H. B. 4125
(By Delegates Webster, Manuel and Schoen)
[Introduced
January 23, 2004
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §15-2E-1, §15-2E-2,
§15-2E-3, §15-2E-4, §15-2E-5, §15-5E-6, §15-2E-7, §15-2E-8,
§15-2E-9, §15-2E-10, §15-2E-11 and §15-2E-12, all relating
to creating a state police review board to hear complaints
against state police personnel; providing procedures and
requirements for disposition of complaints; limiting public
disclosure of certain information; requiring semiannual
reports; and addressing effects of complaint process.
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 article, designated §15-2E-1, §15-2E-2,
§15-2E-3, §15-2E-4, §15-2E-5, §15-5E-6, §15-2E-7, §15-2E-8,
§15-2E-9, §15-2E-10, §15-2E-11 and §15-2E-12, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2E. LAW ENFORCEMENT AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS APPEALS BOARD.
§15-2E-1. Law Enforcement and Community Relations Appeal Board
created; members.
(a) The law enforcement and community relations appeals
board is hereby created. The Legislature finds the creation of
this board is intended to promote public confidence and
accountability of state law enforcement agencies, and facilitate
fair and complete review of citizen complaints and enhance the
reporting, collection and proper analysis of citizen complaints
against law enforcement officers.
(b) The board will act as a permanent statutory agency
through which a state-wide repository for the receipt of
complaints lodged by members of the general public against all
law enforcement agencies of the state. The board shall review
policies of all other law enforcement agencies of the state, and
make recommendations to the respective agencies on methods to
promote fair and timely review of citizen complaints.
(c) The board shall also provide a external review board for
hearing complaint appeals only relating to the West Virginia
state police.
(d) The board is composed of the following members or their
designees for the purpose of hearing complaint appeals relating
to the West Virginia state police:
(1) The attorney general of West Virginia;
(2) The superintendent of the West Virginia state police;
(3) The executive director of the human rights commission;
(4) The director of public defender services;
(5) The executive director of the West Virginia prosecuting
attorneys institute; and
(6) Four citizen members appointed by the governor, not more
than two of whom may be from any one congressional district of
the state, who each serve for a term of two years. Two of these
members shall have professional experience and an educational
background in law enforcement or criminal justice. A vacancy in
a citizen member position shall be filed in the manner of the
original appointment for the remainder of the term;
(8) The executive director shall be an ex officio
non-voting member of the commission.
(e) The board shall meet in executive session to review West
Virginia state police complaint appeals as often as necessary to
perform its functions and duties. Executive session meetings
shall not be open to association members appointed pursuant to
section three of this article. Board meetings to review state
law enforcement complaint procedures and practices shall be open
to the public.
(f) In all matters where a quorum is present, a majority
vote of the board prevails. A quorum consists of five members.
(g) Citizen members of the commission are entitled to
receive compensation for attendance at official meetings not to
exceed the amount paid to members of the Legislature for their
interim duties as recommended by the citizens legislative
compensation commission and authorized by law. All members are entitled to actual and necessary expenses incurred for each day
or portion thereof engaged in the discharge of official duties in
a manner consistent with guidelines of the travel management
office of the department of administration.
(h) The governor shall designate a chair, who is not a
public official, for a term to run concurrently with the term of
office of the member designated as chair.
(i) The Governor shall appoint, with the advice and consent
of the West Virginia Senate, an executive director for the board.
He or she shall hold a degree and have professional experience in
fields involving law enforcement or criminal justice. The
executive director shall provide technical information to support
the administrative work of the board, conduct complaint
investigations and shall facilitate the submission and
disposition of citizen complaints and analysis as provided in
this article. The board may hire all necessary staff as needed
to assist the executive director and otherwise effectuate the
purposes of this article.
(j) The board shall continue to exist until the first day of
July, two thousand seven, pursuant to article ten, chapter four
of this code, unless sooner terminated, continued or
reestablished by act of the Legislature.
§15-2E-2. Additional board members for state-wide review.
Six ex officio non-voting members shall be appointed to the
board to participate and contribute to the board's review and
study of policies of all other law enforcement agencies of the state, to make recommendations to the respective agencies on
methods to promote fair and timely review of citizen complaints.
The following organizations shall appoint a member, and in
his absence a designee, to serve for a term of two years:
(1) The West Virginia sheriffs association;
(2) The West Virginia deputy sheriffs association;
(3) The West Virginia chiefs of police association;
(4) The West Virginia troopers association;
(5) The West Virginia fraternal order of police; and
(6) The West Virginia conservation officers association.
§15-2E-3. Complaint procedures; state police.
(a) Any person who claims to have been subjected to, or any
person who claims to have personal knowledge of an act or acts of
discourtesy, use of excessive force, misconduct, or other
unlawful act caused by a state police officer, may make a
complaint of the conduct at the office of professional standards
division of the state police or at any state police detachment.
(b) For claims against a West Virginia state police officer,
a copy of each complaint received shall be provided by the
superintendent to the board. The superintendent, upon completion
of an investigation, shall also provide the board a copy of the
final determination regarding the complaint as provided in
subsection (a). The superintendent shall also notify the person
making a claim pursuant to subsection (a) of the superintendent's
findings and his or her right of appeal to the board. This
notice shall be provided within seven days of completion of the investigation, and describe the necessary information for
submitting an appeal to the board. If the person making the
claim is dissatisfied with the disposition of the case, he or she
may appeal the decision to the board. The person making the
claim must make the request for review by the board within thirty
days of receipt of notice of disposition of the case. For good
cause show, the board may consider appeals after this time
period.
§15-2E-4. Jurisdiction and disposition of complaints.
(a) The board shall consider all appeals as provided in
section two of this article. Upon request of the board, the
superintendent shall provide all records relating to the
superintendent's investigation. Upon receipt of an appeal
request, or upon recommendation of the executive director, the
board may initiate an investigation into a complaint.
(b) The board may recommend that the relevant law
enforcement agency conduct a further investigation and report
back to the board the results of its investigation.
(c) The board may direct the executive director to conduct
an investigation and report back to the board on the results of
the investigation. For purposes of conducting an investigation,
the board may also authorize the executive director to subpoena
a complainant, any other witnesses and any necessary records.
(d) Upon review of the investigative report of each case,
the board shall promptly make any one of the following findings:
(1) That the investigation is complete and that appropriate disposition was made;
(2) That further investigation is warranted and the
complaint is returned to the professional standards unit with
recommendations on areas of further inquiry; or
(3) That the investigation is complete but that the wrong
conclusion was drawn, in which the case is directed to the
superintendent along with any recommendations resulting from the
executive director's investigation.
(e) The board must make its recommendation to the
superintendent within thirty days of receipt of notice of appeal.
(f) The superintendent has final decision-making
responsibility for the appropriate disciplinary action in each
case, but no final action may be taken disposing of any appealed
complaint until the recommendation of the board has been
reviewed. The superintendent must return responses to board
recommendations to the board within thirty days. For good cause
shown the board may extend this time period.
§15-2E-5. Law enforcement complaint forms.
(a) The law enforcement and community relations appeals
board shall promulgate a form to be utilized by all law
enforcement agencies in the state to respond to citizen
complaints. This form will include at a minimum, the following:
(1) The name, address and telephone number of the
complainant;
(2) The name of the law enforcement officer, if known by the
complainant;
(3) The name of the agency employing the law enforcement
officer;
(4) Whether the complaint involved the arrest of the
complainant;
(5) The date of occurrence;
(6) The time, county and place of occurrence;
(7) A full complaint summary in the words of the
complainant;
(8) Names of any witnesses to the incident;
(9) Disclosure of any physical evidence relating to the
incident;
(10) Any remedy requested by the complainant;
(11) An acknowledgment that giving false information to a
West Virginia state police officer violates state law.
(b) All complaints are confidential and not subject to
freedom of information disclosure pursuant to chapter twenty
nine-b of the code.
§15-2E-6. Complaint reports for other state law-enforcement
agencies.
(a) Every head of a law enforcement agency or his or her
designee shall provide a copy to the board of all complaints
submitted within ten days of receipt, for each citizen complaint
received relating to conduct of an law enforcement officer while
performing his or her duties. Copies of complaints shall also be
forwarded to the complainant. Disposition letters regarding
these complaints shall be submitted to the board within thirty days of completion of the investigation by the law enforcement
agency. The board shall send notifications to complainants and
the board on the final disposition of their complaints.
(b) For purposes of this section, "law-enforcement officer"
means:
(1) West Virginia state police officers;
(2) municipal police officers;
(3) County sheriff and deputy sheriffs;
(4) campus police officers at state institutions of higher
education; and
(5) department of natural resources conservation officers.
(c) The board may also receive complaints by citizens and
shall submit them to the head of the law enforcement agency for
investigation. The executive director of the board shall compile
statistics based on the type of and disposition of each complaint
to identify officer conduct which results in citizen complaints
and dissatisfaction. The executive director shall also monitor
and semi-annually provide reports to the speaker of the house of
delegates and president of the senate these statistics, and
information on costs to the Board of Risk and Insurance
Management resulting from claims made against the state based on
the conduct of state law enforcement officers.
§
15-2E-7. Rights not abrogated.
Nothing contained in this article abrogates any
constitutional, statutory or common law right of police personnel
against whom a complaint is filed, or of the complainants, investigators or witnesses who participate in the complaint
procedure. Use of statements of a state police law enforcement
officer subject to an internal investigation of the state law
enforcement agency shall not be admissible in a court of law.
§15-2E-8. Procedural requirements.
(a) The West Virginia state police superintendent must
comply with all legislative rules of the state police on
professional standards for investigations and discipline. The
provisions of this article are to be construed to comport with
the internal investigation and disciplinary procedures of the
professional standards unit of the state police.
(b) State law enforcement officers may not be penalized or
affected adversely in any way as a result of the collection of
complaints for the repository and the policy review procedures
set forth in this article except through use of internal
investigation procedures established for by the respective law
enforcement agency.
(c) Complaint forms must be placed in a conspicuous place
and readily available to the public.
§15-2E-9. Records; public disclosure.
Records of the board containing the names or identification
of police personnel, complainants, testimony, investigators or
witnesses may not be disclosed or released to the general public
and are exempt from disclosure in accordance with article nine-a,
chapter six and article one, chapter twenty-nine-b of the West
Virginia Code, and furthermore are subject to the penalties of said provisions. All complaint forms and records are
confidential and not subject to freedom of information disclosure
pursuant to chapter twenty nine-b of the code and furthermore are
subject to the penalties of said provisions.
§15-2E-10. Semiannual report.
The board shall prepare and publish a semiannual statistical
and analytical report regarding the complaints processed under
this article and make any recommendations on how law enforcement
agencies may improve internal polices to effectuate the purposes
of this article.
§15-2E-11. Board rules.
The law enforcement and community relations appeals board
may propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of t his code
as are necessary to effectuate the provisions of this article.
§15-2E-12. Law enforcement agency citizen complaints policy.
Each law enforcement agency of this state as defined in
section six of this article shall establish and maintain a
written policy for receipt and disposition of citizen complaints
against the agency's law enforcement officers, and provide a copy
of this policy to the law enforcement and community relations
appeals board. Each law enforcement agency shall have this
policy in place by the first day of July, two thousand five.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a police review
board to hear complaints against State Police personnel.
This bill was recommended for introduction and passage by
Select Committee B on Minority Issues.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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