Senate Bill No. 351
(By Senators Foster, Jenkins, Prezioso, Yost, Unger, Kessler,
Stollings, Plymale and Palumbo)
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[Introduced January 26, 2010; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §30-29-3 and §30-29-10 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to mandatory
antiracial profiling training for certain law-enforcement
officers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §30-29-3 and §30-29-10
of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 29. LAW-ENFORCEMENT TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION.
§30-29-3. Duties of the Governor's committee and the
subcommittee.
Upon recommendation of the subcommittee, the Governor's
committee shall, by or pursuant to rule or regulation:
(a) Provide funding for the establishment and support of
law-enforcement training academies in the state;
(b) Establish standards governing the establishment and
operation of the law-enforcement training academies, including
regional locations throughout the state, in order to provide
access to each law-enforcement agency in the state in accordance
with available funds;
(c) Establish minimum law-enforcement instructor
qualifications;
(d) Certify qualified law-enforcement instructors;
(e) Maintain a list of approved law-enforcement instructors;
(f) Promulgate standards governing the qualification of
law-enforcement officers and the entry-level law-enforcement
training curricula. These standards shall require satisfactory
completion of a minimum of four hundred classroom hours, shall
provide for credit to be given for relevant classroom hours
earned pursuant to training other than training at an
established law-enforcement training academy if earned within
five years immediately preceding the date of application for
certification, and shall provide that the required classroom
hours can be accumulated on the basis of a part-time curricula
spanning no more than twelve months, or a full-time curricula;
(g) Establish standards governing in-service law-enforcement
officer training curricula and in-service supervisory level
training curricula;
(h) Establish standards governing mandatory training to
prevent racial profiling, as defined in section ten of this article, for both entry level and in-service training curricula
as required in this section;
(i) Certify law-enforcement officers, as provided in section
five of this article;
(j) Seek supplemental funding for law-enforcement training
academies from sources other than the fees collected pursuant to
section four of this article;
(k) Any responsibilities and duties as the Legislature may,
from time to time, see fit to direct to the committee; and
(l) Submit, on or before September 30 of each year, to the
Governor, and upon request to individual members of the
Legislature, a report on its activities during the previous year
and an accounting of funds paid into and disbursed from the
special revenue account establish pursuant to section four of
this article.
§30-29-10. Prohibition of racial profiling.
(a) The Legislature finds that the use by a law-enforcement
officer of race, ethnicity, or national origin in deciding which
persons should be subject to traffic stops, stops and frisks,
questioning, searches, and seizures is a problematic law-
enforcement tactic. The reality or public perception of racial
profiling alienates people from police, hinders community
policing efforts, and causes law-enforcement officers and law-
enforcement agencies to lose credibility and trust among the
people law-enforcement is sworn to protect and serve. Therefore,
the West Virginia Legislature declares that racial profiling is
contrary to public policy and should not be used as a law-
enforcement investigative tactic.
(b) For purposes of this section:
(1) The term "law-enforcement officer" means any duly
authorized member of a law-enforcement agency who is authorized
to maintain public peace and order, prevent and detect crime,
make arrests and enforce the laws of the state or any county or
municipality thereof.
(2) The term "municipality" means any incorporated town or
city whose boundaries lie within the geographic boundaries of the
state.
(3) The term "racial profiling" means the practice of a law-
enforcement officer relying, to any degree, on race, ethnicity,
or national origin in selecting which individuals to subject to
routine investigatory activities, or in deciding upon the scope
and substance of law-enforcement activity following the initial
routine investigatory activity. Racial profiling does not
include reliance on race, ethnicity, or national origin in
combination with other identifying factors when the law-
enforcement officer is seeking to apprehend a specific suspect
whose race, ethnicity, or national origin is part of the
description of the suspect.
(4) 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 laws of the state or any county or municipality
thereof.
(c) No law-enforcement officer shall engage in racial
profiling.
(d) All state and local law-enforcement agencies shall
establish and maintain policies and procedures designed to
eliminate racial profiling. Policies and procedures shall
include the following:
(1) A prohibition on racial profiling;
(2) Independent procedures for receiving, investigating, and
responding to complaints alleging racial profiling by law-
enforcement officers;
(3) Procedures to discipline law-enforcement officers who
engage in racial profiling;
(4) Procedures to insure the inclusion of anti-racial
profiling training in new officer training and annual in-service
training; and
(4) (5) Any other policies and procedures deemed necessary
by state and local law-enforcement agencies to eliminate racial
profiling.
NOTE:
The purpose of this bill is to provide anti-racial
profiling training for certain officer trainees.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.