West Virginia police oversight bill

There is currently a police oversight bill heading through the West Virginia State Senate, set for its second reading in the senate on Monday. The Charleston Gazette published an article confirming that both the West Virginia Troopers’ Association and the West Virginia Sheriffs’ Association are backing the bill.  It essentially provides that:

The revised bill requires officers who move from one department to another to sign a waiver allowing the subcommittee to review their personnel file with that previous department before reauthorizing their police officer certification. It also requires the subcommittee to keep the database of all certified officers, which would be available to all departments.

Both versions of the bill give the Law Enforcement Professional Standards Subcommittee — formerly known as the Law Enforcement Training Subcommittee — subpoena powers to investigate problem officers that come to their attention.

See Charleston Gazette article.  I think this would be a great tool to help weed out the bad officers.  We all know who the municipalities are who attract bad officers.  These municipalities complaint that it costs too much to send a new officer for the proper training and certification.  Its easier to just hire an officer who was fired elsewhere and who is willing to work for minimal pay.  ’Tis better to have no officers at all than to have untrustworthy ones.  Period.

Anti Texting and Driving Ban Legislation

A form of the proposed anti texting and driving ban passed the West Virginia House of Delegates.  A few days ago I posted about the West Virginia texting and driving laws on the West Virginia Car Accident Law Blog, noting that this legislation was coming up for a vote.  It still has to pass the senate.  It only allows for officers to cite motorists for texting and driving as a “secondary” offense rather than a “primary” offense.  This means that cops cannot pull someone over just because they see someone texting and driving.  There has to be some primary infraction or other reason to make the stop.  Only then can the person be ticketed for texting and driving.

Honestly, even if it was a primary offense under the statute, it wouldn’t stop anybody.  Who is going to be texting with a police cruiser right next to them?  Most idiots who do this aren’t that stupid.  The best enforcement for the texting and driving problem is civil trial attorneys who sue persons who injure others due to texting and driving.  We can easily find out if someone had been texting at the time of, or immediately before, the collision.

See Charleston Gazette article today on the legislation.