Pennsylvania Act 2010-61 — SECOND CLASS CITY LAW - PENALTY FOR FALSE PERSONIFICATION

Act text

SECOND CLASS CITY LAW - PENALTY FOR FALSE PERSONIFICATION
                  Act of Oct. 7, 2010, P.L. 470, No. 61               Cl. 11
                             Session of 2010
                               No. 2010-61

     HB 105

                                  AN ACT

     Amending the act of March 7, 1901 (P.L.20, No.14), entitled "An
        act for the government of cities of the second class,"
        further providing for penalty for false personification.

        The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     hereby enacts as follows:

        Section 1.  Section 1 of Article III of the act of March 7,
     1901 (P.L.20, No.14), referred to as the Second Class City Law,
     amended September 26, 1951 (P.L.1528, No.383) and July 17, 1953
     (P.L.473, No.119), is amended to read:
        Section 1.  The department of public safety shall be under
     the charge of one director, who shall be the head thereof. The
     care, management, administration and supervision of the police
     affairs, and all matters relating to the public health, to the
     fire and police force, fire alarm telegraph, erection of fire-
     escapes, and the inspection of buildings and boilers, markets
     and food sold therein, and the construction, protection and
     repair of buildings erected for police and fire purposes, shall
     be in charge of this department.
        No person shall be employed in this department as a policeman
     or fireman who is not a citizen of the United States, or who has
     been convicted of crime, unless pardoned, or who cannot read and
     write understandingly in the English language, or who shall not
     have resided within the State at least one year preceding his
     appointment.
        No policeman shall be required to be on duty for more than
     nine out of any twenty-four consecutive hours, nor for more than
     forty-four hours in any calendar week, and every policeman shall
     be allowed to have at least forty-eight consecutive hours off
     duty in every calendar week, except in emergency cases for the
     suppression of riots or tumults or the preservation of the
     public peace in times of riot, conflagration, or public
     celebrations; and in such cases, council shall provide for the
     payment of extra compensation or time off at the same rate as
     paid for regular service. The existing salary or compensation of
     any policeman shall not be diminished because of the reduced
     number of hours of duty prescribed by this amendment.
        The department shall make suitable regulations, under which
     the officers and members of the fire, telegraph and police force
     shall be required to wear an appropriate uniform. [It shall be a
     misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding five hundred
     ($500) dollars and imprisonment not exceeding six (6) months, or
     either or both, in the discretion of the court, for any person
     to falsely personate by uniform, insignia or otherwise any
     officer or member of the department.]
        The city councils may provide by ordinance a fund for the
     care, maintenance, and relief of aged, retired, disabled, or
     injured policemen or firemen, and the families of such as may be
     injured or killed in the service.
        No policeman appointed under this act shall be dismissed
     without his written consent, except by the decision of a court
     either of trial or inquiry, duly determined and certified in
     writing to the mayor, which court shall be composed of not less
     than three and not more than five persons belonging to the
     police force, equal or superior in official position therein to
     the accused. Such decision shall only be determined by trial of
     charges, with plain specifications made by or lodged with the
     director of the department of public safety, of which trial the
     accused shall have due notice, and at which he shall have the
     right to be present in person. The persons composing such court
     shall be appointed and sworn by the director of the department
     of public safety to perform their duties impartially and without
     fear or favor; and the person of highest rank in such court
     shall have the same authority to issue and enforce process to
     secure the attendance of witnesses, and to administer oaths to
     witnesses, as is possessed by any justice of the peace of this
     Commonwealth.
        Such charges may be of disability for service, in which case
     the court shall be one of inquiry, whose decision may be for the
     honorable discharge from the service of the person concerned;
     or, of neglect or violation of law or duty, inefficiency,
     intemperance, disobedience of orders, or unbecoming official or
     personal conduct, in which cases the court shall be one of
     trial, and its decision may authorize the director of the
     department of public safety to impose fines and pecuniary
     penalties, to be stopped from pay, or to suspend from pay or
     duty, or both, for a period fixed by them, not exceeding one
     year, or to dismiss from the service. The right of appeal of the
     decision of the trial board shall be made within five days to
     the civil service board.
        It shall be lawful for the director of the department of
     public safety, at his discretion, to suspend from duty before
     trial any person charged, as aforesaid, until such trial can be
     had, with or without pay as such court shall afterward
     determine, but no trial shall be delayed for more than one month
     after charge has been made.
        The finding of the court of trial or inquiry, as aforesaid,
     shall be of no effect until approved by the mayor.
        The laws in relation to health, buildings and building
     inspection, remain unaffected by any of the provisions thereof,
     and the board of health and the building inspectors shall remain
     as heretofore, and shall be attached to the Department of Public
     Safety.
        Section 2.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.

     APPROVED--The 7th day of October, A. D. 2010.

     EDWARD G. RENDELL