CHAP. 228.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 1 of chapter X of an
act approved February 17, 1890, entitled an act to incorporate the
city of Danville, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved
March 7, 1906. (H. B. 517.)

Approved March 17, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section one of chapter ten of an act approved February seven-
teenth, eighteen hundred and ninety, entitled an act to incorpo-
rate the city of Danville, as amended and re-enacted by an act
approved March seventh, nineteen hundred and six, be amended
and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 1. On and after the first day of September, nine-
teen hundred and sixteen, the board of police commissioners of
the city of Danville shall consist of the mayor of said city, who
vhall be ex-officio chairman, and one member of the common
council and one member of the board of aldermen, to be ap-
pointed by the mayor of said city, and two qualified voters of
said city who shall be appointed from the city at large by the
judge of the corporation court of said city, for a term of four
years.

(a) The said police commissioners, after taking the oath of
office as such commissioners, shall, as soon as practicable, meet
at the office of the mayor, or other suitable place, as they may
decide upon, and organize by the election of one of its members
as secretary. They shall perform the duties of said office with-
out compensation, and shall perform such duties connected with
the police department as the council shall delegate to it in addi-
tion to such duties as are prescribed by this act.

(b) It shall be the duty of the said police commissioners to
select from the electors of said city, and appoint by warrant of
appointment, bearing the signature of at least two of said com-
missioners, to be immediately filed with the city auditor, as many
police officers, including a chief, sergeants, plain-clothes men,
or other kinds of officers, patrolmen, et cetera, as the city council
may provide for the proper policing of said city of Danville;
provided, that the first election under this ordinance shall take
place in March of nineteen hundred and seventeen, or as soon
thereafter as practicable, on such date as the commissioners may
determine, prior to the expiration of the terms of said police and
all subsequent elections shall be held in March or as soon there-
after as practicable, the election of police officers to be for a
term of two years, provided that police officers who may be in
the service of the city of Danville at the time this act goes into
effect shall continue to serve out the term for which they may
have been elected prior to the passage of this act, unless removed
from office by said commissioners as hereinafter provided.

(c) The said commissioners shall make such rules and regu-
lations for the government of the police force of the city of Dan-
ville, not contrary to the statutes of the Commonwealth, as they,
the said commissioners, may deem proper, provided that the
said commissioners shall have no authority to expend any money
or incur any obligations other than by the election of police offi-
cers as hereinbefore provided, unless such expenditure is made
or such obligation incurred with the consent and by the author-
ity of the city council.

(d) The said commissioners shall have the power to remove
from office any police officer for incompetency or misconduct, of
which said incompetency or misconduct the said commissioners
shall be the sole judge, and they shall have this right to re-
move whether said officer or officers shall have been elected by
the said commissioners or by some other authority before the
commissioners created by this act shall go into office. The com-
missioners shall further have the right and power to summon
police officers or other persons to appear before them and may
require said police officers or other persons to give evidence in
regard to the violations of laws, ordinances or the rules of the
board, by police officers or other persons and upon the failure
of any person to appear before the said commissioners or upon
the failure of any person to give evidence before them in re-
gard to said violation of laws, ordinances, or the rules of the
board, when said persons have been properly summoned or
after being summoned, appear before the said commissioners,
the said commissioners shall have the power and right to punish
said persons for contempt, by imposing a fine not to exceed
twenty-five dollars.

(e) Should the council increase the number of police offi-
cers, such additional police officers shall be elected in accord-
ance with the provisions of this act. In case of the removal of
any member of the police force by the commissioners or other
authority, or in case of a vacancy in the force for any cause,
the said commissioners shall cause said vacancy to be filled in
accordance with the provisions of this act.

The mayor or any three of the other members of the said
board may call a meeting thereof.

2. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are
hereby repealed.