Bill Text: WV HB4437 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Make it a felony to kill a canine officer
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-01-10 - To House Judiciary [HB4437 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2024-HB4437-Introduced.html
WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2024 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced
House Bill 4437
By Delegate Kimble
[Introduced January 10, 2024; Referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary ]
A BILL to amend and reenact §30-29-1, of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, and to amend and reenact §61-2-10b of said code, all relating to classifying police canine units as "law enforcement officers" in relation to their standing as victims and the level of force able to be used in their protection.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
chapter 30. professions and occupations
article 29. law-enforcement training and certification.
§30-29-1. Definitions.
For the purposes of this article, unless a different meaning clearly appears in the context:
(1) "Approved law-enforcement training academy" means any training facility which is approved and authorized to conduct law-enforcement training as provided in this article;
(2) "Chief executive" means the Superintendent of the State Police; the chief Natural Resources police officer of the Division of Natural Resources; the sheriff of any West Virginia county; any administrative deputy appointed by the chief natural resources police officer of the Division of Natural Resources; or the chief of any West Virginia municipal law-enforcement agency;
(3) "County" means the 55 major political subdivisions of the state;
(4) "Exempt rank" means any noncommissioned or commissioned rank of sergeant or above;
(5) "Governor’s Committee on Crime, Delinquency, and Correction" or "Governor’s committee" means the Governor’s Committee on Crime, Delinquency, and Correction established as a state planning agency pursuant to §15-9-1 of this code;
(6) "Law-enforcement officer" means any duly authorized member of a law-enforcement agency who is authorized to maintain public peace and order, prevent and detect crime, make arrests, and enforce the laws of the state or any county or municipality thereof, other than parking ordinances, and includes those persons employed as campus police officers at state institutions of higher education in accordance with the provisions of §18B-4-5 of this code, persons employed as hospital police officers in accordance with the provisions of §16-5B-19 of this code, and persons employed by the Public Service Commission as motor carrier inspectors and weight-enforcement officers charged with enforcing commercial motor vehicle safety and weight restriction laws, although those institutions and agencies may not be considered law-enforcement agencies. The term also includes those persons employed as county litter control officers charged with enforcing litter laws: Provided, That those persons have been trained and certified as law-enforcement officers and that certification is currently active. The term also includes those persons employed as rangers by resort area districts in accordance with the provisions of §7-25-23 of this code, although no resort area district may be considered a law-enforcement agency: Provided, however, That the subject rangers shall pay the tuition and costs of training. As used in this article, the term "law-enforcement officer" does not apply to the chief executive of any West Virginia law-enforcement agency, nor to any watchman or special natural resources police officer, or to any litter control officer who is authorized and trained under the provisions of §7-1-3ff(d) of this code but is not trained and currently certified as a law-enforcement officer;
(A) The term further includes animals trained to assist law enforcement officers, including canines and other animals trained for a law enforcement purpose. This inclusion extends only insofar as the animals are designated as law enforcement officers while they are actively working with a human officer in the field or resting in between assignments with a human law enforcement officer in the field.
(B) If a human officer is forced to defend an animal working as a law enforcement officer, that human officer will have the freedom to use whatever force the human officer would use while defending or protecting another human officer.
(C) The animal is not an employee of the state and is entitled to neither the administrative protections nor personnel status afforded to other employees.
(7) "Law-enforcement official" means the duly appointed chief administrator of a designated law-enforcement agency or a duly authorized designee;
(8) "Municipality" means any incorporated town or city whose boundaries lie within the geographic boundaries of the state;
(9) "Pre-certified law-enforcement officer" means a person employed or offered employment by a West Virginia law-enforcement agency prior to his or her initial certification by the subcommittee. This term does not include a person employed or offered employment by a West Virginia law-enforcement agency whose certification status is inactive, suspended, or has been revoked;
(10) "Subcommittee" or "law-enforcement professional standards subcommittee" means the subcommittee of the Governor’s Committee on Crime, Delinquency, and Correction created by §30-29-2 of this code; and
(11) "West Virginia law-enforcement agency" means any duly authorized state, county, or municipal organization employing one or more persons whose responsibility is the enforcement of laws of the state or any county or municipality thereof: Provided, That neither the Public Service Commission nor any state institution of higher education, nor any hospital, nor any resort area district is a law-enforcement agency.
Chapter 61. Crimes and their punishments
article 2. crimes against the person.
§61-2-10b. Malicious assault; unlawful assault; battery; and assault on governmental representatives, health care providers, utility workers, law-enforcement officers, correctional employees and emergency medical service personnel; definitions; penalties.
(a) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Government representative" means any officer or employee of the state or a political subdivision thereof, or a person under contract with a state agency or political subdivision thereof.
(2) "Health care worker" means any nurse, nurse practitioner, physician, physician assistant or technician practicing at, and all persons employed by or under contract to a hospital, county or district health department, long-term care facility, physician’s office, clinic, or outpatient treatment facility.
(3) "Emergency service personnel" means any paid or volunteer firefighter, emergency medical technician, paramedic, or other emergency services personnel employed by or under contract with an emergency medical service provider or a state agency or political subdivision thereof.
(4) "Utility worker" means any individual employed by a public utility or electric cooperative or under contract to a public utility, electric cooperative, or interstate pipeline.
(5) "Law-enforcement officer" has the same definition as this term is defined in W.Va. Code §30-29-1, except for purposes of this section, "law-enforcement officer" shall additionally include those individuals defined as "chief executive" in W.Va. Code §30-29-1. This includes the animals used in police investigations, including, but not limited to, canines used in the field. All crimes against an animal acting in its capacity as a law enforcement officer will carry the same penalties as though the crime were committed against a human law enforcement officer.
(6) "Correctional employee" means any individual employed by the West Virginia Division of Corrections, the West Virginia Regional Jail Authority, and the West Virginia Division of Juvenile Services and an employee of an entity providing services to incarcerated, detained, or housed persons pursuant to a contract with such agencies.
(b) Malicious assault. — Any person who maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes bodily injury with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill a government representative, health care worker, utility worker, emergency service personnel, correctional employee or law-enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity, and the person committing the malicious assault knows or has reason to know that the victim is acting in his or her official capacity is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a correctional facility for not less than three nor more than 15 years. This penalty also applies to animals, including, but not limited to, canines, who are working in the field with a human law enforcement officer.
(c) Unlawful assault. — Any person who unlawfully but not maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes a government representative, health care worker, utility worker, emergency service personnel, correctional employee or law-enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity bodily injury with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill him or her and the person committing the unlawful assault knows or has reason to know that the victim is acting in his or her official capacity is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a correctional facility for not less than two nor more than five years. This penalty also applies to animals, including, but not limited to, canines, who are working in the field with a human law enforcement officer.
(d) Battery. — Any person who unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with a government representative, health care worker, utility worker, emergency service personnel, correctional employee or law-enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity and the person committing the battery knows or has reason to know that the victim is acting in his or her official capacity, or unlawfully and intentionally causes physical harm to that person acting in such capacity and the person committing the battery knows or has reason to know that the victim is acting in his or her official capacity, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $500 or confined in jail not less than one month nor more than twelve months or both fined and confined. If any person commits a second such offense, he or she is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned in a state correctional facility not less than one year nor more than three years, or both fined and imprisoned. Any person who commits a third violation of this subsection is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $2,000 or imprisoned in a state correctional facility not less than two years nor more than five years, or both fined and imprisoned. This penalty also applies to animals, including, but not limited to, canines, who are working in the field with a human law enforcement officer.
(e) Assault. — Any person who unlawfully attempts to commit a violent injury to the person of a government representative, health care worker, utility worker, emergency service personnel, correctional employee or law-enforcement officer, acting in his or her official capacity and the person committing the battery knows or has reason to know that the victim is acting in his or her official capacity, or unlawfully commits an act which places that person acting in his or her official capacity in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury and the person committing the battery knows or has reason to know that the victim is acting in his or her official capacity, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in jail for not less than twenty-four hours nor more than six months, fined not more than $200, or both fined and confined. This penalty also applies to animals, including, but not limited to, canines, who are working in the field with a human law enforcement officer.
(f) Any person convicted of any crime set forth in this section who is incarcerated in a facility operated by the West Virginia Division of Corrections or the West Virginia Regional Jail Authority, or is in the custody of the Division of Juvenile Services and is at least 18 years of age or subject to prosecution as an adult, at the time of committing the offense and whose victim is a correctional employee may not be sentenced in a manner by which the sentence would run concurrent with any other sentence being served at the time the offense giving rise to the conviction of a crime set forth in this section was committed.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to include canines in definitions of "law enforcement officers" in relation to crimes against law enforcement officers and the level of force allowable to protect said canines as law enforcement officers.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
