforcement officers of
state institutions of higher learning be certified as
law-enforcement officers under section five, article
twenty-nine of chapter thirty of this code.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article four, chapter eighteen-b of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; that section five, article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of said code be amended and
reenacted; and that section five hundred one, article five,
chapter sixty-a of said code be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
CHAPTER 18B. HIGHER EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 4. GENERAL ADMINISTRATION.
§18B-4-5. Security officers; appointment; qualifications;
authority; compensation and removal.
The governing boards are hereby authorized to appoint bona
fide residents of this state to act as security officers or
campus police officers upon any premises owned or leased by the
state of West Virginia and under the jurisdiction of the
governing boards, subject to the conditions and restrictions
hereinafter imposed. Before performing duties as a security
officer or campus police officer in any county, each person so
appointed shall qualify therefor in the same manner as is
required of county officers by the taking and filing of an oath
of office as required by article one, chapter six of this code
and by posting an official bond as required by article two,
chapter six of this code. No A security officer or campus police
officer shall have authority to may carry a gun or any other
dangerous weapon until a license therefor has been obtained in
the manner prescribed by section two, article seven, chapter
sixty-one of this code, if the security officer or campus police
officer fulfills the certification requirement for law-enforcement officers under section five, article twenty-nine,
chapter thirty of this code.
It shall be the duty of any person so appointed and
qualified to preserve law and order on any premises under the
jurisdiction of the governing boards and on any other street,
road or thoroughfare, except controlled access and open country
highways, adjacent to or passing through such premises, to which
the person may be assigned by the president or other
administrative head of the state institution of higher education.
For this purpose the security officer shall be deemed to be a
law-enforcement officer in accordance with the provisions of
section one, article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of this code
and, as to offenses committed within any area so assigned, have
and may exercise all the powers and authority and shall be
subject to all the requirements and responsibilities of a
law-enforcement officer: Provided, That the supervisor of any
security officer employed on the effective date of this section
may exempt such officer from any law-enforcement training
required in said article. the assignment of security officers to
the duties authorized by this section shall not be deemed to
supersede in any way the authority or duty of other peace
officers to preserve law and order on such premises. In
addition, the security officers appointed under provisions of
this section shall have authority to assist local peace officers
on public highways in the control of traffic in and around
premises owned by the state of West Virginia whenever such traffic is generated as a result of athletic or other activities
conducted or sponsored by a state institution of higher education
and when such assistance has been requested by the local peace
officers.
The salary of all such security officers shall be paid by
the appropriate governing board. Each state institution may
furnish each such security officer with an official uniform to be
worn while on duty and shall furnish and require each such
officer while on duty to wear a shield with an appropriate
inscription and to carry credentials certifying to the person's
identity and authority as a security officer.
The governing boards may at their pleasure revoke the
authority of any security officer. The president or other
administrative head of the state institution of higher education
shall report the termination of employment of a security officer
by filing a notice to that effect in the office of the clerk of
each county in which the security officer's oath of office was
filed, and in the case of a security officer licensed to carry a
gun or other dangerous weapon, by notifying the clerk of the
circuit court of the county in which the license therefor was
granted.
CHAPTER 30. PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS.
ARTICLE 29. LAW-ENFORCEMENT TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION.
§30-29-5. Certification requirements.
(a) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (g) below, no person may be employed as a law-enforcement officer by any West
Virginia law-enforcement agency or state institution of higher
education on or after the effective date of this article unless
the person is certified, or is certifiable in one of the manners
specified in subsection (c) through (e) below, by the governor's
committee as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement
qualification and training program requirements promulgated
pursuant to this article.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (g) below, a person who
is not certified, or certifiable in one of the manners specified
in subsections (c) through (e) below, may be conditionally
employed as a law-enforcement officer until certified: Provided,
That, within ninety calendar days of the commencement of
employment or the effective date of this article if the person is
already employed on the effective date, he or she makes a written
application to attend an approved law-enforcement training
academy. The academy shall notify the applicant in writing of
the receipt of the application and of the tentative date of the
applicant's enrollment. Any applicant who, as the result of
extenuating circumstances acceptable to his or her
law-enforcement official, is unable to attend the scheduled
training program to which he or she was admitted may reapply and
shall be admitted to the next regularly scheduled training
program. An applicant who satisfactorily completes the program
shall, within thirty days of completion, make written application
to the governor's committee requesting certification as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement qualification and
training program requirements. Upon determining that an
applicant has met the requirements for certification, the
governor's committee shall forward to the applicant documentation
of certification. An applicant who fails to complete the
training program to which he or she is first admitted, or was
admitted upon reapplication, may not be certified by the
governor's committee.
(c) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer
on the effective date of this article and is a graduate of the
West Virginia basic police training course, the West Virginia
department of public safety state police cadet training program,
or other approved law-enforcement training academy, is
certifiable as having met the minimum entry law-enforcement
training program requirements and is exempt from the requirement
of attending a law-enforcement training academy. To receive
certification, the person shall make written application within
ninety calendar days of the effective date of this article to the
governor's committee requesting certification. The governor's
committee shall review the applicant's relevant scholastic
records and, upon determining that the applicant has met the
requirements for certification, shall forward to the applicant
documentation of certification.
(d) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer
on the effective date of this article and is not a graduate of
the West Virginia basic police training course, the West Virginia department of public safety state police
cadet training program,
or other approved law-enforcement training academy, is
certifiable as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement
training program requirements and is exempt from the requirement
of attending a law-enforcement training academy if the person has
been employed as a law-enforcement officer for a period of not
less than five consecutive years immediately preceding the date
of application for certification. To receive certification, the
person shall make written application within ninety calendar days
following the effective date of this article to the governor's
committee requesting certification. The application shall
include notarized statements as to the applicant's years of
employment as a law-enforcement officer. The governor's
committee shall review the application and, upon determining that
the applicant has met the requirements for certification, shall
forward to the applicant documentation of certification.
(e) Any person who begins employment on or after the
effective date of this article as a law-enforcement officer is
certifiable has as having met the minimum entry level
law-enforcement training program requirements and is exempt from
attending a law-enforcement training academy if the person has
satisfactorily completed a course of instruction in law
enforcement equivalent to or exceeding the minimum applicable
law-enforcement training curricula promulgated by the governor's
committee. To receive certification, the person shall make
written application within ninety calendar days following the commencement of employment to the governor's committee requesting
certification. The application shall include a notarized
statement of the applicant's satisfactory completion of the
course of instruction in law enforcement, a notarized transcript
of the applicant's relevant scholastic records, and a notarized
copy of the curriculum of the completed course of instruction.
The governor's committee shall review the application and, if it
finds the applicant has met the requirements for certification
shall forward to the applicant documentation of certification.
(f) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer
on or after the effective date of this article and fails to be
certified shall be automatically terminated and no further
emoluments shall be paid to such officer by his or her employer.
Any person terminated shall be entitled to reapply, as a private
citizen, to the subcommittee for training and certification, and
upon being certified may again be employed as a law-enforcement
officer in this state.
(g) Nothing in this article may be construed as prohibiting
any governing body, civil service commission or chief executive
of any West Virginia law-enforcement agency from requiring their
law-enforcement officers to meet qualifications and
satisfactorily complete a course of law-enforcement instruction
which exceeds the minimum entry level law-enforcement
qualification and training curricula promulgated by the
governor's committee.
(h) The requirement of this section for qualification, training and certification of law-enforcement officers shall not
be mandatory during the two years next succeeding the effective
date of this article for the law-enforcement officers of a
law-enforcement agency which employs a civil service system for
its law-enforcement personnel, nor shall such provisions be
mandatory during the five years next succeeding the effective
date of this article for law-enforcement officers of a
law-enforcement agency which does not employ a civil service
system for its law-enforcement personnel: Provided, That such
requirements shall be mandatory for all such law-enforcement
officers until their law-enforcement officials apply for their
exemption by submitting a written plan to the governor's
committee which will reasonably assure compliance of all
law-enforcement officers of their agencies within the applicable
two or five-year period of exemption.
(i) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the governor's
committee made pursuant to this article may contest such decision
in accordance with the provisions of article five, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code.
CHAPTER 60A. UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT.
ARTICLE 5. ENFORCEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS
§60A-5-501. Powers of enforcement personnel.
(a) Any member of the department of public safety, any
sheriff, any deputy sheriff, and any municipal police officer,
any security officer or campus police officer at state institutions of higher learning and any other certified
law-enforcement officer may in the enforcement of the provisions
of this chapter:
(1) Carry firearms;
(2) Execute and serve search warrants, arrest warrants,
subpoenas, and summonses issued under the authority of this
state;
(3) Make arrests without warrant for any offense under this
act committed in his or her presence, or if he or she has
probable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has
committed or is committing a violation of this chapter which may
constitute a felony;
(4) Make seizures of property pursuant to this chapter; or
(5) Perform such other law-enforcement duties as said state
board of pharmacy or said appropriate department, board or
agency, as specified in section 301, designates.
(b) All officers, agents, inspectors, and representatives of
the said state board of pharmacy and of the said appropriate
department, board, or agency, as specified in section 301, and
members of the department of public safety West Virginia state
police may execute and serve administrative warrants issued
incident to the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter.
Any such officer, agent, inspector, and representative of the
said state board of pharmacy and of the said appropriate
department, board, or agency, as specified in said section 301,
may:
(1) Execute and serve subpoenas and summonses issued under
the authority of this state;
(2) Make arrests without warrant for any offense under this
chapter committed in his or her presence, or if he or she has
probable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has
committed or is committing a violation of this chapter which may
constitute a felony; or
(3) Make seizures of property pursuant to this chapter.
(c) All prosecuting attorneys and the attorney general, or
any of their assistants, shall assist in the enforcement of all
provisions of this chapter and shall cooperate with all agencies
charged with the enforcement of the laws of the United States, of
this state, and of all other states relating to controlled
substances.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
