Law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies; removes the authority of a locality to establish. (HB110)

Introduced By

Del. John McGuire (R-Glen Allen)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies. Removes the authority of a locality to establish a law-enforcement civilian oversight body. Under current law, law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies may (i) receive, investigate, and issue findings on complaints from civilians regarding conduct of law-enforcement officers and civilian employees; (ii) investigate and issue findings on incidents, including the use of force by a law-enforcement officer, death or serious injury to any person held in custody, serious abuse of authority or misconduct, allegedly discriminatory stops, and other incidents regarding the conduct of law-enforcement officers or civilian employees; (iii) make binding disciplinary determinations in cases that involve serious breaches of departmental and professional standards; (iv) investigate policies, practices, and procedures of law-enforcement agencies and make recommendations regarding changes to such policies, practices, and procedures; (v) review all investigations conducted internally by law-enforcement agencies and issue findings regarding the accuracy, completeness, and impartiality of such investigations and the sufficiency of any discipline resulting from such investigations; (vi) request reports of the annual expenditures of law-enforcement agencies and make budgetary recommendations; (vii) make public reports on the activities of the law-enforcement civilian oversight body; and (viii) undertake any other duties as reasonably necessary for the law-enforcement civilian oversight body to effectuate its lawful purpose to effectively oversee the law-enforcement agencies as authorized by the locality. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
01/07/2022Committee
01/07/2022Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101772D
01/07/2022Referred to Committee on Public Safety
01/19/2022Impact statement from DPB (HB110)
02/15/2022Left in Public Safety

Comments

JoAnne Norton writes:

Civilian review boards have proven to be extremely effective in preserving the authority of police and sheriff personnel and restricting the corrupt and wrongful use of force of law enforcement personnel.

Timothy L Irwin writes:

No one is above the law including those charged with enforcing the law. Having a civilian oversight committee to investigate complaints of officers over stepping their authority is critical to maintaining an even playing field for ALL.