Introduced Version
Senate Bill 272 History
| Email
Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 272
(By Senators Hunter, Rowe, Weeks, Dempsey, Minard and Caldwell)
____________
[Introduced January 23, 2004; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
____________
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, §15-2E-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, §15-2E-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 article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.