FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 212
90TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR JACOB.
Read 1st time January 6, 1999, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
L1036.01I
AN ACT
To repeal sections 57.010, 590.130, 590.170 and 590.175, RSMo 1994, relating to sheriffs' qualifications, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to the same subject.
Section A. Sections 57.010, 590.130, 590.170 and 590.175, RSMo 1994, are repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 57.010 and 590.130, to read as follows:
57.010. At the general election to be held in 1948, and at each general election held every four years thereafter, the voters in every county in this state shall elect some suitable person sheriff. No person shall be eligible for the office of sheriff who has been convicted of a felony or who does not comply with the provisions of sections 590.100 to 590.180, RSMo. Such person shall be a resident taxpayer and elector of said county, shall have resided in said county for more than one whole year next before filing for said office and shall be a person capable of efficient law enforcement. When any person shall be elected sheriff, [he] such person shall enter upon the discharge of the duties of [his] such person's office as chief law enforcement officer of that county on the first day of January next succeeding [his] such person's election.
590.130. [No] The elected county peace officer or official shall be required to be certified [under] pursuant to sections 590.100 to 590.180 to seek or hold such
office, [but] and all appointive deputies or assistants of such officer or official who are employed as peace officers, provided that such county has five or more full-time peace officers, shall be certified as a condition of appointment in the same manner as other peace officers are required to be certified. No arrest shall be deemed unlawful in any criminal or civil proceeding solely because the peace officer is not certified [under the terms of] pursuant to sections 590.100 to 590.180. Evidence on the question cannot be received in any civil or criminal case.
[590.170. 1. The director shall consult with Missouri sheriffs and their professional organizations and after such consultation shall formulate a training program for persons elected for the first time to the office of sheriff for the purpose of developing improved law enforcement procedures throughout the state.
2. The training program shall consist of at least one hundred twenty hours of instruction covering all major phases of law enforcement with emphasis on the duties and responsibilities of sheriffs.]
[590.175. 1. Any person who is elected to his first term as sheriff in a general election or in a special election in any county of this state shall, within eighteen months of such election, cause to be filed with the presiding circuit judge of the county and director of the department of public safety proof that he has completed the training program formulated pursuant to sections 590.170 and 590.175 or some other comparable training program of not less than one hundred twenty hours instruction approved by the director of the department of public safety.
2. Whether any person elected to his first term as sheriff attends such a training program prior to or after assuming the duties of his office shall be left to the discretion of the governing body of the county from which he was elected. During the time that a sheriff-elect is enrolled in such a training program, he shall be hired as a county employee and receive as full compensation from the county from which he was elected, compensation at a rate equal to that of the sheriff of the county. Tuition and room and board for newly elected sheriffs and sheriffs-elect enrolled in such a training program shall be paid by the state.]