Chap. 16.—An ACT to provide for a police commission for any county having a
population of over 25,000, which adjoins two cities in this State having an
aggregate population of not less than 165,000 and not more than 185,000 ac-
cording to the United States census of 1930; to provide for the appointment,
supervision and control of a police force for such county; to prescribe the
powers and duties of such commission and police force and provide for their
compensation; and to repeal an act entitled an act to provide for a special
police force in certain counties, prescribing the manner of their appointment
and removal, providing for their compensation and defining their powers and
duties, approved March 24, 1922, and all acts amendatory thereof. [H B 39]

Approved February 15, 1934

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That there is
hereby created for any county having a population of over twenty-five
thousand, which adjoins two cities in this State having an aggregate
population of not less than one hundred and sixty-five thousand and not
more than one hundred and eighty-five thousand according to the United
States census of nineteen hundred and thirty, a police commission to be
composed of three members, all of whom shall be qualified voters of
such county and shall be appointed by the board of supervisors or other
governing body of the county. The first appointments shall be made on
or before November fifteenth, nineteen hundred and thirty-four and the
term of office of each of the members then appointed shall begin on the
first day of December next thereafter, said appointments to be as fol-
lows: one member for a term of one year, one for a term of two years
and one for a term of three years. All subsequent appointments shall
be for terms of three years, and shall be made on or before November

fifteenth next preceding the expiration of the term of any member.
Any vacancy occurring in any such commission shall be filled by the
board of supervisors or other governing body of the county. |

2. The members of the police commission first appointed under the
provisions of this act shall meet within ten days after their terms of
office begin, and shall organize by appointing one of their number chair-
man and another secretary; and thereafter, the said commission shall
meet annually on such day in December as they may from time to time
appoint, for the purpose of reorganization and the appointment of police
officers for the next ensuing year, and they may also meet upon the call
of the chairman, at such other times as he may deem necessary or ex-
pedient. Two members of the commission shall constitute a quorum.

The said members of the police commission shall receive no com-
pensation for their services, but shall be paid out of the general fund
of the county the actual expenses incurred by them in the performance
of their official duties, provided in no fiscal year shall more than one
hundred and fifty dollars be allowed for the total expenses of all such
members.

3. The commission first appointed shall, at their organization meet-
ing or within fifteen days thereafter, appoint not less than six nor more
than ten police officers for their county, and the persons thus appointed
shall constitute the county police force of the county, and all appoint-
ments of police officers shall be for a term of one year beginning im-
mediately after midnight of December thirty-first next following their
appointment and ending at midnight of December thirty-first next there-
after.

Each of the said police officers shall be a conservator of the peace
within such county and the town therein, and shall be clothed with the
same powers and charged with the same duties and responsibilities as
are now, or may hereafter be, vested in and imposed upon special police
of counties and police officers of cities, by law.

A The commission shall have authority to designate one of the
police officers, so appointed, chiet of police, and to vest in him the super-
vision and control over the other police officers, subject to such rules
and regulations as the commission may determine. Except as herein
provided, the police force of the county shall at no time exceed ten in
number, The commission may, however, appoint one such officer, in
addition to said number, who in addition to his duties as a police
officer, shall act as assistant jailor for the county ; his salary shall not be
in excess of fifty dollars per month. In the event of emergency, the
commission shall also have authority to call upon and appoint so many
citizens of the county as it shall deem necessary to serve as special
police officers and members of the county police force of such county
during such emergency and without compensation; every such person so
appointed, shall, for the term ot his appointment, be vested with the
powers and duties vested in other members of the said police force.

5. The commission shall have authority, subject to the provisions of
the preceding paragraph, to fix the salaries to be paid all officers ap-
pointed by it hereunder, but the salary of no such officer shall be less
than seventy-five nor more than one hundred and twenty-five dollars per
month, except that the salary of the chief of police, if a chief be named,
shall not exceed one hundred and seventy-five dollars per month. The
commission shall prescribe the type of uniform to be worn by such
officers while on duty. Each such officer shall provide, at his own ex-
pense, the uniform prescribed by the commission, and shall wear said
uniform at all times when engaged in the performance of his official
duties and when attending court.

6. The commission shall have authority, after a public or private
hearing, to discharge any such police officer appointed by it under the
provisions of this act, and to fill any vacancies which may, for any
reason, occur.

7. Be it further enacted, That an act entitled an act to provide for
a special police force in certain counties, prescribing the manner of
their appointment and removal, providing for their compensation, and
defining their powers and duties, approved March twenty-fourth, nine-
teen hundred and twenty-two, and all acts amendatory thereof, be, and
the same are hereby repealed.