ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 53
(By Senator Wooton)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 17, 1993.]
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A BILL to amend chapter fifteen of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated article ten, relating to
law enforcement; cooperation between federal, state,
municipal and county law-enforcement agencies; providing for
mutual assistance in law enforcement among certain law-
enforcement agencies; providing for the integration of
law-enforcement agency to function on a multijurisdictional
basis; term of agreements; and withdrawal.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter fifteen of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article ten, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 10. COOPERATION BETWEEN LAW-ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.
§15-10-1. Short title.
This article shall be known as the "West Virginia Law-
Enforcement Mutual Assistance Act".
§15-10-2. Legislative findings.
The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the
commission of various crimes against the peace and dignity of the
state of West Virginia quite often crosses county and municipal
boundaries, affecting the citizenry of this state and making
difficult the tasks of detecting and preventing crime by law-
enforcement agencies due to restrictions imposed by municipal and
county boundaries; that many county and municipal law-enforcement
agencies do not, by themselves, have sufficient resources in
personnel, equipment and particular areas of expertise to
adequately prevent or detect those crimes or criminal activity
which cross such county and municipal boundaries; that it is in
the best interest of the citizens of this state for
law-enforcement agencies to share resources and to provide mutual
assistance to each other; and that, therefore, the Legislature
finds and declares that the various law-enforcement agencies
within the state should be permitted and empowered to share
resources and provide mutual assistance for the prevention and
detection of crime.
§15-10-3. Definitions.
In this article, unless a different meaning plainly is
required:
(1) "Criminal justice enforcement personnel" means those
persons within the state criminal justice system who are actually
employed as members of the division of public safety, state
conservation officers, chiefs of police and police ofincorporated municipalities, and county sheriffs and their
deputies.
(2) "Head of a law-enforcement agency" means the
superintendent of the division of public safety, the chief
conservation officer of the division of natural resources, a
chief of police of an incorporated municipality or a county
sheriff.
§15-10-4. Cooperation between law-enforcement agencies.
(a) The head of any law-enforcement agency as defined in
section three of this article may temporarily provide assistance
and cooperation to another agency of the state criminal justice
system or to a federal law-enforcement agency in investigating
crimes or possible criminal activity if requested to do so in
writing by the head of another law-enforcement agency or federal
law-enforcement agency. Such assistance may also be provided
upon the request of the head of the law-enforcement agency or
federal law-enforcement agency without first being reduced to
writing in emergency situations involving the imminent risk of
loss of life or serious bodily injury. The assistance may
include, but is not limited to, entering into a
multijurisdictional task force agreement to integrate federal,
state, county and municipal law-enforcement agencies or any
combination thereof, for the purpose of enhancing interagency
coordination, intelligence gathering, facilitating
multijurisdictional investigations, providing criminal justice
enforcement personnel of the law-enforcement agency to work
temporarily with personnel of another agency, including in an
undercover capacity, and making available equipment, training,technical assistance and information systems for the more
efficient investigation, apprehension and adjudication of persons
who violate the criminal laws of this state or the United States,
and to assist the victims of such crimes. When providing the
assistance under the provisions of this article, a head of a law-
enforcement agency shall comply with all applicable statutes,
ordinances, rules, policies or guidelines officially adopted by
the state or the governing body of the city or county by which he
is employed, and any conditions or restrictions included therein.
(b) While temporarily assigned to work with another criminal
justice enforcement agency or agencies, criminal justice
enforcement personnel shall have the same jurisdiction, powers,
privileges and immunities, including those relating to the
defense of civil actions, as such criminal justice enforcement
personnel would enjoy if actually employed by the agency to which
they are assigned, in addition to any corresponding or varying
jurisdiction, powers, privileges and immunities conferred by
virtue of their continued employment with the assisting agency.
(c) While assigned to another agency or to a
multijurisdictional task force, criminal justice enforcement
personnel shall be subject to the lawful operational commands of
the superior officers of the agency or task force to which they
are assigned, but for personnel and administrative purposes,
including compensation, they shall remain under the control of
the assisting agency. These assigned personnel shall continue to
be covered by all employee rights and benefits provided by the
assisting agency, including workers' compensation, to the same
extent as though such personnel were functioning within thenormal scope of their duties.
(d) No agreement between the heads of law-enforcement
agencies entered into pursuant to the provisions of this article
shall remain in force and effect for a period of more than twelve
months unless renewed in writing by the parties thereto. Nothing
in this article shall be construed to limit the authority of the
head of a law-enforcement agency to withdraw from any agreement
at any time.
(e) Nothing contained in this article shall be construed so
as to grant, increase, decrease or in any manner effect the civil
service protection or the applicability of civil service laws as
to any criminal justice enforcement personnel or agency operating
under the authority of this article, nor shall this article in
any way reduce or increase the jurisdiction or authority of any
criminal justice enforcement personnel or agency, except as
specifically provided herein.