Chap. 403.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 1, chapter 10, of an act entitled
an act to incorporate the city of Danville, approved February 17, 1890, as here-
tofore amended. [H B 400]

Approved March 30, 1932

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
one of chapter ten of an act entitled an act to incorporate the city of
Danville, approved February seventeenth, eighteen hundred and
ninety, as heretofore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to
read as follows:

Section 1. On and after the first day of September, nineteen hun-
dred and thirty-two, the board of police commissioners of the city of
Danville shall consist of the mayor of said city who shall be ex-officio
chairman and four qualified voters of the city, who shall be appointed
from the city at large by the judge of the corporation court of said
city, for a term of two 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 without compensation, and shall
perform such duties connected with the police department as the coun-
cil shall delegate to it in addition 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 commissioners, to be im-
mediately filed with the city auditor, as many police officers, including
a chief, sergeants, plainclothes men, or other kinds of officers, patrol-.
men, et cetera, as the city council may provide for the proper policing
of said city of Danville ; provided that the first election under this ordi-
nance 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 thereafter as
practicable, the election of police officers to be for a term of two years,
provided that police officers may be in the service of the city of Dan-
ville 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 regulations
for the government of the police force of the city of Danville, not con-
trary to the statutes of the Commonwealth as they, the said commis-
sioners 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 officers as hereinbefore provided, unless
such expenditure is made or such obligation incurred with the consent
and by the authority 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 remove 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 commissioners 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 regard 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 officers, such
additional police officers shall be elected in accordance with the pro-
visions of the 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 va-
cancy 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.