Chapter 164
2013 -- S 0662 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 07/11/13
A N A C T
RELATING TO
STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC
SAFETY
Introduced By: Senators McCaffrey, and Walaska
Date Introduced: March 06, 2013
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 42-7.3-3.1 of the General Laws in Chapter
42-7.3 entitled
"Department of Public
Safety" is hereby repealed.
42-7.3-3.1.
Workers' compensation investigations unit -- Powers and duties of
investigators. --
(a) There is established a workers' compensation
investigations unit, the purpose
of which shall be to prevent and detect fraud, abuse,
and mismanagement in the expenditure of
public funds, relating to any and all state programs and
operations by agencies, bureaus,
divisions, sections, departments, offices, commissions,
institutions and activities of the State of
Rhode Island, including those districts, authorities, or political
subdivisions created by the general
assembly or the governor.
(b) The workers'
compensation investigations unit shall be under the jurisdiction of the
commissioner of public safety/superintendent of the state police,
and shall consist of a director
and investigators, who shall be selected and who shall be
specially-trained to prevent and
investigate instances of fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the
expenditure of public funds.
(c) The director
shall be a member of the
of sergeant, and shall remain on the personnel rolls of
the
same salary and benefits schedule, and shall retain all
powers of a member of the
state police of that rank. The director, with the approval of
the superintendent, shall have the
authority to appoint, the investigators and staff of the
office.
(d) The director and
the investigators shall have the following powers:
(1) To arrest independently
or in conjunction with state or federal law enforcement
agencies;
(2) To apply for and
execute search warrants; and
(3) To serve civil
and criminal process.
(e) No person shall
be appointed as an investigator in the office unless he or she has
successfully completed the basic course of instruction for police
officers at the Providence Police
Training
State Police Training Academy, and has at least three
(3) years of active law enforcement
experience, or has served as a member of the United States
Marshal's Service or as a special agent
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a criminal law
enforcement agency of the
Department of Justice, the
Treasury or the United States Postal Inspection
Service and has at least three (3) years of active
law enforcement experience, or has been certified as a
police officer by the duly-constituted state
commission on police officer standards and training of another
state, and has at least three (3)
years of active law enforcement experience. Prior to the
appointment of any qualified individual,
a background examination shall be conducted utilizing
federal, state and local law enforcement
agencies, bureau of criminal identification, national crime
information center, and any and all
relevant records existing within the federal and state court
systems.
(f) The director and
investigators shall be indemnified to the extent provided under
section 9-31-12 for acts committed within the scope of their
employment.
SECTION 2. Any staff assigned to the workers' compensation
investigations unit within
the department of public safety at the time of passage of
this act shall be transferred to the state
employees' workers' compensation unit within the department of
administration.
SECTION 3. Section 12-7-21 of the General Laws in Chapter
12-7 entitled "Arrest" is
hereby amended to read as follows:
12-7-21.
"Peace officer" defined. -- "Peace officer", as
used within this chapter, means
the following individuals or members of:
(1)
(2) Any member of a
municipal or local police department;
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12) Campus security at
the
(13)
(14) The investigators
of the department of attorney general appointed pursuant to
section 42-9-8.1;
(15) Any federal law
enforcement officer;
(16) Correctional
investigators and correctional officers of the
of corrections;
(17) The witness
protection coordinator of the department of attorney general;
(18) The warden,
associate wardens, majors, captains, lieutenants, sergeants, correctional
officers and investigators employed by a project operated by a
municipal detention facility
corporation, including, but not limited to, the Donald W. Wyatt
Detention Facility; provided, such
parties listed in this subsection (18) herein shall be deemed
to be peace officers while in
performance of their duties for the municipal detention facility
only, and shall not be deemed to
be peace officers at any time when they are not in
performance of said duties;
(19) Retired non-permanent
sworn members of any municipal police department shall be
deemed to be peace officers only while in the performance of
their duties for any municipal
police department, and shall be permitted to carry their
firearm while in the performance of their
duties for the municipal police department, and shall be
subject to in-service training
requirements of title 42, chapter 28;
(20) Workers'
Compensation investigators of the department of public safety appointed
pursuant to section 42-7.3-3.1;
(21)(20)
Auto theft investigators appointed pursuant to section 31-50-1;
(22)(21)
investigator is a graduate of a police-training academy; and
(23)(22)
Rhode Island School of Design police officers.
SECTION 4. Section 11-47-9 of the General Laws in Chapter
11-47 entitled "Weapons"
is hereby amended to read as follows:
11-47-9. Persons
exempt from restrictions. -- The provisions of section 11-47-8 shall
not apply to sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, the
superintendent and members of the state police,
members of the
marshals,
marshals assigned to the bomb squad, and those assigned to the
investigation unit, correctional
officers, all within the department of corrections, members of
the city or town police force,
capitol police investigators of the department of attorney
general appointed pursuant to section
42-9-8.1, the witness protection coordinator for the
witness protection review board as set forth in
chapter 30 of title 12 and subject to the minimum
qualifications of section 42-9-8.1, the director,
assistant director, investigators of the department of public
safety Workers' Compensation
Investigations unit pursuant to section 42-7.3-3.1 and automobile theft investigators of the Rhode
Island state police pursuant to section 31-50-1, railroad
police while traveling to and from official
assignments or while on assignments, conservation officers, or
other duly appointed law
enforcement officers, nor to members of the Army, Navy, Air
Force, and Marine Corps of the
organizations by law authorized to purchase or receive firearms
from the
state, provided these members are at or going to or from
their places of assembly or target
practice, nor to officers or employees of the
firearm, nor to any civilian guard or criminal investigator
carrying sidearms or a concealed
firearm in the performance of his or her official duties
under the authority of the commanding
officer of the military establishment in the state of
the
performance of his or her official duties under the authority of
the adjutant general where he or
she is employed guarding a national guard facility,
provided, that the commanding officer of the
military establishment shall have on file with the attorney
general of this state a list of the names
and addresses of all civilian guards and criminal
investigators so authorized, nor to duly
authorized military organizations when on duty, nor to members
when at or going to or from their
customary places of assembly, nor to any individual employed in
the capacity of warden,
associate warden, major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant,
correctional officer or investigator at any
project owned or operated by a municipal detention facility
corporation, including the Donald W.
Wyatt Detention Facility, nor to the regular and/or
ordinary transportation of pistols or revolvers
as merchandise, nor to any person while transporting a
pistol, or revolvers, unloaded from the
place of purchase to their residence, or place of business,
from their residence to their place of
business or from their place of business to their residence,
or to a Federal Firearms licensee for
the purpose of sale, to or from a bona fide gunsmith, or
firearms repair facility, to any police
station or other location designated as a site of a bona fide
"gun buy-back" program but only if
said pistol or revolver is unloaded and any ammunition for
said pistol or revolver is not readily or
directly accessible from the passenger compartment of such
vehicle while transporting same and
further provided that in the case of a vehicle without a
compartment separate from the passenger
compartment the firearm or the ammunition shall be stored in a
locked container. Persons
exempted by the provisions of this section from the provisions
of section 11-47-8 shall have the
right to carry concealed firearms everywhere within this
state; provided, that this shall not be
construed as giving the right to carry concealed firearms to a
person transporting firearms as
merchandise or as household or business goods.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC01491/SUB A/2
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