Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 15.2 > Subtitle II > Chapter 11 - Powers of Cities and Towns

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Alarm respondent: means an individual who responds to the signal of an alarm for the purpose of detecting an intrusion of the home, business or property of the end user. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Armed: means a private security registrant who carries or has immediate access to a firearm in the performance of his duties. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Armed security officer: means a natural person employed to (i) safeguard and protect persons and property or (ii) deter theft, loss, or concealment of any tangible or intangible personal property on the premises he is contracted to protect, and who carries or has access to a firearm in the performance of his duties. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Armored car personnel: means persons who transport or offer to transport under armed security from one place to another, money, negotiable instruments or other valuables in a specially equipped motor vehicle with a high degree of security and certainty of delivery. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• Authorized condemnor: means a condemnor that is specifically authorized by law to acquire property through the use of the procedure set forth in this chapter. See Virginia Code 25.1-300
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Board: means the State Board of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Board: means the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• Board: means the Criminal Justice Services Board. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Body determining just compensation: means a panel of commissioners empaneled pursuant to § 25. See Virginia Code 25.1-100
• Central station dispatcher: means an individual who monitors burglar alarm signal devices, burglar alarms or any other electrical, mechanical or electronic device used (i) to prevent or detect burglary, theft, shoplifting, pilferage or similar losses; (ii) to prevent or detect intrusion; or (iii) primarily to summon aid for other emergencies. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Certificate: includes a certificate of deposit and a certificate of take. See Virginia Code 25.1-300
• Certificate of take: means a certificate recorded by an authorized condemnor with the court wherein condemnation proceedings are pending or are to be instituted, in connection with which the authorized condemnor has deposited funds with the court as provided in subdivision A 1 of § 25. See Virginia Code 25.1-300
• Certification: means the method of regulation indicating that qualified persons have met the minimum requirements as private security services training schools, private security services instructors, compliance agents, or certified detector canine handler examiners. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• City: includes all cities chartered under the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Collegial body: means a governmental entity whose power or authority is vested within its membership. See Virginia Code 1-209
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Compliance agent: means an individual who owns or is employed by a licensed private security services business to ensure the compliance of the private security services business with this title. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Computer or digital forensic services: means the use of highly specialized expertise for the recovery, authentication, and analysis of electronic data or computer usage. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• condemnor: includes a state agency. See Virginia Code 25.1-100
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Council: means the governing body of a city or town. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• County: includes towns. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Courier: means any armed person who transports or offers to transport from one place to another documents or other papers, negotiable or nonnegotiable instruments, or other small items of value that require expeditious services. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Court: means any court vested with appropriate jurisdiction under the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 19.2-5
• Criminal history record information: means records and data collected by criminal justice agencies on adult individuals consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, informations, or other formal charges, and any disposition arising therefrom. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Criminal justice agency: includes any program certified by the Commission on VASAP pursuant to § 18. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Criminal justice information system: means a system including the equipment, facilities, procedures, agreements, and organizations thereof, for the collection, processing, preservation, or dissemination of criminal history record information. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Date of valuation: means the time of the lawful taking by the petitioner, or the date of the filing of the petition pursuant to § 25. See Virginia Code 25.1-100
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the Department of Criminal Justice Services. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Detector canine: means any dog that detects drugs or explosives. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Detector canine handler: means any individual who uses a detector canine in the performance of private security duties. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation. See Virginia Code 10.1-100
• Dissemination: means any transfer of information, whether orally, in writing, or by electronic means. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Election: means a general, primary, or special election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Electronic security business: means any person who engages in the business of or undertakes to (i) install, service, maintain, design or consult in the design of any electronic security equipment to an end user; (ii) respond to or cause a response to electronic security equipment for an end user; or (iii) have access to confidential information concerning the design, extent, status, password, contact list, or location of an end user's electronic security equipment. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Electronic security employee: means an individual who is employed by an electronic security business in any capacity which may give him access to information concerning the design, extent, status, password, contact list, or location of an end user's electronic security equipment. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Electronic security equipment: means (i) electronic or mechanical alarm signaling devices including burglar alarms or holdup alarms used to safeguard and protect persons and property; or (ii) cameras used to detect intrusions, concealment or theft, to safeguard and protect persons and property. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Electronic security sales representative: means an individual who sells electronic security equipment on behalf of an electronic security business to the end user. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Electronic security technician: means an individual who installs, services, maintains or repairs electronic security equipment. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Employed: means to be in an employer/employee relationship where the employee is providing work in exchange for compensation and the employer directly controls the employee's conduct and pays some taxes on behalf of the employee. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• End user: means any person who purchases or leases electronic security equipment for use in that person's home or business. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• General public: means individuals who have access to areas open to all and not restricted to any particular class of the community. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• General registrar: means the person appointed by the electoral board of a county or city pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Governing body: means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• inhabitants: means with reference to any county, city, town, political subdivision of the Commonwealth or any combination thereof, the natural persons in such county, city, town, political subdivision or combination as shown by the unadjusted United States decennial census last preceding the time at which any provision dependent upon population is being applied or the time as of which it is being construed. See Virginia Code 1-235
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Key cutting: means making duplicate keys from an existing key and includes no other locksmith services. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Land: means real estate and all rights and appurtenances thereto, together with the structures and other improvements thereon, and any right, title, interest, estate or claim in or to real estate. See Virginia Code 25.1-100
• Law-enforcement officer: means any full-time or part-time employee of a police department or sheriff's office which is a part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, or any full-time or part-time employee of a private police department, and who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of the Commonwealth, and shall include any (i) special agent of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority; (ii) police agent appointed under the provisions of § 56-353; (iii) officer of the Virginia Marine Police; (iv) conservation police officer who is a full-time sworn member of the enforcement division of the Department of Wildlife Resources; (v) investigator who is a sworn member of the security division of the Virginia Lottery; (vi) conservation officer of the Department of Conservation and Recreation commissioned pursuant to § 10. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• local government: shall be construed to mean a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Locksmith: means any individual that performs locksmith services, or advertises or represents to the general public that the individual is a locksmith even if the specific term locksmith is substituted with any other term by which a reasonable person could construe that the individual possesses special skills relating to locks or locking devices, including use of the words lock technician, lockman, safe technician, safeman, boxman, unlocking technician, lock installer, lock opener, physical security technician or similar descriptions. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Lost profits: means a loss of profits or expected profits suffered by a business or farm operation as a result of a taking or damaging of the property on which the business or farm operation is operated for a period not to exceed three years from the later of (i) the date of valuation or (ii) the date the state agency or its contractor prevents the owner from using the land or any of the owner's other property rights are taken. See Virginia Code 25.1-100
• Natural person: means an individual person. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Owner: means any person who owns property, provided that the person's ownership of the property is of record in the land records of the clerk's office of the circuit court of the county or city where the property is located. See Virginia Code 25.1-100
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means any individual; firm; cooperative; association; corporation; limited liability company; trust; business trust; syndicate; partnership; limited liability partnership; joint venture; receiver; trustee in bankruptcy or any other person acting in a fiduciary or representative capacity, whether appointed by a court or otherwise; club, society or other group or combination acting as a unit; the Commonwealth or any department, agency or instrumentality thereof; any city, county, town, or other political subdivision or any department, agency or instrumentality thereof; or any interstate body to which the Commonwealth is a party. See Virginia Code 25.1-100
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal protection specialist: means any individual who engages in the duties of providing close protection from bodily harm to any person. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• political party: means an organization of citizens of the Commonwealth which, at either of the two preceding statewide general elections, received at least 10 percent of the total vote cast for any statewide office filled in that election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Polling place: means the structure that contains the one place provided for each precinct at which the qualified voters who are residents of the precinct may vote. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Precinct: means the territory designated by the governing body of a county, city, or town to be served by one polling place. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Private investigator: means any individual who engages in the business of, or accepts employment to make, investigations to obtain information on (i) crimes or civil wrongs; (ii) the location, disposition, or recovery of stolen property; (iii) the cause of accidents, fires, damages, or injuries to persons or to property; or (iv) evidence to be used before any court, board, officer, or investigative committee. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Private security services business: means any person engaged in the business of providing, or who undertakes to provide, armored car personnel, security officers, personal protection specialists, private investigators, couriers, security canine handlers, security canine teams, detector canine handlers, detector canine teams, alarm respondents, locksmiths, central station dispatchers, electronic security employees, electronic security sales representatives or electronic security technicians and their assistants to another person under contract, express or implied. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Private security services instructor: means any individual certified by the Department to provide mandated instruction in private security subjects for a certified private security services training school. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Private security services training school: means any person certified by the Department to provide instruction in private security subjects for the training of private security services business personnel in accordance with this article. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Property: means land and personal property, and any right, title, interest, estate or claim in or to such property. See Virginia Code 25.1-100
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public facilities: means (i) airports, landing fields, and air navigation facilities; (ii) educational facilities; (iii) flood control, bank and shore protection, watershed protection, and dams; (iv) hospital facilities; (v) judicial and court facilities; (vi) correctional facilities, including jails and penitentiaries; (vii) library facilities; (viii) military installations; (ix) parks so designated by the Commonwealth or by the locality in its comprehensive plan; (x) properties of historical significance so designated by the Commonwealth; (xi) law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, and rescue facilities; (xii) sanitary sewer, water or stormwater facilities; (xiii) transportation facilities including highways, roads, streets, and bridges, traffic signals, related easements and rights-of-way, mass transit, ports, and any components of federal, state, or local transportation facilities; (xiv) waste management facilities for hazardous, radioactive, or other waste; (xv) office facilities occupied by a public corporation; and (xvi) such other facilities that are necessary to the construction, maintenance, or operation of a public facility as listed in clauses (i) through (xv) and directly related thereto. See Virginia Code 1-219.1
• Qualified voter: means a person who is entitled to vote pursuant to the Constitution of Virginia and who is (i) 18 years of age on or before the day of the election or qualified pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Registered voter: means any person who is maintained on the Virginia voter registration system. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Registration: means a method of regulation whereby certain personnel employed by a private security services business are required to register with the Department pursuant to this article. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Registration records: means all official records concerning the registration of qualified voters and shall include all records, lists, applications, and files, whether maintained in books, on cards, on automated data bases, or by any other legally permitted record-keeping method. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• School resource officer: means a certified law-enforcement officer hired by the local law-enforcement agency to provide law-enforcement and security services to Virginia public elementary and secondary schools. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Security canine: means a dog that has attended, completed, and been certified as a security canine by a certified security canine handler instructor in accordance with approved Department procedures and certification guidelines. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• Security canine handler: means any individual who utilizes his security canine in the performance of private security duties. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• State agency: means any (i) department, agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth; (ii) public authority, municipal corporation, local governmental unit or political subdivision of the Commonwealth or any department, agency or instrumentality thereof; (iii) person who has the authority to acquire property by eminent domain under state law; or (iv) two or more of the aforementioned that carry out projects that cause persons to be displaced. See Virginia Code 25.1-100
• State institution: means any (i) institution enumerated in § 23. See Virginia Code 25.1-100
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Supervisor: means any individual who directly or indirectly supervises registered or certified private security services business personnel. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July one, nineteen hundred seventy-one, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unarmed security officer: means a natural person who performs the functions of observation, detection, reporting, or notification of appropriate authorities or designated agents regarding persons or property on the premises he is contracted to protect, and who does not carry or have access to a firearm in the performance of his duties. See Virginia Code 9.1-138
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.