§30-29-1 Definitions. - West Virginia Statutes

§30-29-1. Definitions.
For the purposes of this article, unless a different meaning clearly appears in the context:

"Approved law-enforcement training academy" means any training facility which is approved and authorized to conduct law-enforcement training as provided in this article;

"Chief executive" means the Superintendent of the State Police; the chief conservation officer of the Division of Natural Resources; the sheriff of any West Virginia county; any administrative deputy appointed by the chief conservation officer of natural resources; or the chief of any West Virginia municipal law-enforcement agency;

"County" means the fifty-five major political subdivisions of the state;

"Exempt rank" means any noncommissioned or commissioned rank of sergeant or above;

"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 section one, article nine, chapter fifteen of this code;

"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 section five, article four, chapter eighteen-b 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 rangers by the Hatfield-McCoy regional recreation authority in accordance with the provisions of section six, article fourteen, chapter twenty of this code, although the authority may not be considered a law-enforcement agency: Provided, 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 or any watchman or special conservation officer;

"Law-enforcement official" means the duly appointed chief administrator of a designated law-enforcement agency or a duly authorized designee;

"Municipality" means any incorporated town or city whose boundaries lie within the geographic boundaries of the state;

"Subcommittee" or "law-enforcement training subcommittee" means the subcommittee of the Governor's committee on crime, delinquency and correction created by section two of this article; and

"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 Hatfield-McCoy regional recreation authority, the Public Service Commission nor any state institution of higher education may be deemed a law-enforcement agency.