CHAP. 253.—An ACT to amend section 67 of an act to provide a new
charter for the city of Portsmouth, approved March 11th, 1873.

Approved March 9, 1880.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the sixty-seventh section of an act to provide a new charter for
the city of Portsmouth, approved March eleventh, eighteen
hundred and seventy-three, be amended and re-enacted 80 as
to read as follows:

§ 67. The police department of the city of Portsmouth shall
be under the general control and management of police com-
missioners thereof, who shall consist of the mayor and seven
discreet citizens, qualified voters of said city, two of whom shall
be residents of the first ward, two shall be residents of the sec-
ond ward, one shall be a resident of the third ward, and two shall
be residents of the fourth ward, who shall be elected by the
qualified voters at the general election to be held for said city in
_ May, eighteen hundred and eighty, and thereafter at the gen-
eral election in May preceding the end of their terms of office,
and who shall constitute a board of police commissioners for
said city, of which board the mayor shall be chairman, and
shall have a vote only in the event of a tie of the said commis-

lee sioners. The term of office of said commissioners shall be for
four years from the first day of July, eighteen hundred and
eighty, except the first term, when the commissioners for the
third and fourth wards shall be for two years. And any four
of said commissioners shall form a quorum for transacting bu-
siness, except the appointment or dismissal of members of the
police force, hereinafter otherwise directed. Said police board,
when organized, shall have full power and authority to adopt
rules and by-laws for the government thereof, and may also
establish, promulgate, and enforce proper rules, regulations and
orders for the good government and discipline of said police
force. The said police board shall have full power and author-
ity to regulate the pay, term of office, qualifications and general
management of the police force of the city, and their arbitra-
ment and rules and regulations by them made shall be final
and decisive: provided, that said rules, regulations and orders
shall not in any way conflict with any ordinance of the city
council, or any of the provisions of this act, or the constitution
and laws of this state or of the United States.