CHAPTER 101

An Act to provide for a police department and a Police and Trial Board
in certain counties, and to provide their powers and duties and the
powers, duties and rights of policemen serving in such police depart-

ment.
[H 175]
Approved March 1, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. In any county having a population of not less than forty-two
thousand and not more than forty-five thousand, according to the last
preceding United States census there shall be a police department and
a Police and Trial Board.

§ 2. The governing body of the county shall provide for the financ-
ing of the police department through the general levy of the county. In
addition, the governing body shall provide by ordinance for the organiza-
tion, administration and operation of the police department, and may adopt
& manual covering the various duties and functions of police officers
while on duty, and may require the enforcement by appropriate penalties
by the Police and Trial Board of the provisions of such manual.

(a) Duly commissioned policemen of the department shall give
bond in the manner and to the amount provided by § 15-569 of the Code
of Virginia and shall be vested with the powers and subject to the duties
set forth in § 15-571 of the Code of Virginia.

(b) The jurisdiction and authority of such policemen shall extend
no farther than the limits of the county, except when actually in pursuit
of persons accused of crime and when acting under authority of a duly
executed warrant for the arrest of persons accused of committing crime.
A copy of the commission of each policeman shall be certified by the chair-
man of the Police and Trial Board and filed with the clerk of the circuit
court. A copy authenticated by the clerk of the circuit court, of a police-
man’s commission duly certified and filed with the clerk of the circuit
court, shall in all cases be received as evidence of the policeman’s official
character.

4. The Police and Trial Board shall consist of seven residents of
the county, one to be appointed by the governing body from the persons
resident in each magisterial district of the county and two to be appointed
by the governing body from the county at large; all to serve at the pleas-
ure of the governing body. Any vacancy on the Police and Trial Board
shall be filled in the same manner as the seat was originally filled. Mem-
bers of the Board shall receive as compensation for their services ten dol-
lars for each day or fraction thereof in excess of a half day in attendance
on the Board and five dollars for each half day or fraction thereof in
attendance on the Board, such compensation to be paid out of the county
appropriation for the Police Department. .

§ 5. The Police and Trial Board shall appoint and commission as
policemen suitable and discreet persons who shall serve as such for such
length of time as the Police and Trial Board may designate, but not
exceeding one year under any one appointment. It shall designate the
chief of police and such other office of the police force as may be neces-
sary. Such policemen shall be paid by the county, and shall be conserva-
tors of the peace in the county. ;

The Police and Trial Board shall hear charges brought against
any member of the police force and may suspend with or without pay for
such time as it may deem proper, or discharge, any policeman for failure
to perform his duty or for commission of any offense against the criminal
laws of this or any other state or of the United States, or for any conduct
unbecoming a conservator of the peace.

§ 7. Any policeman aggrieved by suspension, discharge, or other
punitive or disciplinary action of the Police and Trial Board may within
thirty days after notice of such action appeal therefrom to the circuit
court of the county, and the decision of the court shall be final.

2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.