Virginia House turns down bill to offer benefits for private police force officers
RICHMOND, Va. January 22, 2024 A bill allowing private police forces to have access to line-of-duty benefits was voted down. The bill was introduced after Wintergreen Police Officer Chris Wagner lost his life in the line of duty.
Nelson County officials began working with lawmakers to try and change the options for line-of-duty benefits.
The Public Safety Subcommittee voted to not recommend the Line of Duty Act on Thursday. Four Democrats voted against the bill, two Republicans voted for the bill and one Democrat did not vote.
“I want to use the word shocked because it didn’t make any sense,” Chief Dennis Russell from Wintergreen Police Department, a private force.
He said he doesn’t understand why the House subcommittee voted against it. “We’re not asking for anything more than anything that they are doing now,” Russell said.
Jesse Rutherford, a Nelson County Board of Supervisors member, said the bill had bipartisan support until that point. “Most everyone in that room was like, did not see this coming, this looks like it was a casualty of party line politics,” Rutherford said.
Ellen Campbell, a Republican Delegate for District 36, who introduced the bill said, “I’m extremely disappointed in the decision to not move this legislation forward. We’re essentially saying that these private and campus police officers have to go through the same training as other officers, but in the tragic event they’re killed in the line of duty, we’re not going to provide this benefit to their families so they’re able to keep the lights on and pay the mortgage they leave behind. My heart goes out to the men, women and the families this affects. We can do better for them.”
Republican Senator Mark Peake said they have not heard the bill in the Senate, but he’s hopeful they will get it through.
“If your security on campus or community like Wintergreen you face many of the same dangers that our regular law officers face,” Sen. Peake said.
In the house subcommittee hearing, some questioned if there would be costs for the commonwealth. Peake said he doesn’t see any extra costs for insurance or the commonwealth.
Chief Russell said he hopes there is a way forward for the bill because he does not want other officers’ families to be left in the same situation as Officer Wagner’s family.
“That they would be able to make that mortgage payment, that they would be able to make the electric bill,” Russell said.
