HB1961: Special conservation police officers; those appointed after 10/1/09 shall have valid registration.


HOUSE BILL NO. 1961
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources
on January 28, 2009)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Delegate Mathieson)
A BILL to amend and reenact 29.1-200 of the Code of Virginia, relating to special conservation police officers.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That 29.1-200 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

29.1-200. Appointment of conservation police officers.

A. The Director shall appoint regular and special conservation police officers as he may deem necessary to enforce the game and inland fish laws and shall issue a certificate of appointment to each conservation police officer. Any special conservation police officer initially appointed after October 1, 2009, shall have a valid registration as a Special Conservator of the Peace from the Department of Criminal Justice Services.

B. All appointments to sworn law-enforcement positions above the rank of conservation police officer within the Department shall be made by the Director of the Department from among the sworn conservation police officers, except for those positions designated in subdivision 20 of 2.2-2905, or whenever the Director determines, in writing, that a position requires knowledge, skills, or abilities such that a sufficient pool of qualified candidates does not exist within the Department.

HOUSE BILL NO. 1961
Offered January 14, 2009
Prefiled January 13, 2009
A BILL to amend and reenact 9.1-400, 9.1-801, 19.2-81, 28.2-106, 29.1-100, 29.1-200, 29.1-204, 29.1-205, and 29.1-355 of the Code of Virginia and to repeal 29.1-217 of the Code of Virginia, relating to elimination of the position of special conservation police officer.
Patron-- Mathieson

Committee Referral Pending

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That 9.1-400, 9.1-801, 19.2-81, 28.2-106, 29.1-100, 29.1-200, 29.1-204, 29.1-205, and 29.1-355 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

9.1-400. Title of chapter; definitions.

A. This chapter shall be known and designated as the Line of Duty Act.

B. As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:

"Beneficiary" means the spouse of a deceased person and such persons as are entitled to take under the will of a deceased person if testate, or as his heirs at law if intestate.

"Deceased person" means any individual whose death occurs on or after April 8, 1972, as the direct or proximate result of the performance of his duty, including the presumptions under 27-40.1, 27-40.2, 51.1-813, and 65.2-402, as a law-enforcement officer of the Commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions; a correctional officer as defined in 53.1-1; a jail officer; a regional jail or jail farm superintendent; a sheriff, deputy sheriff, or city sergeant or deputy city sergeant of the City of Richmond; a police chaplain; a member of any fire company or department or rescue squad that has been recognized by an ordinance or a resolution of the governing body of any county, city or town of the Commonwealth as an integral part of the official safety program of such county, city or town; a member of the Virginia National Guard or the Virginia State Defense Force while such member is serving in the Virginia National Guard or the Virginia State Defense Force on official state duty or federal duty under Title 32 of the United States Code; any special agent of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board; any regular or special conservation police officer who receives compensation from a county, city or town or from the Commonwealth appointed pursuant to the provisions of 29.1-200; any commissioned forest warden appointed under the provisions of 10.1-1135; any member or employee of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission granted the power of arrest pursuant to 28.2-900; any Department of Emergency Management hazardous materials officer; any other employee of the Department of Emergency Management who is performing official duties of the agency, when those duties are related to a major disaster or emergency, as defined in 44-146.16, that has been or is later declared to exist under the authority of the Governor in accordance with 44-146.28; any employee of any county, city, or town performing official emergency management or emergency services duties in cooperation with the Department of Emergency Management, when those duties are related to a major disaster or emergency, as defined in 44-146.16, that has been or is later declared to exist under the authority of the Governor in accordance with 44-146.28 or a local emergency, as defined in 44-146.16, declared by a local governing body; any nonfirefighter regional hazardous materials emergency response team member; or any conservation officer of the Department of Conservation and Recreation commissioned pursuant to 10.1-115.

"Disabled person" means any individual who, as the direct or proximate result of the performance of his duty in any position listed in the definition of deceased person in this section, has become mentally or physically incapacitated so as to prevent the further performance of duty where such incapacity is likely to be permanent. The term shall also include any state employee included in the definition of a deceased person who was disabled on or after January 1, 1966.

"Line of duty" means any action the deceased or disabled person was obligated or authorized to perform by rule, regulation, condition of employment or service, or law.

9.1-801. Public safety officer defined.

As used in this chapter, the term "public safety officer" includes a law-enforcement officer of this Commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions; a correctional officer as defined in 53.1-1; a correctional officer employed at a juvenile correctional facility as the term is defined in 66-25.3; a jail officer; a regional jail or jail farm superintendent; a member of any fire company or department or rescue squad that has been recognized by an ordinance or resolution of the governing body of any county, city or town of this Commonwealth as an integral part of the official safety program of such county, city or town; an arson investigator; a member of the Virginia National Guard or the Virginia State Defense Force while such a member is serving in the Virginia National Guard or the Virginia State Defense Force on official state duty or federal duty under Title 32 of the United States Code; any special agent of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board; any police agent appointed under the provisions of 56-353; any regular or special conservation police officer who receives compensation from a county, city or town or from the Commonwealth appointed pursuant to 29.1-200; any commissioned forest warden appointed pursuant to 10.1-1135; any member or employee of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission granted the power to arrest pursuant to 28.2-900; any Department of Emergency Management hazardous materials officer; any nonfirefighter regional hazardous materials emergency response team member; any investigator who is a full-time sworn member of the security division of the State Lottery Department; any full-time sworn member of the enforcement division of the Department of Motor Vehicles meeting the Department of Criminal Justice Services qualifications, when fulfilling duties pursuant to 46.2-217; any campus police officer appointed under the provisions of Chapter 17 ( 23-232 et seq.) of Title 23; and any conservation officer of the Department of Conservation and Recreation commissioned pursuant to 10.1-115.

19.2-81. Arrest without warrant authorized in certain cases.

The following officers shall have the powers of arrest as provided in this section:

1. Members of the State Police force of the Commonwealth;

2. Sheriffs of the various counties and cities, and their deputies;

3. Members of any county police force or any duly constituted police force of any city or town of the Commonwealth;

4. The Commissioner, members and employees of the Marine Resources Commission granted the power of arrest pursuant to 28.2-900;

5. Regular conservationConservation police officers appointed pursuant to 29.1-200;

6. United States Coast Guard and United States Coast Guard Reserve commissioned, warrant, and petty officers authorized under 29.1-205 to make arrests;

7. The special policemen of the counties as provided by 15.2-1737, provided such officers are in uniform, or displaying a badge of office;

8. Conservation officers appointed pursuant to 10.1-115; and

9. Full-time sworn members of the enforcement division of the Department of Motor Vehicles appointed pursuant to 46.2-217.

Such officers may arrest, without a warrant, any person who commits any crime in the presence of the officer and any person whom he has reasonable grounds or probable cause to suspect of having committed a felony not in his presence.

Any such officer may arrest without a warrant any person whom the officer has probable cause to suspect of operating a watercraft or motor boat (i) while intoxicated in violation of subsection B of 29.1-738 or (ii) in violation of an order issued pursuant to 29.1-738.4, in his presence, and may thereafter transfer custody of the person suspected of the violation to another officer, who may obtain a warrant based upon statements made to him by the arresting officer.

Any such officer may, at the scene of any accident involving a motor vehicle, watercraft as defined in 29.1-712 or motorboat, or at any hospital or medical facility to which any person involved in such accident has been transported, or in the apprehension of any person charged with the theft of any motor vehicle, on any of the highways or waters of the Commonwealth, upon reasonable grounds to believe, based upon personal investigation, including information obtained from eyewitnesses, that a crime has been committed by any person then and there present, apprehend such person without a warrant of arrest. For purposes of this section, "the scene of any accident" shall include a reasonable location where a vehicle or person involved in an accident has been moved at the direction of a law-enforcement officer to facilitate the clearing of the highway or to ensure the safety of the motoring public. In addition, such officer may, within three hours of the occurrence of any such accident involving a motor vehicle, arrest without a warrant at any location any person whom the officer has probable cause to suspect of driving or operating such motor vehicle while intoxicated in violation of 18.2-266, 18.2-266.1, 46.2-341.24, or a substantially similar ordinance of any county, city, or town in the Commonwealth.

Such officers may arrest, without a warrant or a capias, persons duly charged with a crime in another jurisdiction upon receipt of a photocopy of a warrant or a capias, telegram, computer printout, facsimile printout, a radio, telephone or teletype message, in which photocopy of a warrant, telegram, computer printout, facsimile printout, radio, telephone or teletype message shall be given the name or a reasonably accurate description of such person wanted and the crime alleged.

Such officers may arrest, without a warrant or a capias, for an alleged misdemeanor not committed in his presence when the officer receives a radio message from his department or other law-enforcement agency within the Commonwealth that a warrant or capias for such offense is on file.

Such officers may also arrest without a warrant for an alleged misdemeanor not committed in their presence involving (i) shoplifting in violation of 18.2-96 or 18.2-103 or a similar local ordinance, (ii) carrying a weapon on school property in violation of 18.2-308.1, (iii) assault and battery, (iv) brandishing a firearm in violation of 18.2-282, or (v) destruction of property in violation of 18.2-137, when such property is located on premises used for business or commercial purposes, or a similar local ordinance, when any such arrest is based on probable cause upon reasonable complaint of the person who observed the alleged offense. The arresting officer may issue a summons to any person arrested under this section for a misdemeanor violation involving shoplifting.

28.2-106. Virginia Marine Police; law-enforcement responsibilities; qualifications; oath.

A. The law-enforcement division of the Commission shall be designated as the Virginia Marine Police. It shall exercise such powers and duties as the General Assembly may confer upon it by law and as provided in regulations adopted pursuant to law, including but not limited to:

1. Patrolling the tidal waters and shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay, its tidal tributaries, and territorial sea;

2. Enforcing marine fishery and habitat conservation laws and regulations;

3. Enforcing health laws pertaining to the harvesting of seafood from condemned areas;

4. Enforcing or assisting other agencies in enforcing laws pertaining to the removal of obstructions and abandoned vessels from the water, to boating operation and navigation, and to larceny on the water;

5. Providing for water-borne safety;

6. Conducting search and rescue activities; and

7. Protecting from terrorist attack federal and state water-related installations and other water-related locations within the tidal waters of the Commonwealth as may be designated by federal or state officials as important to national security.

B. Officers of the Virginia Marine Police shall have the same powers as (i) sheriffs and other law-enforcement officers to enforce all of the criminal laws of the Commonwealth, and (ii) regular conservation police officers appointed pursuant to Chapter 2 ( 29.1-200 et seq.) of Title 29.1.

C. A person shall be (i) at least twenty-one years old and (ii) a high school graduate or equivalent to qualify for appointment as an officer.

D. Each officer shall qualify before the clerk of the circuit court of the county or city in which he resides, or in which his district may be, by taking the oaths prescribed by law.

29.1-100. Definitions.

As used in and for the purposes of this title only, or in any of the regulations of the Board, unless the context clearly requires a different meaning:

"Bag or creel limit" means the quantity of game, fish or fur-bearing animals that may be taken, caught, or possessed during a period fixed by the Board.

"Board" means the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries.

"Closed season" means that period of time fixed by the Board during which wild animals, birds or fish may not be taken, captured, killed, pursued, hunted, trapped or possessed.

"Conservation police officers" means supervising officers, and regular and special conservationpolice officers.

"Department" means the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

"Director" means the Director of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

"Firearm" means any weapon that will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel single or multiple projectiles by the action of an explosion of a combustible material.

"Fishing" means taking, capturing, killing, or attempting to take, capture or kill any fish in and upon the inland waters of this Commonwealth.

"Fur-bearing animals" includes beaver, bobcat, fox, mink, muskrat, opossum, otter, raccoon, skunk, and weasel.

"Game" means wild animals and wild birds that are commonly hunted for sport or food.

"Game animals" means deer, bear, rabbit, fox, squirrel, bobcat and raccoon.

"Game fish" means trout (including all Salmonidae), all of the sunfish family (including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and spotted bass, rock bass, bream, bluegill and crappie), walleye or pike perch, white bass, chain pickerel or jackfish, muskellunge, and northern pike, wherever such fish are found in the waters of this Commonwealth and rockfish or striped bass where found above tidewaters or in streams which are blocked from access from tidewaters by dams.

"Hunting and trapping" includes the act of or the attempted act of taking, hunting, trapping, pursuing, chasing, shooting, snaring or netting birds or animals, and assisting any person who is hunting, trapping or attempting to do so regardless of whether birds or animals are actually taken; however, when hunting and trapping are allowed, reference is made to such acts as being conducted by lawful means and in a lawful manner. The Board of Game and Inland Fisheries may authorize by regulation the pursuing or chasing of wild birds or wild animals during any closed hunting season where persons have no intent to take such birds or animals.

"Lawful," "by law," or "law" means the statutes of this Commonwealth or regulations adopted by the Board which the Director is empowered to enforce.

"Migratory game birds" means doves, ducks, brant, geese, swan, coot, gallinules, sora and other rails, snipe, woodcock and other species of birds on which open hunting seasons are set by federal regulations.

"Muzzleloading pistol" means a firearm originally designed, made or intended to fire a projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand and that is loaded from the muzzle or forward end of the cylinder.

"Muzzleloading rifle" means a firearm firing a single projectile that is loaded along with the propellant from the muzzle of the gun.

"Muzzleloading shotgun" means a firearm with a smooth bore firing multiple projectiles that are loaded along with the propellant from the muzzle of the gun.

"Nonmigratory game birds" means grouse, bobwhite quail, turkey and all species of birds introduced into the Commonwealth by the Board.

"Nuisance species" means blackbirds, crows, cowbirds, grackles, English sparrows, starlings, or those species designated as such by regulations of the Board, and those species found committing or about to commit depredation upon ornamental or shade trees, agricultural crops, wildlife, livestock or other property or when concentrated in numbers and manners as to constitute a health hazard or other nuisance. However, the term nuisance does not include (i) animals designated as endangered or threatened pursuant to 29.1-563, 29.1-564, and 29.1-566, (ii) animals classified as game or fur-bearing animals, and (iii) those species protected by state or federal law.

"Open season" means that period of time fixed by the Board during which wild animals, wild birds and fish may be taken, captured, killed, pursued, trapped or possessed.

"Pistol" means a weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand, and having one or more chambers as an integral part of or permanently aligned with the bore and a short stock at an angle to and extending below the line of the bore that is designed to be gripped by one hand.

"Possession" means the exercise of control of any wild animal, wild bird, fish or fur-bearing animal, or any part of the carcass thereof.

"Properly licensed person" means a person who, while engaged in hunting, fishing or trapping, or in any other activity permitted under this title, in and upon the lands and inland waters of this Commonwealth, has upon his person all the licenses, permits and stamps required by law.

"Regulation" means a regulation duly adopted by the Board pursuant to the authority vested by the provisions of this title.

"Revolver" means a projectile weapon of the pistol type, having a breechloading chambered cylinder arranged so that the cocking of the hammer or movement of the trigger rotates it and brings the next cartridge in line with the barrel for firing.

"Rifle" means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder, and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed metallic cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger.

"Shotgun" means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder, and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore or rifled shotgun barrel either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger.

"Transportation" means the transportation, either upon the person or by any other means, of any wild animal or wild bird or fish.

"Wildlife" means all species of wild animals, wild birds and freshwater fish in the public waters of this Commonwealth.

 

29.1-200. Appointment of conservation police officers.

A. The Director shall appoint regular and special conservation police officers as he may deem necessary to enforce the game and inland fish laws and shall issue a certificate of appointment to each conservation police officer.

B. All appointments to sworn law-enforcement positions above the rank of conservation police officer within the Department shall be made by the Director of the Department from among the sworn conservation police officers, except for those positions designated in subdivision 20 of 2.2-2905, or whenever the Director determines, in writing, that a position requires knowledge, skills, or abilities such that a sufficient pool of qualified candidates does not exist within the Department.

29.1-204. Assisting the Director; supervision.

The conservation police officers shall assist the Director in discharging his official duties. Each regular and special conservation police officer shall be under the supervision of certain conservation police officers specified by the Director.

29.1-205. Power to make arrests.

All conservation police officers are vested with the authority, upon displaying a badge or other credential of office, to issue a summons or to arrest any person found in the act of violating any of the provisions of the hunting, trapping, inland fish and boating laws.

Regular conservation police officers are vested with the same authority as sheriffs and other law-enforcement officers to enforce all of the criminal laws of the Commonwealth.

Any special conservation police officer shall have general police power while performing his duty on properties owned or controlled by the Board.

Any commissioned, warrant or petty officers of the United States Coast Guard and of the United States Coast Guard Reserve while engaged on active duty, in the conduct of their official duties in uniform, and any officers of the customs as defined by 19 U.S.C. 1709 (b), in the conduct of their official duties in uniform, shall have the same power to make arrests under Chapter 7 ( 29.1-700 et seq.) of Title 29.1 as conservation police officers.

29.1-355. Disposition of funds.

All moneys received from the sale of the special stamps shall be paid into the local treasury to the credit of a special damage stamp fund and identified by the year in which the moneys were collected. The special fund shall be used for the following purposes:

1. Payment for damages to crops, fruit trees, commercially grown Christmas trees, nursery stock, livestock, colonies of bees, bee equipment and appliances, as defined in 3.1-610.1, or farm equipment that is caused by deer, elk, or bear at any time, or by big game hunters during hunting season; and

2. Payment of the actual and necessary costs of the administration of the provisions of this article, including the printing and distribution of the required stamps and the payment of reasonable fees to persons designated by a local governing body to inspect, evaluate, and confirm reported claims and adjust such claims; and

3. In the discretion of the local governing body, payment of the costs of law enforcement directly related to and incidental to carrying out the provisions of this article and the general game laws of the Commonwealth; any person compensated to engage in such law-enforcement activities shall be approved for such employment by the director and appointed to be a special conservation police officer in accordance with the Board's standards and policies governing such appointment; and

4. In the discretion of the local governing body, administrative expenses related to the special stamps, support of a county volunteer fire prevention and suppression program when the program includes fire fighting on big game hunting lands open to the public, and support of local volunteer rescue squads whose services are available to hunters in distress. However, the money appropriated from the special damage stamp fund for these purposes shall not exceed, in the aggregate, in any calendar year, an amount equal to 25 percent of the amount paid into the special damage stamp fund during the fiscal year or previous calendar year. Once selecting the fiscal year or previous calendar year, the local governing body must continue to use that selected period of time in determining the amount of money to be appropriated from the special damage stamp fund.

2. That 29.1-217 of the Code of Virginia is repealed.