Chap. 460.—An ACT to amend and reenact Sections 3 and 4 of Chapter 160 of
the Acts of Assembly of 1946, approved March 11, 1946, relating to the
police department and police forces in certain counties, and to further amend
pe chapter by adding a new section numbered 3-a, providing for iS trial

rd.

Approved April 2, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections three and four of chapter one hundred sixty of
the Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred forty-six, approved March
eleven, nineteen hundred forty-six, be amended and reenacted, and that
the chapter be further amended by adding thereto a new section num-
bered three-a as follows:

Section 3. Members of such police department shall be appointed
by the county manager of such county, upon the request and recommen-
dation of the chief of the department and such appointments shall either
be for an indefinite period during the good behavior of the appointees
or for a fixed length of time to be designated by the county manager;
provided, that the county manager shall not be bound to appoint any
or all prospective members of the department recommended by the chief
of police, as aforesaid but shall have the right to reject the same when
he deems it in the public interest so to do. Provided, further, that the
county manager shall have the right to discharge any member of the
police force or to suspend any member for such length of time as he
snay deem proper for any failure to perform his duty or for the commis-
sion of any offense against criminal laws of this or any other state or the
District of Columbia or the United States or for any conduct unbecoming
to a conservator of the peace. Upon any charges being lodged against any
police officer with the county manager he shall have the right to forth-
with suspend the officer and shall cause written copy of the charge to
be served upon the officer by the sheriff of the county, but before
making such suspension final shall grant to the officer if requested by
him a hearing on such charges and if upon such hearing the officer be
found guilty the discharge shall be made permanent or the suspension
shall be for a time fixed by the county manager provided that any officer
desiring a hearing shall notify the county manager in writing within
ten days. Any member of the police force so suspended or discharged
shall have the right of appeal, within ten days from the time at which
such suspension or discharge becomes effective, to the trial board herein
created, and the action of such trial board on the appeal shall be final.
The county manager shall from the membership of the police force
appoint a chief of police who shall hold office at the pleasure of the
county manager and whose duties shall be to have supervision over
and direct the police department.

Section 3-a. In each county there shall be a trial board to hear
and decide appeals filed by members of the police department who have
been suspended, demoted or discharged by the county manager. No
member shall file any such appeal unless and until he has been a mem-
ber of the department for at least four months. Such board shall consist
of a practicing lawyer of the local bar in good standing in the county
appointed by the county board; a citizen of the county selected by a
majority vote of the members of the county police department, the per-
son thus selected shall be appointed by the county board; and a third
person appointed by the other two members within ten days after their
appointment; such members to serve for a period of one year from the
date of their appointment. The first appointments shall be made within
thirty days from the effective date of this act. If any member of the
trial board shall resign, the vacancy shall be filled for the unexpired
term in the same manner as the original appointment.

Section 4. All members of the said police force shall have the
powers and duties and be subject to the requirements and provisions as
set forth in sections forty-eight hundred, forty-eight hundred one, and
forty-eight hundred two of the Code of Virginia, except where inconsis-
tent with the foregoing sections of this act.