Prior to the enactment of the Police Officers' Procedural Guarantees Act, officers were often questioned under intolerable conditions, given no opportunity to contest the charges, and were not permitted to defend him or her self. However, with passage of the Act, police officers were granted basic procedural guarantees such as being notified of the charges against them and the supporting evidence and being given a fair opportunity to answer those charges and contest the proposed discipline. The Act has improved the working environment for police officers all over the Commonwealth.
Nevertheless, the Act, as originally passed, excludes Sheriff's departments. In many jurisdictions of the Commonwealth, the Sheriff's department is larger than the police department. Yet, Deputy Sheriffs are being subjected to the same intolerable disciplinary procedures which the General Assembly outlawed in policing, with the passage of the Police Officers' Procedural Guarantees.
Deputy Sheriffs do work for an elected official -- Sheriffs in Virginia are constitutional officers. However, the United States Constitution still requires that Deputy Sheriffs be afforded basic United States procedural guarantees before they are deprived of their liberty interest in their careers.
The need for effective procedural guarantees for law-enforcement officers is especially important today, when law-enforcement work has become so much more dangerous due to the increase in drug use and the violence associated with it. While the 1978 Police Bill of Rights went a long way in helping to protect police officers, it left Deputy Sheriffs with no statutory guarantees.
This Bill simply allows Deputy Sheriffs access to the same grievance procedures all other local government employees, including police officers, have in Virginia. Sheriffs still retain the right to hire and fire deputies. Deputies remain constitutional officers. However, deputies who are disciplined will have access to the grievance procedure if the situation falls within a grievable matter as that is currently defined for all other local government employees.
The Bill adds no real burden to local governments. All cities and counties in Virginia must have a grievance procedure for its civilian employees. Sheriff's Departments would not have to develop new systems; grievance procedures are already in place. Although Deputy Sheriffs still would not be included within the police officer's bill of rights, permitting them access to some grievance procedure is a starting point to insure that Deputy Sheriffs receive at least the minimum protections required by the U.S. Constitution.A Bill to Amend and reenact §15.1-48 of the Virginia Code.
A Bill to Amend and reenact §15.1-48 of the Virginia Code.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §15.1-48 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 15.1-48. Appointment of deputies; their powers; how removed. The treasurer of any county or city, the sheriff of any county or city, any commissioner of the revenue, any county clerk and the clerk of any circuit or city court may at the time he qualifies as provided in § 15.1-38 or thereafter appoint one or more deputies, who may discharge any of the official duties of their principal during his continuance in office, unless it be some duty the performance of which by a deputy is expressly forbidden by law. The sheriff of any county or city making an appointment of a deputy under the provisions of this section may review the record of such deputy as furnished by the Federal Bureau of Investigation prior to certification to the appropriate court as provided hereunder.
The sheriff may appoint as deputies such treatment and rehabilitation employees as are authorized and approved by the State Board of Corrections pursuant to §53-184 without approval by the State Compensation Board in fixing the number of full-time or part-time deputies which may be appointed by the sheriff pursuant to §14.1-70 of the Code.
The officer making any such appointment shall certify the same to the court in the clerk's office of which the oath of the principal of such deputy is filed and a record thereof shall be entered in the order book of such court. Any such deputy at the time his principal qualifies as provided in § 15.1-38 or thereafter, and before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take and prescribe the oath now provided for county officers. The oath shall be filed with the clerk of the court in whose office the oath of his principal is filed and such clerk shall properly label and file all such oaths in his office for preservation.
Any such deputy may be removed from office by his principal. Such deputy may also be removed by the court as provided by §24.1-79.1. In the case of a sheriff's deputy, such removal shall be undertaken in a manner consistent with §§15.1-7.1 and 7.2