By Gary A. Harki
Charleston Gazette
A state senator wants to pass legislation that he hopes will mean fewer problem police officers patrolling the streets of West Virginia.
Sen. Bill Laird, a former Fayette County sheriff, said he plans to introduce an expanded version of a bill he introduced last year that would require police departments to report problems with officers to a central database.
The Legislature’s joint judiciary subcommittee discussed the issue at an interim meeting Monday.
Laird, a Democrat, said he wants to give the Law Enforcement Training Subcommittee of the Governor’s Committee on Crime, Delinquency and Corrections the ability to investigate potential problem officers as well as decertify them.
“Just a few people can reflect poorly on the profession,” Laird said.
State Police 1st. Sgt. Curtis Tilley, who heads the subcommittee, told legislators that officers in West Virginia are only decertified if they have been convicted of a jailable offense.
Courts have deemed decertification similar to taking away property rights, Tilley said.
“We’ve been told as a committee that we need to have proof that the action was committed,” he said. “The problem we have as a committee is in obtaining that proof.
“There’s nothing that requires that actions be reported,” he said. “We only find out if it’s public record or through the news media.”
But Laird noted when lawmakers made rules for the committee, they said an officer’s certification could be revoked for “conduct or a pattern of conduct unbecoming to an officer or activities that would tend to disrupt, diminish, or otherwise jeopardize public trust and fidelity in law enforcement.”
“That does not seem to be a bright line. That seems to be pretty pliable,” Laird said. “It seems from the language of the legislative rule that you’ve got the authority, but it seems you might be reluctant to pull the trigger.”
Tilley said that the committee doesn’t have the staff or ability currently to investigate officers and find out whether they should be decertified. It’s up to individual departments to make the subcommittee aware of a situation, he said.
The committee has decertified at least six police officers in 2010. Just seven officers were decertified between July 2005 and the end of 2009.
One officer that still has his certification is Galen Reel, who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting Mary Ann Groves after stopping her when she drove through the town in December 2006. Reel pleaded guilty to the sexual assault, then revoked the plea and was acquitted at trial.
Last month Tilley said the subcommittee took the advice of its legal counsel in deciding not to formally consider whether to revoke Reel’s certification.
Tilley said Monday that adding investigative powers to the subcommittee would mean increasing its staff. Currently, the subcommittee has just one employee.
Laird said it was an important issue and that may have to happen.
“It’s about public trust and fidelity,” he said.
Also at the meeting, State Police Sgt. Christopher Casto, head of the department’s Crimes Against Children Unit, said the State Police want to be able to subpoena private citizens’ records in connection with child pornography cases.
He said the subpoena power would allow them to track down child pornographers much faster. Time can be a big factor in such cases, especially when a pornographer may be molesting a victim, Casto said.
Without subpoena power, the State Police often have to get a search warrant, which can be cumbersome and take up to two days, he said.
Kanawha County Public Defender George Castelle said giving the State Police unit subpoena powers bypasses the court system. He said a magistrate is on call in every county 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The current system may need legislation to clarify and expedite the process, but not to give the State Police subpoena powers, he said.
“One of the strengths of our criminal justice system is the checks and balances,” Castelle said. "[Subpoena powers] have been given to administrative agencies for administrative purposes. Under this proposal they would be granted the power not for their own proceedings but for criminal proceedings, circumventing judges and magistrates.”
Copyright 2010 Charleston Newspapers