HB1459: Law-Enforcement Officers Procedural Guarantee Act; definition of law-enforcement officer.

HOUSE BILL NO. 1459

Offered January 9, 2013
Prefiled December 27, 2012
A BILL to amend and reenact 9.1-500 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Law-Enforcement Officers Procedural Guarantee Act; definition of law-enforcement officer.
Patron-- Tyler

Committee Referral Pending

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That 9.1-500 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

9.1-500. Definitions.

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

"Agency" means the Department of State Police, the Division of Capitol Police, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the Virginia Port Authority, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, or the Department of Motor Vehicles; or the political subdivision or the campus police department of any public institution of higher education of the Commonwealth employing the law-enforcement officer.

"Law-enforcement officer" means any person, other than a Chief of Police or the Superintendent of the Department of State Police, who, in his official capacity, is (i) authorized by law to make arrests and (ii) a nonprobationary officer of one of the following agencies:

a. The Department of State Police, the Division of Capitol Police, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the Virginia Port Authority, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the Department of Motor Vehicles, or the Department of Conservation and Recreation;

b. The police department, bureau, or force of any political subdivision or the campus police department of any public institution of higher education of the Commonwealth where such department, bureau, or force has ten 10 or more law-enforcement officers; or

c. Any conservation police officer as defined in 9.1-101.

For the purposes of this chapter, "law-enforcement officer" includes any uniformed, duly sworn employee of the Department of Corrections whose primary duties relate to maintaining immediate control, supervision, and custody of prisoners, regardless of whether such employee has the authority to make arrests.

For the purposes of this chapter, "law-enforcement officer" shall does not include the sheriff's department of any city or county county or city.