THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY BEYER, BAKER, BARRAR, BOYD, BRENNAN, CLYMER, DALLY, FAIRCHILD, FLECK, FRANKEL, FREEMAN, GEIST, GODSHALL, GRELL, GROVE, GRUCELA, HARHAI, HARHART, HARKINS, HARRIS, HENNESSEY, HESS, HORNAMAN, M. KELLER, KORTZ, KOTIK, MANN, MARSICO, MELIO, MENSCH, MICCARELLI, MILLARD, MURT, O'NEILL, PASHINSKI, PAYNE, PEIFER, PICKETT, READSHAW, ROSS, SCAVELLO, SIPTROTH, STERN, SWANGER, VEREB, VULAKOVICH AND WATSON, JANUARY 28, 2009

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, JANUARY 28, 2009  

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.